Hike from Männlichen through Kleine Scheidegg to Wengen

On the same day as I visited Lauterbrunnen (17 August 2014), I set off early in the afternoon to have a hike along the so-called Panoramaweg from Männlichen to Kleine Scheidegg. To get there, first I took the Wengernalpbahn from Lauterbrunnen to Wengen. There, as soon as one gets off the small train, and looks down from a certain part of the platform which forms a kind of a ‘terrace’, one gets a beautiful panorama of the Lauterbrunnen valley and the Staubbach fall.

From up here, one can already see 2 of the waterfalls out of the alleged 72. 🙂

I took a walk in Wengen, which is (supposed to be) a car-free village, mostly a holiday resort of nature-lovers, hikers and skiers. There are lots of souvenir shops, of course, where all kinds of kitchy, jingling, whistling and moo-ing things can be found 🙂 … Well, OK, to pass the time I still had until the departure of the Männlichen cable car, I went browsing into one of those shops and came out with a whistling marmot, bought for my little niece. She loves that toy ever since. 😉

The aerial cableway ride from Wengen to Männlichen does not take long, and of course was packed with tourists on such a fine day. It is worth looking down through the glass; as you get higher and higher above the valley, it gets even more and more picturesque.

As you get out at Männlichen, you can immediately see the Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau ‘triumvirate’ on the right. However, in the other direction, you should walk up to Männlichen Gipfel – the very top; it’s like a little horn of the mountain -, because that is where you get the most magnificent view in all directions. The walk up there takes about 20 minutes from Männlichen Bahn station. (But, of course, you’ll keep stopping to take photographs.)

When you get to the edge of Männlichen Gipfel, you’ll surely be fascinated by the view. You get a 360-degree panorama of Alpine sights. On the right there is the beautiful valley of Grindelwald:

In front of you, you can see the winding river Lütschine, villages Zweilütschinen and Wilderswil, and also a small piece of Brienzersee in the distance:

On your left, you will see the Lauterbrunnen valley, and around midday in strong sunshine the waterfall is still very easy to make out:

and behind you, you can see the Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau. The green cone-shaped mountain in front of them is Tschuggen. Tschuggen and Lauberhorn are the mountains you have to go around if you want to follow ‘Panoramaweg’. All the way, you will have magnificent views of ‘the big three’, especially the north face of Eiger.

…And a panorama-picture from Männlichen Gipfel to the south:

So, after taking in all that breathtaking panorama, I turned back in the direction of the cableway station again, and set off on my hike along Panoramaweg (from Männlichen to Kleine Scheidegg). It is a relatively easy hike, even recommended for families with little ones in tow. The benefits of the trail is that there is hardly any elevation, you see a lot of wild flowers on the way, a lot of cows, too (they sometimes come opposite you in herds, so you’d better let them pass first), a lot of cowbell-chime, and you can’t get enough of the extremely fresh air and the sight of Grindelwald down there and the Eiger looming over you.

What’s more, you can’t even miss the trail; it’s well-signposted:

And here are some pictures from the trail: 

Arriving at Kleine Scheidegg:

At Kleine Sceidegg, after buying another bottle of water, I could’ve chosen to get on a train to get back to Wengen, but I was not yet too tired, and I was curious too, about what it would be like to walk to back Wengen (I knew there was such a route, for which you only needed good knees because of the continuous downhill walk), so I decided to continue on foot.

I saw the Jungfraubahn, the train which takes people to ‘the top of Europe’. It was funny; once I saw it stop only to let a herd of cattle pass across the railroad track. 🙂

I like this photo because it looks as if snow was actually dripping from Jungfrau onto the meadows 🙂 : 

After leaving this building and crossing the railroad, I think somehow ‘the impossible had happened’ as I got on the wrong track, together with some other ‘misled’ foreigners – it was just a kind of mud-track after a while, and not the regularly neat trail for hikers that we had already got used to 🙂 – but after quite a strenuous downhill walk we arrived in Wengen on time, anyway. We had a good chat in English on the way, at least. And yes, our legs DID hurt by the end. 🙂

This is when we could already see Wengen in the distance:

…and we finally arrived in Wengen.

I really recommend this trip – especially the 1,5-hour-long Panoramaweg-part – to anyone who plans to explore the Jungfrau-region. It was a truly uplifting feeling to be hiking in such surroundings.