Beatenberg: Day 2 … Niederhorn Hike

A good night’s rest and a self-catered breakfast at the apartment … and we were ready to start exploring the Bernese Oberland.

But the weather said, “Not so fast!” Actually, it looks like there is rain in the forecast all week, so more plans may have to be jiggled. At this point, it’s a wait and see game.

Anyway, yesterday’s walk in the village had given us an idea for a hike. But because of its proximity to where we are, we had decided to leave it until our last day here. Sort of “a little action … a little rest day” before we moved on.

That same proximity, however, came into play again when we saw the forecast for today. Surely, we figured, taking the aerial cable car up Beatenberg’s “local mountain” and hiking down to the village from there could be accomplished before the rain made things soggy. Hah!

We set out under partly cloudy skies — with plenty of sunshine; walked to the cable car station; purchased hiking tickets … reducing the fare 50% thanks to the Swiss Half Fare cards we bought online last night; and hopped on the next gondola going up to the summit of Niederhorn at 6,440 feet (1,963 m).

Once we reached the summit, we walked around a bit to check out the scenery … including more expansive views of Eiger, Mönch, and Jungfrau. Too bad the summer-haze was still present, but looking in the opposite direction from the Bernese Alps, the peaks of the Emmental Alps — where we would be hiking — were closer and therefore clearer.

Keeping the weather in mind, we didn’t dally long. Soon we were on our planned hike. Except that we must have gone off-trail somewhere. It certainly didn’t help that all of the trails were marked with the same white-red-white lines … no number references to tie back to the map. In hindsight, I think we started off on the #4 trail that took us via Oberbungfeld. No problem … or so we thought!

Neither trail was necessarily difficult … but for the most part, they were narrow … with rocks and boulders strewn along. We had to constantly watch where we were stepping. While everywhere we looked there was lush greenery, the further we descended, the more the mountains were hidden by the trees. A good thing, as it turns out, as we were not further distracted or slowed down by the grand scenery. Along the way, there were ‘gates’ we had to open and close … likely to keep the cows off the trails. We actually saw our first herd of Swiss cows while we were on the #4 trail … the different shaped/sized bells around their necks jingling and jangling with each move as they grazed … or each swish of their tails as they tried to shoo away pesky flies.

Taking the wrong trail at the outset, however, meant contending with something we had hoped to avoid. The RAIN! Had we stayed on course, we would have been back at our apartment by the time it started to pour … and I mean a steady pour, accompanied at times by wind. And thunder … but no lightning. By my estimate, we ended up walking in the downpour for about 45 minutes. Our rain jackets eventually gave up the ‘waterproof ghost’ and we were soaked to the skin … our Keen hikers similarly soaked through and our socks waterlogged. Luckily, it was still reasonably warm.

The good news? At the end of those 45 minutes, we reached the Vorsass Station … the mid-station on the cableway. At that point, we still had an hour’s worth of hiking to do to reach Beatenberg. Buying tickets to go down to the bottom station, therefore, was a no brainer … even though we had to wait for the requisite time to pass between booms of thunder before the gondolas started operating again.

Once we were back in Beatenberg, we could have walked to the Dorint as the rain was taking a break … steam rising from the pavement where it was in the sun. Instead, we decided to make use of the transportation passes provided by the property for a free ride on bus #101. Fifteen minutes later, we were shedding our soggy boots and clothes. (These transportation passes are offered by most lodgings around Switzerland because of the tourist tax visitors pay in each city where they overnight. Our tax dollars at work, you might say!)

Bands of rain continued to come through during the afternoon. Regardless, our balcony was dry, so we were able to eat outside. With each rainband, the scenery disappeared completely, only to reappear again … beautiful … with puffy clouds hanging midway up the mountains or rolling off the ridges. Birds began chirping again and the sun came out for good around 4:45p.

Seeing the improved weather, we decided to take the #101 bus into Interlaken for a look around. A quick look it was. Simply too crowded for our taste. Cold beverages at a café on a side street to while away the time until the next bus … and then we were once again making our way back to Beatenberg … and a light dinner on the balcony.

What we will decide to do tomorrow is TBD. It is, in fact, pouring again now, so we have to see what the weather gods have in store for us before we make any decisions.

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Swiss Half Fare Card (SHFC) … one of the many passes one can purchase to reduce travel costs within Switzerland. Since we are not moving around the country by train, this pass is the one that makes the most sense for us. The unfavorable exchange rate with the US dollar means that any means to reduce expenses is a good thing!

*** SHFC Reconciliation (per person): CHF 120 outlay … less CHF $24.60 for Beatenberg-Niederhorn and Vorsass-Beatenberg gondola tickets = CHF $95.40 to go to break even.Read more