Another hidden gem of the Swiss Alps, Gimmelwald, is a small village halfway up the mountain at 4472 feet between Mürren and Stechelberg. Gimmelwald is a gateway to the Jungfrau-Aletsch Protected Area, a UNESCO World Heritage site. The beauty of Gimmelwald is in its purity of Swiss heritage and its inaccessibility to modern transit. Gimmelwald remains one of the only villages left in Switzerland that you cannot access by car since no connecting roads exist and the exceptionally steep and mountainous terrain make accessing the village by Gondola Lift about the only practical option. This remote, spectacular scenery is not only what draws so many backpackers and surly tourists to Murren’s tramway, but it also has allowed the area to maintain more purity in its uniquely Swiss heritage. Bell-collared goats still roam the village freely, providing the dairy for all locals (and tourists) to sustain themselves with.
Located in the Bernese Highlands of Switzerland, both Gimmelwald and nearby (down-the-mountain) Mürren are unreachable by public roads – we took the Lauterbrunnen–Mürren Mountain Railway from Interlaken. For those wanting a good cardio workout, there is a walking path between Gimmelwald and Mürren, but there’s really no good reason to pass on experiencing another Swiss marvel of meticulous engineering that will save you a LOT of time and exercise – the Luftseilbahn Stechelberg-Mürren-Schilthorn (LSMS) aerial tramway. There’s really no good reason to skip taking the aerial tramway on the way up when you can always save the cardio workout and awe-inspiringly massive views for the trip back down.
Mürren is another traditional Swiss mountain village with spectacular views of the towering Swiss mountains on all sides. The local population is only 450 and they speak the Walser German dialect. Tourism is popular through the summer and winter; the village features a view of the three towering mountains Eiger, Mönch, and Jungfrau. Mürren has a year-round population of 450, but has 2,000 hotel beds.
but lacking connection to the main road system, the main transportation to Gimmelwald is the Luftseilbahn Stechelberg-Mürren-Schilthorn (LSMS) aerial tramway. The cable car travels down from Murren to Stechelberg on the floor of the Lauterbrunnen valley. At the bottom of the valley there is a bus to Lauterbrunnen where there are connections to the rest of Switzerland, and up to the town of Mürren and the Schilthorn.
Among the many striking features here, travelers rejoice in the local, naturally prepared food and the public fresh water drinking wells where you can stop, fill-up and quench your thirst with the freshest, coldest, purest mountain water you’ll ever taste. Your body, and oddly even your taste buds will graciously thank you for water that literally tastes delicious.
With only a small local population of around 150, Gimmelwald caters primarily to tourists – North Americans in the summertime and European tourists seeking snow-packed adventures in the winter. With such a limited number of residents, the local school was closed in favor of Gimmelwald’s youth attending school down the mountain in the nearby and considerably more populous village of Lauterbrunnen.
Photography credits: Vachon Studio