Panorama showing the massive Lauterbrunnen Valley in Switzerland. This image was taken early in the morning during the winter skiing season of 2006 whilst walking to Lauterbrunnen Station to catch a train to the slopes around Keine Scheidegg.

Lauterbrunnen Valley - Jungfrau visitor guide showing a virtual tour of 'Lauterbrunnen Valley' linked to an interactive map with local and travel information. 360° panoramas from Bernese Oberland.

Lauterbrunnen Valley is stunning, a massive U-shaped valley carved by glaciation forming a dramatic landscape near to Interlaken in the Bernese Alps of Switzerland. The whole Jungfrau area is a very popular, year-round holiday destination with plenty of walking and climbing during the summer and skiing and snow boarding in the winter.

At the mouth of the valley is Lauterbrunnen village. From here Luterbrunnen Valley extends south and then south-westwards ending at the Lauterbrunnen Wall, an 8km long 'wall' of mountains running from Gletscherhorn (3,983 m) to Lauterbrunnen Breithorn (3,785 m). The Weisse Lütschine river flows along the bottom of the valley, fed directly by very clean melt water from snow on the mountains around it. At the far end of Lauterbrunnen Valley lies the small, picturesque village Stechelberg, which sits at the base of the Schilthorn mountain. Between the two are the hamlets of sandbüch and Matta.

Two villages lie on the plateaus at the top of the valley cliffs. Mürren rests on the western plateau at a height of 1,650m about 4km from Lauterbrunnen. The village is car free, and can be reached either by cable car from Stechelberg or cable car and electric train from Lauterbrunnen. It is a very popular year round tourist resort, filled with small hotels, chalets and holiday apartments. Aside from the walking and skiing, a very popular attraction is the Piz Gloria revolving restaurant perched right at the top of the Schilthorn with commanding panoramic views of the surrounding mountains as far as France and Mont Blanc on a good day.

Wengen is the village on the eastern plateau, reached by cog mountain train from Lauterbrunnen Railway Station. Larger than Mürren, it is also car free a and contains more, larger, hotels as well as other forms of holiday accommodation. Wengen is a great base from which to explore the area. A cable car heads up to the top of Männlichen, while the cog train continues up the mountain to Kleine Scheidegg. From here another cog train takes visitors up through the Eiger to Jungfraujoch, the highest railway station in Europe and a top tourist attraction with stunning views over the Aletsch Glacier.

The whole area relies heavily on tourism, with plenty of marked hiking and walking trails. Mountain climbing and ice climbing are also popular pass times and, for the daring, a paragliding experience off Männlichen-Gipfel (2343m) descending into the valley below is unforgettable.

During the winter months the region is split into the Männlichen-Kleine Scheidegg ski area and Mürren-Schilthorn ski area. Combined passes encompassing the whole Jungfrau ski region, including Greindelwald-First, can also be purchase. See our Jungfrau ski page for more information about the resort, number and types of ski lifts and pistes, transit times, hotels and an interactive piste map with panoramas taken on the snow.

Flight: Zurich or Geneva Airports (approx 3 hours transit time).
Road: Lauterbrunnen Valley is about 12km from Interlaken. Parking available at Lauterbrunnen an Stechelberg for access to the mountains by public transport.
Train: Berner Oberland Bahn (BOB) from Interlaken to Lauterbrunnen Railway Station. Public transport connects to other parts of the valley.