I embarked on a hastily planned bucket-list trip to cover the Interlaken area, the Matterhorn vicinity, and a short excursion to Lucerne. The heavy-duty to-do list was hiking-intensive, with a generous helping of sightseeing.
The flight landed in Zurich at 3:30 pm on September 11. The train took me to Interlaken Ost, and then on to Wengen via Lauterbrunnen. It was a quick primer on the Swiss rails, a user-friendly system. Wengen was the preferred base because of its easy access to hiking trails.
Day 1 · Jungfraujoch and Lauterbrunnen
On my first full day, my first order of business was to check the most touristy box: the trip to the Jungfraujoch. It is heavily promoted, and despite the over-commercialization, it is worth it. The cogwheel train climbs from Kleine Scheidegg to the highest railway station in Europe, at 3,454 meters. There is plenty to do and see, including a walk outside, mighty glaciers, a tunnel inside the glacier, and every wallet-reaching Swiss excellence, in the form of shopping and restaurants. Fortunately, the day was bright, and you could see forever. Sometimes, fog and low clouds can totally obliterate the view.
Next up was a gondola to Männlichen, then a short hike to a viewpoint that opened vistas of the mighty triumvirate: Jungfrau, Mönch, and Eiger. The Jungfraujoch is the saddle between the Jungfrau and the Mönch, and it hosts a mighty glacier. These three peaks — Jungfrau at 4,158 meters, Mönch at 4,107, Eiger at 3,967 — are the slow-motion consequence of the African plate ramming into Eurasia, a collision that began some 35 to 65 million years ago and that the Alps are technically still finishing. The names carry their own folklore: legend has it that a monastery for women once stood on the Jungfrau (“the virgin”) and a monastery for men on the Eiger (“the ogre”), with the Mönch (“the monk”) planted between them to keep the two camps apart. More sober etymologists trace “Jungfrau” instead to the nuns of Interlaken Monastery, who once owned the alpine meadow facing the peak — a less romantic but probably more accurate story. Either way, after the first ascent in 1811 by the Meyer brothers, the summit was jokingly nicknamed “Mme Meyer.”
Several peaks in the area have glaciers, and I chose not to memorize the names; instead, I soaked in the spectacle.
Then I took a short hike to see the famous waterfall in Lauterbrunnen. It lacked the raucous thunder of its bloom days; by mid-September, the snowmelt seemed to have reduced it to a trickle. On a good day, Staubbach Falls drops 297 meters in a single, near-freefall plunge — one of the highest single-drop falls in the Alps, and the signature waterfall of a valley that holds 72 of them. The name comes from “Staub,” German for dust or spray, since the water atomizes into mist well before it reaches the valley floor. Goethe was apparently moved enough by it to write about it.
Day 2 · Schynige Platte to First
The next day was reserved for the hike from Schynige Platte to First, allegedly the holy grail of day hikes in Switzerland. It is a little over ten miles long, with more than 3,200 feet of elevation gain, which puts it in the hard category. The trail boasts some of the most stunning views, with Lake Brienz on the left and the mighty triumvirate, with an impressive supporting cast, on the right, instilling a constant FOMO in me. My head was on a swivel, trying to soak up every visual delight. As I neared the end, Bachalpsee, a glacially carved basin bordered by multiple peaks and fed by snowmelt, was an absolute doozy. I was exhausted but accomplished.
On the way back, I took the gondola down to Grindelwald, a drop of well over 3,000 feet, and then headed back to Wengen. I happened to chat briefly with a group of college students on the ride; it was their second visit from Zurich in two years.
Like me, they were disappointed by the noticeable glacier shrinkage. During my stay in Interlaken and subsequently in Zermatt, the daily temperature exceeded the average by 20 degrees. The small sample precludes generalizations, but the trend is unquestionable: Swiss glaciers have lost roughly a quarter of their volume since 2015, and 2022 alone erased 6% in a single melt season — the worst on record. Research out of ETH Zurich projects that Alpine glaciers will lose about half their volume by 2050 regardless of what we do, and more than 90% by 2100 if emissions go unchecked. Even the storied Aletsch Glacier — the largest in the Alps — is projected to lose half its volume by century’s end in the best case, and nearly all of it in the worst. The consequences run well past scenery: these glaciers are the Alps’ water towers, feeding rivers, hydropower, and agriculture through the dry summer months, and their retreat is already destabilizing slopes — the May 2025 collapse that buried the village of Blatten was linked to exactly this.
