Holidays to Switzerland Travel Podcast Episode 5 Transcript
Planning your visit to Jungfraujoch Top of Europe
You can see the full show notes and listen to this episode > here.
Intro
Welcome to the Holidays to Switzerland Travel podcast. Your host is the founder of holidaystoswitzerland.com and the Switzerland Travel Planning Facebook group, Carolyn Schonafinger. On this podcast, you’ll be joined by a variety of guests who share their knowledge and love of the country to help you plan your dream trip to Switzerland.
Carolyn Schönafinger
Thanks for joining me on episode 5 of the Holidays to Switzerland Travel podcast. If you are planning on a trip to Switzerland, chances are you’ve heard of the train excursion to the Jungfraujoch whilst doing your trip research. It’s one of the most famous mountain excursions in Switzerland, and possibly the world. And it’s the number one attraction of the Jungfrau Region. I’ve been fortunate to visit Jungfraujoch on a few occasions, and it really is an incredible experience. It’s one that you’ll remember forever. So it’s definitely worth considering including it in your travel plans. Today’s guest is going to to tell us more about the day trip to the Jungfraujoch, as well as some of the other mountain excursions in the region. Now, don’t forget, you can find the show notes from today’s episode with links to additional information at holidaystoswitzerland.com/episode5. You can also get comprehensive information on the different rail passes available for travel in the Jungfrau Region, including the Jungfrau Travel Pass, in my e-book, and I’ll share a link to it in the show notes, too. I hope you enjoy learning all about the Jungfrau railways.
Carolyn Schönafinger
Hi, welcome to today’s episode of the Holidays to Switzerland Travel podcast.
Carolyn Schönafinger
Today, we’re going to be talking all about the Jungfrau Railways and my special guest today is Dario Gross, who is the sales manager for the company. Welcome, Dario. Thanks for joining us today.
Dario Gross
Hi, Carolyn. Thanks for inviting me.
Carolyn Schönafinger
You’re very welcome. Now, it must be wonderful working for a company that owns some of the most spectacular railways, not only in Switzerland, but in the whole world. What can you tell us about Jungfrau Railways and its history?
Dario Gross
Yeah, the Jungfrau Railways, it grew a lot during the last century. I say century because it all started in the 1800s. A rich businessman called Adolf Guyer-Zeller, he had the vision to build a railway track from a Kleine Scheidegg to Mount Jungfrau. So he applied for the concession at the government at the 1893. Three years later, they started to constructing. So that was a major step for the whole project, for the whole Jungfrau Railways. That’s when everything started. And then in 1896, they started to build the Jungfrau railway track to Mount Jungfrau, and they finished 16 years later, but not on Mount Jungfrau. They finished actually on Jungfraujoch, known today as Jungfraujoch Top of Europe. So that’s just because the money ran out and they couldn’t reach quite the Jungfrau. But the Jungfraujoch Top of Europe, as we know it today, is as spectacular and amazing. And still today, it’s the Top of Europe, meaning it’s the highest railway station in Europe.
Carolyn Schönafinger
And it’s pretty hard to comprehend, I think, that they managed all that amazing engineering all those years ago without the technology and some of the equipment that we have today.
Dario Gross
Yeah, it’s a very good point, Carolyn. They had to dig a tunnel. So the whole route is a distance of nine kilometres, and seven kilometres of those nine kilometres is tunnel. They had to dig with very primitive tools, basically. They used a bit of dynamite, but not as we know it today. But mostly it was handwork. If you come here and you see this big rock of of Eiger, where the tunnel mostly goes through, it’s hard to believe that they did that. And it’s amazing. It’s a pioneering work indeed.
Carolyn Schönafinger
Yeah, absolutely. So let’s start with Jungfraujoch, which is probably one of the most famous of all the Swiss mountain excursions. What can someone expect when they’re planning a trip to the Jungfraujoch?
Dario Gross
So I always suggest to my clients to start the journey from Jungfraujoch down in Interlaken, to be exact, in Interlaken Ost. That’s the first train station from the Jungfrau railways. When you come to the Jungfrau region, you take the train and you have two possibilities. You have two routings you can choose. Either you go via a Lauterbrunnen or you go via Grindelwald to Kleine Scheidegg, the starting point Kleine Scheidegg to the Jungfrajoch. I suggest, my personal opinion, it’s a good way to go from Interlaken Ost to Lauterbrunnen and see you see this very beautiful and amazing Lauterbrunnen Valley in the morning when your mind is fresh and you see those 72 waterfalls and it’s very iconic. Also through social media nowadays, Lauterbrunnen Valley became very popular, and you have actually the best view from our trains. You take the train up then from Lauterbrunnen to Kleine Scheidegg, which is a roughly 40 minutes train ride. Then you take the Jungfrau railway, as I told you before, the last journey. It takes you 35 minutes to go to the Top of Europe. When it started in the 1912, when they had the first train ride to the Jungfraujoch, actually, the journey took 1 hour and 15 minutes, and nowadays, only 35 minutes.
