We really enjoyed our time in and around Interlaken, but now it is time to move on. We’ll spend the next three nights in the town of Lauterbrunnen.

Lauterbrunnen is located in a valley just twenty minutes away from Interlaken. The valley has been called the “Valley of Seventy-two Waterfalls” and Lauterbrunnen gives you perfect access to so many places. To the left, we have the towns of Wengen and Grindelwald, which we passed through on our way up to the Jungfraujoch. On the right you have the towns of Mürren and Gimmelwald – the gateways to the Schilthorn.

Our train ride went quickly and before you knew it, we arrived in Lauterbrunnen. It is such a pretty little town with the iconic Staubbach Falls and the high, rocky cliffs that create the valley – the first things you see.

We are staying at the Hotel Silberhorn, which we can see right from the train station. It’s a short walk to the hotel, but it’s uphill – Yikes!

Our room isn’t ready yet, so we decided to go explore a little bit. Sue’s choice – up to Schilthorn!

So Schilthorn is the mountaintop lair of the criminal in the James Bond movie – ‘On Her Majesty’s Secret Service’. In fact, just before we left for Switzerland, they had a 50 year celebration for the movie up top with many of the remaining actors and staff attending.

Anyways, to get there you first take a cable car up to the town of Grütschalp. Once there, you take a small mountain train to the town of Mürren. Next is about a ten minute walk across town to get to another cable car station. The cable car takes you from Mürren to Birg. And from Birg, there is another cable car that takes you up to Schilthorn.

Cable car from Lauterbrunnen to Grütschalp

Train heading to Mürren

Above and below: Grütschalp station.

When you finally arrive, you have a 360 degree view of some awesome scenery. Snow covered mountain tops, streams of water from the melting snow rushing down the mountain, views down to the towns in the valley and on this day – blue skies.

Since the weather is so warm, I was walking around in just a short-sleeved polo shirt and felt very comfortable.

Schilthorn views

Someone doesn’t like this Bond

Inside the building there is a restaurant / bar called Piz Gloria that actually rotates over the course of your drink or dinner. There is the “James Bond Experience”, which contains pictures and memorabilia from the movie, plus there are some interactive games that you can amuse yourself and others with. There are a few shops that you can peruse and maybe find something to add to your souvenir pile.

Piz Gloria

007 Bar

Telly Savales – Who loves you baby?

Interactive bobsled chase

Bond, James Bond

After walking around for a while, we headed back to the hotel by reversing our original path. Cable cars down, short walk to the train, train ride to cable car; and cable car down.

It’s probably about a four to five hour round trip journey, though you could make a full day of it by checking out a few other places or stopping along the way.

The coolness of the mountaintop dissipated with each level heading down, so much so that we were both in need of a cool shower to refresh ourselves. Luckily for us, when we arrived back at the hotel our room was ready.

We have a corner room on the top floor with gorgeous views down the valley. The room is a nice size with big windows and a balcony. The bathroom has a wonderful shower that happened to be the first thing we made use of. Very happy with our choice of hotel again.

We made a reservation for dinner in the hotel restaurant, so when 7:00 pm rolled around, two very hungry people were ready. We had a great table, right next to an open window that provided an incredible dining backdrop. Our meals were delicious. Sue started with a bowl of beef barley soup and I started with a house-smoked salmon plate. Then we both had the river trout over ratatouille with roasted potatoes. A nice bottle of Swiss white wine paired perfectly and we were happy as could be.

Quite a jam-packed first day in Lauterbrunnen. And I thought we were just taking a train ride today – go figure!