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GRINDELWALD |
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Valley-floor trains from Interlaken Ost also run to the more popular
and visited holiday centre of GRINDELWALD in its own broad valley
further east, nestling under the craggy trio of the Wetterhorn,
Mettenberg and Eiger. Numerous trails around Pfingstegg and especially
First - both at the end of gondola lines from Grindelwald - provide
excellent hiking, and the icy caverns of the Oberer Gletscher are a
ninety-minute walk, plus 890 stairs, away (May-Oct daily 9am-6pm; Sfr5).
The tourist office (Mon-Fri 8am-6/7pm, Sat 8am-5pm; July & Aug also Sun
9-11am & 3-5pm; tel 033/854 12 12, www.grindelwald.ch ) is near the
station, alongside the region's main Bergsteigerzentrum (Mountaineering
Centre; tel 033/853 12 00), which offers easy guided ascents (Sfr77 to
the 2928-metre Schwarzhorn), canyon jumps (Sfr95), glacier abseils
(Sfr45), and more. Grindelwald is famous paragliding country, and Tandem
Flights (tel 033/853 55 53, www.paragliding-grindelwald.ch ) offers
accompanied jumps from Sfr150. A bus from opposite Hotel Bernerhof , or
a steep fifteen-minute walk, will get you to Terrassenweg, a quiet lane
running above the village, where there's an excellent HI hostel (tel
033/853 10 09, www.youthhostel.ch ; £10-15/$16-24) and a
Naturfreundehaus (tel 033/853 13 33; £10-15/$16-24). SB Mountain Hostel
(tel 033/853 39 00, www.mountainhostel.ch ; £10-15/$16-24) is on the
valley floor beside Grindelwald-Grund station. (Trains from Grindelwald
pass through Grund on their way up to Kleine Scheidegg.) Camp at Aspen (tel
033/853 11 24, aspen@grindelwald.ch ; closed Nov-Feb).
The nearby Grosse Scheidegg pass is closed to private cars, but you can
cross it on any of several two-, three- and four-pass summer tours by
postbus, which take in spectacular scenery on some of the highest roads
in Europe around the major Alpine pass-routes of the Grimsel, Furka and
Susten. Consult the tourist office or postbus office (tel 033/828 88 28,
www.post.ch ) for reservations. Regular buses ply over the Grosse
Scheidegg to MEIRINGEN , from where trains depart to Luzern and
Interlaken.
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