Dario Gross
When you arrive up there, you can do a self-guided tour. The first stop is the beautiful vantage terrace on the Top of Europe, where you see the beautiful UNESCO World Heritage and the longest glacier in Europe, the Aletsch Glacier. You can continue the It’s really easy to do, self-guided, as I mentioned. Then you go through the Alpine Sensation, which is a little museum where we tell the story about how they built the tunnel up to the Jungfraujoch. You can go on the glacier. You have the Glacier Experience. There’s the Lindt Swiss Chocolate Heaven. If you have a bit more time, you can even hike for 45 minutes to an Alpine hut. And it’s a groomed path, so you don’t need real good mountain gear, just solid shoes to reach this alpine hut, the Mönchsjochhütte, which is a hidden gem.
Carolyn Schönafinger
That sounds like something really adventurous to do.
Dario Gross
Yeah, definitely. And you have snow and ice all year long. So now today, we have 31 degrees celsius down here in Interlaken. On the Top of Europe, it’s very cool. So it’s fresh, and still, there’s snow all year around.
Carolyn Schönafinger
Great. Now, are reservations necessary on the trains?
Dario Gross
It is mandatory for groups. In Switzerland, groups are considered 10 persons or more. For individuals in Switzerland and also on the Jungfrau railways, they can hop on and hop off any train they want. They don’t need to pre-reserve any trains. But we do have a bottleneck on Kleine Scheidegg to Jungfraujoch. And there, it’s not mandatory for individual guests, but there you can make a reservation online on jungfrau.ch to have your guaranteed departure time and you don’t have to stand online. But just for this section.
Carolyn Schönafinger
Okay. Now, you mentioned that there’s two routings to get to the Jungfraujoch at the moment, either via Lauterbrunnen or via Grindelwald. But I believe the company is building a cableway from Grindelwald, which will reduce the travel time. Can you tell us a little bit about that?
Dario Gross
Yeah, that’s correct. So we’re building since 2017, we’re building the V Cableway project and it has eight sub-projects. And the whole project costs 500 million Swiss francs, so half a billion. And it’s amazing, the big construction site you can see in Grindelwald. And it has, as I mentioned, eight sub-projects. I just go closed into three sub-projects. One is the Grindelwald Terminal, which is, we can imagine, like a little airport where you arrive there by train, and then you by a footpath, you get to this big terminal. And from there, you can either choose to go up to Mount Mannlichen, a cable car bringing you up there. Now, today, in 19 minutes, three years ago, or actually last year, it was 30 minutes, or as of fifth of December, where the project will be finished and the Eiger Express will have its maiden voyage, the Eiger Express brings you straight to the Eiger Glacier, the Eiger Glacier station in 15 minutes. If you take the train from Grindelwald via Kleine Scheidegg to Eiger Glacier, it takes you 1 hour. And with the Eiger Express, 15 minutes. So you save a travelling time of 45 minutes. And the Eiger Glacier will be the basically new getaway to the Jungfraujoch Top of Europe during the whole year.
Dario Gross
And in winter, of course, you’re going to be way faster on the slopes as well, because in winter, all this becomes the Jungfraujoch Top of Europe ski area.
Carolyn Schönafinger
Sure. Now, as well as the Jungfraujoch, what are the other railways in the company’s portfolio?
Dario Gross
Yeah, exactly. That’s a good point. So I mentioned how everything started with the Jungfrau railways holding. Nowadays, we have more than nine companies actually consisting the Jungfrau railways holding. There is as well the First cableway. That’s a cableway which brings you from Grindelwald to Mount First. Grindelwald First, Top of Adventure, we call it. If you take the train from Wilderswil to Schynige Platte, that’s the Top of Swiss Tradition, Harder kulm, Top of Interlaken, a funicular arrives from Interlaken to the house mountain, we call it in Interlaken, Harder Kulm Top of Interlaken. And all these different mountain excursions, they just go beside the Jungfraujoch Top of Europe. So you should, when you come to region. Yes, go to the top of Europe and do the other mountains, because on every mountain there’s something else to see. Every mountain has its speciality, to put it that way.
Carolyn Schönafinger
Yeah, exactly. And you mentioned the Schynige Platte. It has the Alpine garden, for instance. At First, you’ve got all those adventure activities, the First Flyer and the glider and so forth.
Dario Gross
That’s correct. Yeah, that’s correct. The Schynige Platte is a good example. We have an Alpine garden with 650 different Alpine flowers, and among them, of course, the Edelweiss. We really try to portray the top of Swiss tradition there. We also every train which arrives on Schynige Platte between 11:00 AM and 2:00 PM is welcomed by Alphorn players.
