My family visited us this summer in Switzerland for the very first time. It was a big deal as we've been living here since 2010. In the past, it wasn't that easy to get to us from my hometown because there was no direct flight, and as my family doesn't speak English and we didn't want to stress them too much we always visited them instead. However, from this spring there is a direct flight to Zurich, so they have no excuses anymore and we could finally welcome them at our home.
They don't travel a lot, hence it was a big happening for them including a lot of preparation and encouragement. We put together a detailed itinerary that we shared with them in advance, so they knew what to expect. I must admit that it was a lot of work for us, but we wanted to give them an unforgettable experience and I think that we succeeded.
It was not easy to choose what we wanted to do as we could do only that much in one week, but in the end we managed to choose some places that we have visited before and knew that they would love, and some other places that were new to us too, but we were sure that they would be great. One of these places is the Trümmelbach waterfalls.
We knew that we wanted to walk around Lauterbrunnen, but we were looking for something special to spice it up a little bit. We did some research and came across the Trümmelbach waterfalls. They are the only accessible glacier waterfalls in Europe that are located inside of the mountain. I couldn't wait to visit them as I was not sure what to expect.
It was easy to follow the signs from Lauterbrunnen. Most of tourists stop at Lauterbrunnen (which is a mistake if you ask me), so other places surrounding the village are almost empty, and this was the case with the Trümmelbach waterfalls as well.
I found it difficult to believe that there were waterfalls behind these massive rock walls...
There was a picnic spot close to the waterfalls, so we went there to eat our sandwiches first. I was a bit concerned about the weather, but decided that it didn't matter if it would rain or not as it would only add to their experience and stories that they would tell back home.
And the views were stunning...
Other side was promising much better weather conditions...
Once we finished our lunch we walked along the river which brings the water from the waterfalls to the valley towards the entrance to the waterfalls. The water was ice-cold which shouldn't have surprised me considering that it's the water from the glacier.
The entrance to the waterfall is 15 CHF per person. There are two ways to approach the waterfalls. You can wait for a huge mining lift which will bring you 100 meters up the mountain in 60 seconds or you can walk up the mountain. We decided to take the lift and then walk down the mountain on the way back.
There is a tunnel in the mountain and the cabin brings you straight up to the platform. It was exciting! You are surrounded by rocks with light spots in certain places which makes it looks like a scene from a Harry Potter movie.
The views from the platform are stunning, but this is not why we came here, so let's go to see the waterfalls!
Even though we took the lift we still had to walk up quite a few stairs to get to the waterfalls. The noise of the water was deafening, and the pressure coming from the waterfalls was so strong that it took my breath away for a second. It's impossible to capture the size and the power of it, so you simply have to use your imagination 😊
We kept walking up and up to see more and more openings...
And I couldn't stop smiling...
It was difficult to believe that we couldn't see any of it from the valley.
This photo gives a bit of a perspective as you can see some people on the platform below us.
And suddenly we were inside of the mountain...
I'm a bit claustrophobic, so I don't handle such spaces well, but the caves were large and I didn't struggle at all. Actually, I was too busy with looking around to think about my fear.
This spot doesn't look interesting on the photo, but in reality it was the point where we could feel the pressure the most. The waterfall was so close to the opening that its power pushed us back and we didn't manage to get closer without getting completely soaked.
Trümmelbach waterfall is the only waterfall that takes water from the glacier of the Eiger, Jungfrau and Monch into the valley. 20000 litres of water fall down the mountain every second. Just think about how much the glacier is retreating every year.
There are 10 cascades that you can approach. There are 3 on the way up from the lift, and 7 on the way down. It was raining cats and dogs when we came out of the caves, so my family took the lift and went back down to the valley. With my husband and my soon to be brother-in-law we decided to walk down the mountain and see other cascades too. We're not made out of sugar, and we had raincoats too, so we didn't find any excuse not to do it.
When I decided that I didn't care about getting soaked I was suddenly feeling free and enjoyed it so much. Look at that drama in the sky!
It looked like everyone else decided to take the lift 😊
We were in no hurry as we were soaked already, so we walked down slowly and stopped many times to enjoy the surroundings.
Some parts were hidden in the mountain again...
Finally you can see the rain!
It was longer than we expected, but we didn't mind...
It stopped raining when we reached the valley, but looking at the skies we assumed it wouldn't take long for the rain to start again. Now, we had to find our family. We thought that they would be hidden in the house in the back and we were right! It was a gift shop and we found them looking through the souvenirs.
And it didn't help them to take the lift as they were caught in the rain on the way to the souvenir shop anyway 😊
Suddenly there was a bit of sunshine...
Before we left Trümmelbach we got some coffee as there was more on the program for that day, but I will tell you about it another time.
See you next time...
