Murren

Only a few days into our trip, we arrived in Murren. And one of the first things we see...

Alpine cows marching through the main street of Murren, and past our chalet, on the way home

Murren is a small village that sits on the mountain massif, over 800 meters above the long river valley (Lauterbrunnen valley) that lies in between steep mountains, which allows for a gorgeous panoramic view from either side of the valley.

On this map, you see Murren at 1634 m and Gimmelwald, that's actually below Murren at 1400 m

Lauterbrunnen valley is majestic

But first I want to describe Murren to you. It's a fascinating place that is very popular among tourists from every corner of the world, and for a number of good reasons.

Fist of all, Murren is a small car-free village, meaning that visitors can only walk. Of course, it's completely natural considering that most people come here to hike. And there are lots of excellent hiking trails all around Murren!

Murren, view from one of the trails above the village

We hiked every single day of the week we were in Murren. I think I will have to make separate blog entries for each of the major hikes, as each of them is so unique and picturesque that I must cover them separately. You probably heard of the North Face... That's where it is, near Murren!

Another reason that makes Murren a prime destination is the breathtaking view of the three famous peaks of the Bernese Alps - the Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau. We could not take our eyes off of them and probably took a thousand pictures of these three mountains alone. I must say, they are worth all the attention they receive.

One of the thousand pictures of Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau that I took (more to come!)

The third major attraction that you can find in Murren is the Schilthorn mountain (2,971 m/9,748 ft). Schilthorn is only accessible from Murren via the gondola that first goes to Birg (2,677 m/8,783 ft) and then you switch to another gondola all the way to Piz Gloria, the tip of Schilthorn. Since the mountain is on the same side with Murren, it does not look as impressive as the mountains on the other side of the valley. But once you get all the way to Piz Gloria, the view is majestic. Here is a little teaser for you, but Schilthorn as the site of the James Bond movie "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" deserves its own blog entry as well.

Piz Gloria and the revolving restaurant where "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" was filmed - View from Birg Station

A Schilthorn gondola descending from the top

We loved Murren. We stayed at an awesome bed and breakfast type of place called Chalet Fontana.

It's owned by Denise who we suspected to be a Swiss (after all what else should you expect to find high up in the Swiss Alps?). Well, when we met our host, she turned out to be not Swiss at all, but British! She welcomed us to her homey and comfortable chalet and gave us lots of tips on the area, and also warm clothes! Yes, it's hard to believe but the temperatures in Switzerland were incredibly low at the end of June this year. When we arrived in Murren, it must have been in the 50s F but some days it was even in the 40s F! Honestly, we were not prepared for this kind of weather, so Denise was very sweet to lend me a scarf and a pair of gloves (you will see lots of pictures of me wearing them :)).

Breakfast with Denise. Hmm... I don't see Nutella! It must be somewhere there :)

Anyway, the bad weather (and it was quite bad at times - cold wind, rain, and even snow!) did not stop or slow us down. And so we went hiking every single day regardless of the weather forecast. On the very first day, we walked down to another village named Gimmelwald - a typical tiny Swiss village where tradition is being preserved with support from the Swiss government. Tourists come here to see the traditional Alpine way of life - farmers and their cows. The farmers have their livestock graze on the slopes behind their houses that look like mountain cabins.

On the way down to Gimmelwald, overlooking the Lauterbrunnen valley

Yes, it's never a bad time to stop and smell the flowers

They also make and sell home-made cheese, butter, and sausage. It's very interesting how they sell them though. There is no market, or shop where you go to buy that stuff. Instead, you, a curious visitor, have to come into a farmer's house, usually through a side door and into a storage room on the first floor.

There you will find an unattended "shop" - a small fridge with cheese and other goodness for sale. You open the fridge and take what you want. How do you pay, you'd ask? It functions as an honesty shop, so you just leave the money in the fridge!

We "bought" our first Swiss cheese and sausage on the first day, and we came back to the same fridge again a few days later - the food was just so good!

Finally, we got to experience Swiss folk culture in Murren - yodeling, dances, and alphorn with traditional flag throwing. It was quite impressive that local people from several villages around Murren come together every week to perform for the tourist crowd. The mountain villagers are very proud of their heritage and traditional lifestyle. We learned that all of them are either farmers or work in other jobs, and they perform at this weekly culture night as volunteers.

We spent a wonderful week in Murren and hiked almost every imaginable path, up and down the mountains, in every direction possible. I will share more photos and stories about the most special hikes and sights around Murren in the next several posts. Stay tuned!