The Best of the Alps: Switzerland's Jungfrau Region
Rick Steves' Europe: Episode # 214
If Heidi is alive, she's in this sky-high corner of the Swiss Alps, with cowbells ringing on breathtaking ridges. After settling into a traditional village where locals scythe hay by hand, we hike and bike. We blast an alphorn, get sprayed by waterfalls raging deep inside a mountain, and munch muesli for breakfast at 10,000 feet. For a finale, we ride Europe's highest lift up the mighty Jungfrau for hot cocoa, glacier sledding, and oh-wow views.
- Read the script from the show.
- For lots more information, check out our best-selling Rick Steves' Switzerland guidebook — or join us on one of our free-spirited tours in Europe.
Travel Details
Gimmelwald
Olle Eggimann
Maria and Olle Eggimann rent two rooms — Gimmelwald's most comfortable — in their quirky but Alpine-sleek chalet. Maria and Olle, who job-share the village's only teaching position and raise three kids of their own, offer visitors a rare and intimate peek at this community (3-night minimum, from gondola continue straight for 200 yards along the town's only road, B&B on left, tel. 033-855-3575, oeggimann@bluewin.ch).
Updated for 2010.