New Year's Day on the Jungfrau Railway
On New Year's Day we enjoy what is undoubtedly the highlight of
our stay in the Bernese Oberland, with our excursion to the summit
of the Jungfrau. We begin on the Bernese Oberland Railway
trundling through the foothills of the Alps from Interlaken to
Lauterbrunnen, through snowy pastures and past pretty villages. In
Lauterbrunnen, we change trains to continue our ascent through ever
changing scenery, to reach Kleine Scheidegg, where we join the
Jungfrau Railway itself. Rising higher still, from Kleine
Scheidegg the distinctive string of red and yellow carriages
disappear into the tunnel through the Eiger mountain, making stops
at the observation windows hewn out of solid Alpine rock, before
emerging at Jungfraujoch, the 'Top of Europe', located at 3545m
above sea level. With free time at the summit station, you will
have plenty of time to explore the Ice Palace and its many ice
sculptures, the Sphinx Terrace with superb views onto the Aletsch
Glacier, at 22 km the longest ice stream in the Alps, and the
walking plateau, eternally covered in snow. After time to explore
and to enjoy lunch, we descend via the charming mountain resort of
Grindelwald.
