A beautiful hike from Lauterbrunnen to Männlichen. I was looking for something with a large in elevation difference that I could do in a few hours without having to walk back downhill. This is one of my favorite hikes that I have done so far, but then again nearly everything in this region ends up being a favorite hike. I would say that it is probably unnecessary to do this entire hike as I did it if you’re just looking for views, as the last few kilometers were not the easiest after having already gone up 1000m. But it’s great if you want a challenge and a great payoff at the end.
Startpoint: Lauterbrunnen train station, starting at Wengen is also a good option if you don’t want anything as long which will take a few km and meters off of the hike.
Endpoint: Männlichen (there is both a Gondola to Grindelwald terminal and an aerial cable car back to Wengen)
Details: Approx 10.5 km, + 1500 m / -150 m elevation difference
Time: Around 4 hours (but again you can make this shorter by taking the train up to Wengen and then continuing on from there)
Date hiked: 29 June 2022. Season is around May to October.
Lauterbrunnen to Wengen
Part of this path apparently follows the path for the Jungfrau Marathon and the corresponding Supporter Run so you’ll see some of the signs along the way.
Early on into the hike if you look behind, you have a great view of the Jungfrau
Wengen to Männlichen
The first part of the hike from Lauterbrunnen to Wengen is really nice, but if you’re looking for less of a commitment I would take the train up to Wengen and then walk up to Männlichen from there. From Wengen, you start to walk through a forest. From here to Männlichen the trail is known as Gemsenweg / the Chamois trail
Once you past through the forest, the views become even better and you have an amazing open view to below.
Along the way there are some fun educational signs that give more information about the Avalanche protection – Lawinenshutzwald / Avalanche Barrier Forest, Dreibeinböcke / Three-leg mountings, Schneebrücken / Snow bridges. It also does get quite steep within this part, and after having already come up from Lauterbrunnen I was a little tired, but you have really amazing scenery that makes it worth it.
Around Männlichen
Once you reach Männlichen you have even more amazing views all around. There’s also the option to go on the “Männlichen Royal Walk” which is a short walk up with even more educational signs about the area e.g. the Jungfrau and Mönch are mostly made of Gneiss rock, the Eiger is mostly limestone, on Männlichen and Kleine Scheidegg you can find Schist. It ends at a crown-shaped viewing platform with views of everything from the Jungfrau/Eiger/Mönch to Schynige Platte to Niesen to Schwarzhorn.
There are a few restaurants and misc. activities (e.g. kids playground) up in Männlichen so there’s more to do if you want to stay around.
At this point in time I was exhausted so I took the gondola cableway down to Grindelwald. You can also take the aerial cableway back down to Wengen and then on from there, or continue on other hikes e.g. to Kleine Scheidegg.
