Griesalp & Kandersteg (Switzerland)

After a three-year hiatus, I finally returned this Summer to Switzerland for Jungfrau Region Season 7. Season 6 was back in 2020, and my last hike in the Jungfrau Region was to the Beitenhorn where cloudy views were shortly thereafter compensated with the most glorious walk thru a trail of wildflowers I have ever experienced. The Soustal valley.

In 2021, I dabbled in the German Alps around the Königsee and the village of Berchtesgaden. Then 2022 came and went, and I woke up in 2023 wondering what happened.

It was my mission this year to revive my alpine hiking adventures. The question was where? Back in 2020, I confronted this same dilemma when I felt that I had sufficiently explored every corner of the Lauterbrunnen-Grindelwald area. A few weeks after the Beitenhorn-Soustal hike, I found myself in Austria’s Zillertal Alps. I absolutely loved that trip. But now that a few years have passed, I am not compelled to go back. My soul was telling me that it needed to be Switzerland again.

I took to scanning the map around Lauterbrunnen debating whether I could be happy re-visiting some old hikes, in the process updating some of my most popular blog posts. I wanted a place similar to Lauterbrunnen. Someplace nestled deep inside a long valley with layers of craggy mountains around it, spider-webbed with prime hiking options and tucked-away huts in all directions. Easy to get to by car, but remote enough to be fully immersed. Then a familiar name on the map caught my eye. Gspaltenhornhütte. This was a hut that had been on my radar during my stays in Stechelberg in the Lauterbrunnen valley. It was possible from Stechelberg, I was told, but I was warned to plan an overnight stay if I wanted to do it roundtrip. As I looked at it, it suddenly felt like unfinished business, a glaring omission. I noticed that there was more than one trail to it. My eyes followed the dashed line to the west (Stechelberg being to the east) and landed on a small mountain village called Griesalp.

I plugged the route into Komoot.com and my eyes lit up. A roundtrip from Griesalp was do-able without an overnight stay. But Griesalp itself was too remote, and it didn’t look like there was enough around it to sustain me for 5-6 days. Following the road down from Griesalp, I noticed it came to a valley similar to Lauterbrunnen also branching off from the lakes of Interlaken. As I followed the valley road deeper into the mountains, there it was. Kandersteg.

Gspaltenhornhütte was an absolute must, so a brief stay in Griesalp was necessary to avoid commuting from Kandersteg. Therefore, I decided to split my time between both places. Not ideal, but in retrospect, it worked out great. I found my new hiking headquarters. Now let me introduce them.

Griesalp

Griesalp is essentially a collection of hotels with a spa and restaurant situated all by itself at the end of a long steep winding road around 1500m elevation. The road approaching Griesalp is treacherous but there is a bus running between the hotel and a parking area at the base of the hairpin turns. If a bus can do it, your car can do it. The ascent seems more difficult than it really is. Not knowing what to expect, I sweated it out the whole way up hoping I didn’t take a turn too tightly and get the underbelly of my car jammed against the road. Once you know what it is like though, coming down is much easier.

The Good

Looking out my windows, all I could see was the lush landscape of alpine slopes, peaks and ridges looking naturally manicured; some snow-covered and beautifully menacing in places. A few chalets quietly slept in the distance. Sometimes hikers with hiking sticks would emerge beneath their flower-boxed eyelids or pause to admire the rustic charm as they walked by. Griesalp was the perfect choice to begin my trip. You are immediately cleansed of the static and pollution of daily life.

All of the trails that you would want to do lead right from the hotel. Outside there is a community terrace which on nice days is full of hikers drinking beer, apfelschorle, or iced coffee. I enjoyed one heavenly late afternoon soaking up the sun with a beer (or two) and a book here. The hotel restaurant keeps a table reserved for you hassle-free for breakfast and dinner. At this elevation, at least during my stay, it seems like any oppressive August heat which may occur during the day is whisked away by evening leaving refreshing 15C air to aid in a good night’s sleep. The staff there were very friendly, stopping by your table to ask about your hikes in a manner of genuine interest and inquiring about your comfort. If you like spas, I do believe they have nice facilities there judging by the number of people walking around in white robes, but I didn’t take advantage of them.

My Nitpicky Complaints

The hotels serve different budget levels, but the most basic rooms (around 200 CHF per night) have no private outdoor sitting area which seems unfathomable to me for a berghotel. It is the only time I have stayed in Switzerland and didn’t have my own private place to sit outside. There is no better place to contemplate how fortunate you are than the terrace of your Swiss Alp hotel room.

Not sure about the more expensive rooms, but the basic room also has no refrigerator. Unless you bring your own electric cooler or want to deal with the hairpin turns and minimum 1-hour drive back and forth from civilization, you are completely at the mercy of the hotel restaurant for food and cold drinks (the outer window sill was precariously narrow and didn’t cool well during the day). The food was ok, but way overpriced (e.g. 35 CHF for schwein schnitzel), and the selection was limited. After a hard day of intense hiking, I need carbs like Hell and a huge pizza is what usually does the trick. Settling for overly salty fries or bland pasta noodles along with my schnitzel (which is not the breaded weiner style) was anticlimactic each evening.

