Amongst giants

It was a beautiful drive from Linthal to Grindelwald which took just over 4 hours

We kept coming around corners expecting to see the giants of Eiger, Monch, and Jungfrau

Just around the corner is Grindelwald

We pulled into town, found our hotel straight away and bought some train tickets from the hotel owner so that we could make the most of our short stay in Grindelwald. Our hotel is just behind the train and it is such a lovely little place!

View from our room up to the Eiger

We took the train up to Kleine Scheidegg and then walked around up to Eigergletscher while staring in awe and the incredible mountains!

In front of the Eiger 

Mandatory self-take

We had dinner at this restaurant in Grindelwald while watching the Eiger turn pink in the sunset light

The next morning we took the first train up to Kleine Scheidegg and then continued up to the station at the top of the ridge.

This is the final stop on the train

The Jungfraujoch railway goes actually inside of the Eiger and there are 2 places which have these big windows looking out to the world. There is also a doorway called Stollenloch that we spent lots of time looking for while on the train and eventually saw very quickly as we sped past.

Inside the Eiger

 Its pretty awesome up on the "Top of Europe". It was cold in some spots but a lovely day so on the sheltered side of the station it was actually pretty warm.

We stayed up there just looking around, trying to spot people climbing the glaciers and peaks, then followed the rest of the tour that this station has laid out and headed back down the railway. There were loads of old photos of when the station was built during 1898 - 1912, which were really cool. And then there was a sort of cheesy but cool (ha ha) ice palace that we glided through....

We spent as long as we could up at the top and then took the train back down to Eigergletscher and walked the Eiger Trail (#36 on map below) which goes along the base of the face back down Alpiglen before riding the rest of the way back to Grindelwald. 

Map showing train route (red) and paths (black).

We figured we needed 3 hours to drive from Grindelwald to Zurich airport so that we could return the rental car and I could fly home. But first we used the hotel's spa facilities to relax and clean off before traveling again...

Hotel Caprice's "Wellness Spa"

We said goodbye at the airport - Rhodri was going off to meet his friends and ride their bicycles over some of the Tour de France route in the French alps and I flew home so that I could take the kids to their first day of school tomorrow! Nain and Taid have been staying with them this whole time. (Thank you both SO much for this!)