Bears in Switzerland were hunted to extinction by 1904; only since 2005 have a few wandered back in from Italy. The warming planet risks doing to the glaciers what the rifle did to the bears — only this time, there is no adjacent population to repopulate from.
Not everyone in the valleys is cheering the bears’ return, though: the same corridor that brought wolves back into Switzerland has already cost sheep farmers a good many animals, and the herders bracing for bears figure the predators’ comeback is easier to romanticize from a hiking trail than from a pasture.
Day 3 · Lake Brienz and Interlaken
The next day, I decided to go easy on myself and planned to explore the Interlaken area with a boat cruise on Lake Brienz. Wengen to Lauterbrunnen to Interlaken Ost, the scenery is relentlessly stunning.
I bought a ticket and boarded the boat to enjoy the storied Lake Brienz. “It is a small world, after all,” I thought as I stepped aboard and ran into a young couple and their daughter, who have been like family to me since childhood. We chatted and enjoyed a short ride to Iseltwald. We said our goodbyes, and I decided to check out a local waterfall, the Giessbach.
The sign suggested a 90-minute hike, but it neglected to say it was one way. It is a beautiful wooded hike on the banks of Lake Brienz, until the end, that is. I went off-road looking for a shortcut, and the trail was wet from last night’s rain, crisscrossed by tree roots hidden under the wet fall leaves carpeting the path. Add to that, most of the 1,200 feet of ascent was packed into this short segment. I missed my hiking poles but incurred no lasting damage. The falls — fed from the high Faulhorn–Sägis valley above and tumbling roughly 500 meters over 14 cascades, each named for a Bernese hero — reminded me of Lauterbrunnen. But it was easy to imagine its majesty cascading over rocky stair steps for a good 1,500 feet when pregnant with water. I ran-walked back and just made it in time for the boat to Interlaken Ost.
Lo and behold, I ran into my Bakersfield crowd again, necessitating another round of goodbyes when getting off the boat. I had an important box to check in Interlaken: visiting the statue of the legendary Indian filmmaker Yash Chopra, celebrated as Interlaken’s ambassador. He was not only one of Bollywood’s most successful filmmakers; he also did more than anyone to put the natural beauty of the Interlaken region on the Indian map. Ten of his films were shot in the Jungfrau region, and stars like Shah Rukh Khan and Amitabh Bachchan appeared in his movies, which is precisely why my own Bakersfield crowd and I kept crossing paths with fellow Indian tourists all week. The 350-kilogram bronze statue, a replica of the one at his studio in Mumbai, stands in the Kursaal Garden. His widow, Pamela Chopra, unveiled it in 2016.
Done for the day, I headed back to the train station for Wengen. Did I say it is a small world? You guessed it: I ran into my Bakersfield crowd a third time. All in all, I logged a little over 13 miles for the purported slow day, not counting the gym work I squeezed in to get the day started.
Day 4 · On to Zermatt
The move to Zermatt was a relay race in miniature: Wengen–Lauterbrunnen–Interlaken Ost–Visp–Zermatt, four trains in under four hours, each connection made with the smugness the Swiss reserve for punctuality. Zermatt itself is car-free and unapologetically upscale, a town where every storefront seems to be a Swiss watch or chocolate brand auditioning for your wallet. The Mont Cervin Palace gave me a suite directly facing the Matterhorn, a room with a view that does most of the marketing for itself.
Travel had eaten most of the day, but I salvaged what I could with a run up to Sunnegga, a steep funicular ride and the gateway to the famous Five Lakes Hike. With the last train down setting a hard stop, I had barely two hours — enough to scout the route and take in the Matterhorn unobstructed.
The mountain’s geology is more interesting than its silhouette suggests. It is not simply Alpine granite thrust skyward but a layered leftover of the Tethys Ocean, the sea that once separated Africa from Europe until the two plates closed the gap. The lower part of the peak is largely ocean crust and sediment from that vanished sea, while the upper portion, the final push to 14,692 feet (4,478 meters), is gneiss from the African plate, shoved on top in the collision that raised the Alps. The summit is, in effect, a rather dramatic import from Africa. Its famous pyramid is not a birthright but a carving: glaciers gnawing at the mountain from four sides through the ice ages produced the clean faces we see today. The name, roughly “peak of the meadows,” reflects how the spire rises almost vertically out of the surrounding pastures.