The Hikes

From Griesalp, I did two hikes which I will elaborate on in future blog posts.

• Gspaltenhornhütte (17.2 km, 1410 m total ascent)
• Christhubel (11.4 km, 840 m total ascent)

Verdict

Great for a 2 or 3-night stay tops just for the soul-cleansing alone. Gspaltenhornhütte is a must-do hike. Glad I did it once, but I don’t need to go back.

Kandersteg

The Good

By the time I left Griesalp, I was ready for some civilization and convenience again. Kandersteg is bigger than Lauterbrunnen and less touristy than Grindelwald. It combines the benefits of both. All the shops and restaurants you need are right at your fingertips including two supermarkets, and it has postcard picturesqueness. There are lots of hikers, but it is not overrun by tourist bus groups. The groups I saw were mainly student groups. I stayed at the Chalet Hotel Adler. My room had a refrigerator and a terrace. There was a supermarket across the street and best yet, a pizzeria a few-minute walk away.

Kandersteg is also convenient to public transportation. There is a train station which can be used to get to Interlaken and all of its connections. Bus service is simple especially if you are staying at a local hotel. You get a guest card which gives you free bus service and discounts on some of the cable cars in the area. One commonly used bus is between Kandersteg and the Sunnbüel cable car. It is bus 241 which you catch either at the train station or across from the church. The downside is that it only runs once per hour. Alternatively, it is a 30-minute walk.

I was surprised to see that Kandersteg sits around 1200m elevation, not that much lower than Griesalp, but the late afternoon heat lingers longer and the west-facing rooms of the chalet don’t necessarily make for a shady respite after hiking under the blazing sun for 8 hours. But once the sun starts to dip behind the mountains, it is lovely. There is simply no reason to be inside until bedtime at that point.

Kandersteg has a slew of cool hikes surrounding it. After doing three hikes there, I have hardly scratched the surface.

Nitpicky Complaints

Zero unless you count the 1 bus-per-hour thing.

The Hikes

• Blüemlisalphütte (22.3 km, 1650 m total ascent)
• Doldenhornhütte (10.5 km, 750 m total ascent)
• Gemmipass (18.9 km, 620m total ascent)

Verdict

This is a place I will come back to. At least for the foreseeable future, I don’t need to look for a new alpine hiking home. But I will say, if you are new to this region, I would still choose the Lauterbrunnen-Grindelwald area first. For me, I can’t imagine any place beating the tranquil perfection (and pizzeria) of Stechelberg.

A Word on Swiss Beer in the Bernese Oberland

I am sure I have touched upon Swiss beer (particularly from the Bernese Oberland) in the past. I haven’t reread my old posts to see what I have written, whether I was positive or negative. So if I repeat or even contradict myself, so be it. It is ironic to consider that nowhere in the world do I struggle as much with the beer than the place I love to visit the most. My own personal saying has become that the only good Swiss beer is the first one. That first Rugenbräu that you drink after a long hike can satisfy immensely, but everything totally falls off a cliff after that. Feldschlösschen is some of the blandest beer out there. There are a handful of other brands as well, each inspiring varying degrees of indifference. Not sure why I felt compelled to add this negativity to this post, except it was a regular phenomenon on this trip, perhaps magnified by the momentous anticipation surrounding my return to Switzerland, where I would crave the beer during the hike, daydreaming about that cold mug of golden crystal clear Rugenbräu waiting for me at the end. Then along comes a big carb-filled delicious pizza to enjoy with it. This vision is wedded with a feeling of hope. It transitions to my terrace where I imagine reaching for a 2nd and a 3rd. The fizz-crunch of the ice cold can opening is swallowed up by the gloriously silent Alpine vista. I gaze up at the mountains while romantic thoughts and words flow out to the universes. I bring the can to my lips. That is where the reality always collapses. My beer pictures in Switzerland are always intended to be idyllic and motivating. But there are a few grimaces and winces behind the scenes.

What saved the trip from being a beer disaster was that most restaurants offered Hacker-Pschorr Hefe Wieße, a Bavarian beer. This is nectar of the Gods, albeit with a different German accent.

Final Words

Leading up to Switzerland, I was less in tune with my fitness level compared to past years. I wasn’t sure if my will would be enough to overcome any physical limitations I thought could hinder me. Would I be able to push through some of the intense hikes I was planning? During the week, there were two hikes which fell in that epic category. Since I am sitting here about to embark on posts of these successful hikes, it is clear my worry was for naught, and I shouldn’t have underestimated myself. It was the first time I did five in a row and by the last one, I was more mentally exhausted than physically. Each of these hikes offered something different. Kandersteg turned out to be a fantastic choice and will lure me back next year for another season. Technically, Kandersteg is not part of the Jungfrau Region (only the valleys of Lauterbrunnen and Grindlewald are). So we can call it Bernese Oberland Season 7. Time to forge a trail of words about these great hikes and hope someone out there finds them helpful. See you on these trails in the coming days.