Carolyn Schönafinger
Yeah, and that’s a sound that you never forget. It’s beautiful.
Dario Gross
That’s correct. Also on Grindelwald First, the different adventure activities you mentioned, you have the First Cliff Walk, which is free of charge, accessible for everyone. You get beautiful pictures from up there. We have the Zip Lines, the First Glider, and the First Flyer. We have mountain cars, we have scooter bikes, but there’s also a hiking El Dorado. One of the top hotspots is the Lake Bachalp, which is a beautiful alpine lake.
Carolyn Schönafinger
Plenty to do in the region, that’s for sure.
Dario Gross
For sure.
Carolyn Schönafinger
Now, for those who are coming and going to spend a few days in the region, there’s a Jungfrau Travel Pass available. Can you tell us how that works and what that covers?
Dario Gross
Yeah. So the Jungfrau Travel Pass, you can get as of three days, three consecutive days, up to eight consecutive days. So if we have guests here which stay two, three nights in the Jungfrau Region or in the Interlaken Holiday Region, it makes definitely sense to get the Jungfrau Travel Pass, because then all those mountain excursions, which I just mentioned are included. The Grindelwald First, Schynige Platte, and Harder Kulm are included, and you get a very good deal to the Top of Europe. You only pay 69 Swiss francs additional to the Jungfrau Travel Pass, and then the Jungfrau Top of Europe is also included. If you get the pass as so five days, five consecutive days, even the boats are included on Lake Brienz and Lake Thun. So for people, for guests who come here to the region for two, three nights, as I mentioned, this is definitely a good pass to get.
Carolyn Schönafinger
So it’s very economical for them to do more than one excursion.
Dario Gross
For sure. For sure. Exactly.
Carolyn Schönafinger
Okay. Now, are all the railways and cableways open all year round?
Dario Gross
That’s a good question, Carolyn. So the Jungfraujoch Top of Europe is open 365 days. The Schynige Platte and the Harder Kulm, they are closed during winter. And Grindelwald First becomes a ski region. So a ski El Dorado on Mount First. So this is also open almost 365 days. It’s closed for maintenance in November, but opens then for the ski season.
Carolyn Schönafinger
Okay. So even if you’re visiting in winter, you can still do the Jungfraujoch excursion.
Dario Gross
That’s correct.
Carolyn Schönafinger
Excellent. But we can’t leave without asking you, what are your top tips for someone visiting the Jungfrau Region?
Dario Gross
My top tips is, of course, visiting the Jungfraujoch Top of Europe. Why don’t you want to be on the highest railway station in Europe on almost 3,500 metres or 11,000 feet? This will approximately take you for sure half a day with the journey to enjoy the whole scenery. And then when you come back to Interlaken, stroll around the city of Interlaken, which has a beautiful park in the middle of the town. Then around when it gets to dinner time, you should definitely go to Harder Kulm and have a dinner up there. Harder Kulm has evening departures. The last funicular down to Interlaken goes 9:40 PM, so enough time to end this beautiful day with a glass of wine, or they have the coldest beer in Interlaken, which is true, actually. The food, the kitchen is great. You get traditional Swiss food, for example, fondue or other schnitzel or other great dishes as well. This is something. This is how I would plan one day.
Carolyn Schönafinger
I bet you get wonderful views also.
Dario Gross
Yeah, definitely. The view from Harder Kulm on the platform, you can see Lake Thun, you can see Lake Brienz, see Interlaken below you, and you can see in the backdrop, Eiger Mönch and Jungfrau, the majestic three mountains here in the Bernese Oberland. And it’s only an eight minutes funicle ride from Interlaken, so it’s quickly done.
Carolyn Schönafinger
Wonderful. Well, I, for one, can’t wait to get back to the region, that’s for sure. So thank you very much for spending time with us today and answering all those questions. And I’m sure that all the listeners will ready to book their trip to the Jungfrau Region as soon as possible.
Dario Gross
Yeah, definitely. Thanks so much again for inviting me. And take care and stay safe, Carolyn.
Carolyn Schönafinger
Thank Thank you.
Thank you so much for listening. For more great resources on planning a trip to Switzerland, make sure you visit holidaystoswitzerland.com, where you’ll find trip planning tips, destination guides, information on transport, including Swiss rail passes, and much more. You’re also encouraged to join the Switzerland Travel Planning Group on Facebook, where you can ask questions and chat to other past and future travellers to Switzerland. You’ll find show notes from today’s episode at holidaystoswitzerland.com/podcast, and be sure to subscribe to the Holidays to Switzerland Travel podcast so you never miss an episode.
You can see the full show notes and listen to this episode > here.
