This mountain hike near Grindelwald goes up a narrow canyon to reach a fantastic view of the Ischmeer glacier, which you can enjoy from the Bäregg mountain hut cafe.

This is a “there and back” trail, wrapping around the side of a mountain. It has a lot of steep slopes to the side, which may bother those who are afraid of heights.

But the trail is well built with fences on the most exposed areas. So it didn’t feel excessively dangerous in my opinion. We saw a few families on the trail, with kids as young as six.

If you ride the Pfingstegg cable car, this is a rather short hike, only 5.4 km there and back. So more of a half-day activity. If you are with kids, you might add on, after the hike, the alpine slide and “fly line” amusements next to the cable car.

Trail

Moderate • 2h45 • 5.4k round trip • 370m up and down
See trail map

If you want to skip the cable car, the trail is about 9km round trip, 890m up and down. See longer trail map.

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How to get there

The Pfingstegg cable car is located at the southern end of Grindelwald, near Grabenstrasse 17. See on map. There is metered parking next to the cable car. It's about a 15 min walk from the Grindelwald train station or take the bus to the Grindelwald, Pfingsteggbahn stop.

Tickets

For the shortest hike, get a round trip ticket on the cable car. Free with Berner Oberland Pass. Discounted with Swiss Travel Pass, SBB GA and Half-fare, and Jungfrau Travel Pass.

If you want to skip the cable car, you can hike up and/or down from Grindelwald, making your trail much longer.