The Lauterbrunnen Valley, Switzerland

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