Science favors the African import. The legend of Gargantua crossing from the Italian side, slipping, and crushing the entire mountain range, leaving behind the towering spire, is romantically more appealing. I am going with the giant.
Day 5 · The Five Lakes
Rain was promised for the afternoon, so I front-loaded the day with the Five Lakes Hike proper — the Fünf-Seenweg — at a pace that let the Matterhorn earn its keep. The trail connects five lakes: Stellisee, Grindjisee, Grünsee, Moosjisee, and Leisee. Three of them — Stellisee, Grindjisee, and Leisee — throw a clean reflection of the mountain back at anyone patient enough to stop and look. Stellisee, the first, is the postcard shot: still water, the peak doubled in it. Moosjisee, by contrast, runs a milky turquoise, tinted by glacial silt rather than ambition. My own route, run long, cleared ten miles with roughly 2,200 feet of gain — well past the standard loop of about six miles, but the extra ground bought extra glacier.
When exhaustion seemed to seep in, a few seconds’ break let the rejuvenating breeze breathe extra steps into me. The spectacular scenery was no trivial crutch either.
True to forecast, the rain arrived at 4 pm on schedule, as if the Alps kept watch too. I answered it by taking the Gornergrat train instead of retreating — a cogwheel line that has climbed to 10,135 feet since 1898, still the highest open-air railway in Europe, built to put tourists eye-level with the Matterhorn and its glaciers. It tends to get cold up there. The weather opened up intermittently, giving me views of the peaks and glaciers. More importantly, the trip served as a scouting mission: less a consolation for the rain than a preview of what clear skies might offer.
Day 6 · Gornergrat
The train to Gornergrat was the main and only event. The day was choreographed to perfection, with the Sun playing peek-a-boo with the clouds, presenting a buffet of nature’s repertoire.
Most revelers get off the train at Rotenboden, before the final stop at Gornergrat. Rotenboden offers miles of trails adjacent to the majestic and mighty glaciers. But the Matterhorn, admiring its reflection in the Riffelsee, takes the cake. I conspicuously lack the language to capture the abundance of nature’s eye-watering and soul-saturating bounty. Only seeing is believing. A hike along the glaciers taught me the meaning of soul-itude.
After a few miles of hiking, I boarded the train to Gornergrat. At an altitude slightly higher than 10,000 feet, Gornergrat puts you in proximity to the Matterhorn. The views and the magnitude of the massive spire jutting into space are mind-blowing. The steep hikes in different directions at this altitude open up vistas far exceeding the prior encounters. The best part of a visit to Gornergrat is that the train does the hiking for you, and the views are available to anyone, regardless of physical ability. Beauty-wise, a trip to Gornergrat is a must and easily the crowning glory.
Day 7 · Lucerne
After a final lingering look at the Matterhorn, and with a deep appreciation for the brave souls actively engaged in summiting the behemoth, I checked out and headed for the last leg of my journey, Lucerne. To reach the Bürgenstock Hotel, I took a catamaran and then a funicular. The 25-minute catamaran ride offered lavish views of the glistening lake as the sun peeked in and out of the clouds. The colors shifted from turquoise to blue to sapphire, against the fading city buildings and towering churches, as we headed toward the mountains. The funicular delivered me to the grand lobby, elegantly designed and beautifully decorated, with an elevated panoramic view of Lake Lucerne and its celebrated peaks: Pilatus, the Rigi, the Stanserhorn, and, on a clear day, Titlis in the distance.
I had drawn up an ambitious schedule to maximize my time in Lucerne. The place and the views overruled it. After checking in, I spent a few hours exploring, took a few brief hikes around the property, and enjoyed endless views of the sprawling lake against the mountains, its arms seeming to run into fjords. Lush meadows with grazing cows, their bells ringing, and omnipresent Swiss music on one side and the alpine lake on the other fed my eyes. The Hammetschwand Lift, the highest outdoor elevator in Europe, took me up 153 meters, where the panoramic views, as you would expect, got even better. The resort has welcomed guests since 1873, and its motto is Beyond Imagination; some slogans age well.
Dinner was at the elegant Spices Kitchen & Terrace, overlooking the lake. It serves Asian fusion from four kitchens under one roof — Indian, Chinese, Japanese, and Thai — and lets you mix and match.
After dinner, and a final goodbye to the setting sun on the placid lake, I went to pack and get ready to return home.
– brij