From the car-free village on its cliff ledge, along the Northface Trail with the Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau directly across the gulf, down through hay meadows to the hamlet of Gimmelwald and on by the old mule path through the forest to the valley floor.
Mürren and Gimmelwald sit on a sunny terrace 800 metres above the Lauterbrunnen valley, reachable only by cable car, railway or foot, and facing the finest wall of peaks in the Bernese Alps.
The Northface Trail is a signposted walk with information panels about the climbs on the faces opposite. It loops above Mürren through the meadows and farms of Blumental, where the view across the valley to the Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau is unobstructed. From there the route drops to Gimmelwald, a hamlet of wooden barns, a few dozen people and a famous backpackers' hostel, which fought for years to keep its farming character and largely won.
Below Gimmelwald, the old mule path, the only link before the cable car, zigzags steeply down through the forest past waterfalls to Stechelberg at the head of the valley. It is a walk of villages, meadows and views more than summits, and it ends close to the Trümmelbach falls.
Yellow signs throughout. You can stop at Gimmelwald and take the cable car down if your knees object.
Approximate profile.
Arrive by the cable car from Stechelberg or the cableway and train from Lauterbrunnen via Grütschalp. Walk through the village, past chalets and hotels with balconies over the void, and pick up the Northface Trail signs.
The path climbs gently into the Blumental, the "valley of flowers", through hay meadows and past farms and the Pension Sonnenberg, with panels naming the peaks and climbing routes opposite. For more height, ride the Allmendhubel funicular from Mürren and join the trail from the top, where there is a flower trail and a famous playground.
The trail descends through meadows to Gimmelwald, 1,363 metres, a cluster of wooden houses and barns with a cable-car station, an honesty-box farm stall or two and a hostel with a terrace that faces the Jungfrau. Stop for a drink.
Below Gimmelwald the old path zigzags steeply down through spruce forest, past the Sefinen stream and waterfalls, to Stechelberg at the head of the valley. Buses run down the valley to Lauterbrunnen; the Trümmelbach falls are a 20-minute walk away.
From Lauterbrunnen, take the cableway to Grütschalp and the little railway along the cliff to Mürren; or the bus to Stechelberg and the cable car up via Gimmelwald. The Schilthorn cable cars continue above Mürren to the Schilthorn summit.
Mürren is the quietest base in the region: no cars, a few hotels and bars, and sunsets over the Jungfrau. Gimmelwald's hostel and guesthouses are simpler still.
Where to base →
Flat along the valley floor past Staubbach and Trümmelbach.
The old path up through the meadows under the Jungfrau.
Männlichen to Kleine Scheidegg, with the Eiger growing ahead.
Under 1,800 metres of rock and ice, from Eigergletscher to Alpiglen.
Fifty minutes from the gondola to a mirror under the Faulhorn.
The turquoise lake under the Blüemlisalp, and the Heuberg view.
Wikimedia Commons photographs are used under their Creative Commons licences; Pexels photographs under the Pexels licence. Click a title for the original, its author and licence.
