This was one of my new favorite hikes, and one I will definitely go back to many times. My husband said that some of the views from Grosse Scheidegg are his favorite when cycling, so one day we decided to both start from Meiringen, on bike/foot respectively. This hike is Stage 10 of the Via Alpina.
Startpoint: Meiringen train station
Endpoint: Grindelwald train station
Details: Approx 24.8km, +1380m / -950m elevation difference
Time: Around 7 hours (but you can make this shorter by taking the bus up/down any part of it)
Date hiked: 15 July 2022. Season is around May to October.
Map: Via Schweizmobil
I started from Meiringen, a cute village in the Haslital Valley, known for making an appearance in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes works and for reportedly being the birthplace of meringues (get them from Frutal, the other pastries/baked goods from there are also great). I personally knew of it from the IFSC Bouldering World Cups that were held in connection with the Haslital Mountain Festival.
Part 1: Meiringen to Rosenlaui
Anyway, I started in Meiringen towards Schattenhalb, and then up towards Rosenlaui. For this hike, I followed all of the signs to Grosse Scheidegg, it’s really well signposted.
The beginning part is quite steep, but there’s also a funicular you can take up around the area for a detour to Reichenbach Falls (I opted to go on foot, and to go the other way without a view of the falls..).
After some time, the path opens up to a view of the Wellhorn and Rosenlaui glacier, which was the first really stunning moment of the hike.
Part 2: Rosenlaui to Grosse Scheidegg
Not too long after this point, you reach Rosenlaui. There’s a small self-service farm shop Alp Rosenlaui that has some cheese and other products, and then there’s also a hotel/restaurant Hotel Rosenlaui. Continuing on the hike there’s also a small detour you can take to the Gletscherschlucht Rosenlaui / Rosenlaui Glacier Gorge area (10 francs, apparently has some more waterfalls and rock formations), but I skipped it this time so I’d have more time for hiking.
Shortly after this point was the second really stunning moment of the hike where the path opens up to give views of Mittelhorn & Wetterhorn. This part was really one of my absolute favorite views I have seen while hiking.
The path then continues on to the final ascent up to Grosse Scheidegg, alongside the hiking path there’s also a small road where quite a few cyclists were going up.
Part 3: Grosse Scheidegg to Grindelwald
I had originally planned to stop at Grosse Scheidegg and take the bus back down to Grindelwald, but once I was there I was feeling motivated so I decided to make the descent down by foot. I’m glad that I did as it offered a different perspective of the area that I hadn’t yet seen, but it isn’t exactly necessary once you’ve already come up from Meiringen. The better way to do it would perhaps be a separate trip from Grindelwald to Grosse Scheidegg. The plan was to do something like this route, but I followed the signs which took me a little more north at the beginning.
And that was it!