The narrow steep-sided
Lauterbrunnen Valley (796 m) is known as the “Valley of
Waterfalls”. Hardly surprising as a total of 72 falls cascade
down the sheer walls of the mountains lining the valley. The
most impressive is the sparkling Staubbach Falls,
Lauterbrunnen’s world-famous landmark, pictured below with the
church in the foreground. The village of Lauterbrunnen has
around 950 inhabitants and is the departure point for
exceptional excursions by rail or aerial cableway. For example
to the famous car-free resorts of Wengen and Mürren, to Europe’s
highest-altitude railway station on the Jungfraujoch–Top of
Europe and to the Schilthorn with its Piz Gloria revolving
restaurant, famed as the film set for James Bond’s exploits in
“On Her Majesty’s Secret Service”. The area, known as the
Jungfrau Region, offers outdoor addicts everything from
sunbathing to skydiving! Hiking and biking trails abound and the
region is a snowsport paradise, with around 200 km of
skiing/snowboarding pistes and about 100 km of winter walking
paths and sledge runs, including Europe’s longest at 15 km from
the Faulhorn peak down to Grindelwald. At the rear of the
Lauterbrunnen Valley is Stechelberg, a tiny hamlet from where
hiking trails lead into a picturesque and peaceful mountain
landscape, well away from the beaten tourist tracks.
Pictures Truemmelbach
Waterfalls