Jungfraujoch offers many interesting activities for visitors and today I will show you the fairy-tale like Ice Palace and for all chocolate lovers the interesting Lindt Swiss Chocolate heaven, but first I would like to show you around the charming village of Interlaken.
This is just a teaser for you as I will show you more a bit later.
I have always thought that Interlaken was a city. I have neither checked it on the internet, nor have I seen any photos but from what I've heard and how my friends were talking about their trips I assumed it was a medium sized city (in Swiss terms, more like a small city for other European countries). I was surprised to see that it was rather a big village or a small charming town.
However, it still offers so much in terms of sightseeing, various activities and adrenaline sports opportunities. This is the field which is used for parachutes landing. They were many of them flying around but I wasn't lucky to capture any of them properly.
But the weather was fantastic and we could see the Jungfrau clearly.
We arrived in Interlaken in the afternoon and went for a walk right away. The mountains of the Bernese Oberland surrounding the town make it look like a postcard.
Interlaken lies along the river Aare between Lake Thun and Lake Brienz. Its name originates in its location between the lakes (inter lacus).
Its history goes back to the Bronze age when there were the first settlements present in the area. The establishment of the town started in the 13th century around the abbey and gained more importance in the 14th century. As with other towns at that time, Interlaken historical events were not always peaceful. There were many disputes about the woodlands in the area with neighboring town of Matten. At the beginning of the 19th century they came into agreement and divided the land equally.
This was about the time when the tourism started to grow. There were luxury resorts built in Interlaken, as well as the railway which made the travel to Bernese Oberland easier.
You can sit here all day and enjoy the view or you can take a train and experience it in real. We went for the second option of course!
Interlaken is one of the oldest holiday destinations in Switzerland. Its tourism industry was shaped by Peter Ober and Eduard Ruchti, whose hotels were amongst the first in the area.
One of the most luxurious hotels in Bernese Oberland is Victoria-Jungfrau Grand Hotel & Spa with its over 150 years of history (on the left photo). It's was built in 1856 as Pension Victoria and in 1899 it was brought together with neighboring Hotel Jungfrau, creating Victoria-Jungfrau together. The hotel hosted royals, intellectuals and artists from all over the world and it's still the case up until now.
We stayed in another hotel with an impressive view (on the right).
Above is the view from the hotel without me blocking it 🙂
And this is how our morning started - we couldn't wish for better weather! Let's board the train and go to the Jungfraujoch!
This is just to remind you about the location as today we will stay inside of the station.
Once you enjoy the views of the magnificent peaks you should explore the interior too. Be careful when you book your tickets as you need to choose the time that you want to spend at Jungfraujoch. We chose 4 hours to make sure that we would be able to visit everything and have time for lunch as well. We did all in time and had around 30 minutes to spare as well.
There is a recommended tour in the complex which you can see described at multiple places but we somehow missed to follow it correctly and visited some places twice which was not bad at all.
You can either walk or just stay on the moving sidewalk and observe the murals. The music and changing lights complete this emotional experience.
The tour takes you through the Alpine Sensation area which tells the history of the Jungfraujoch tunnel, train and the entire complex through a multimedia tour.
This section was a part of a tribute to the workers who died building the tunnel and Jungfraujoch station.
Not that long ago, both tourist lodge and the hotel were destroyed by fire. It was the night in October 1972. There were 15 people staying in the hotel with one of them sleeping with his door open noticing the smell. They all managed to escape from the hotel, some of them without shoes or in pajamas.
There was a blizzard that night and the wind was so strong that there was not much left to save once the fire extinguishers and a tank car arrived. They were however able to save the railway office, so Jungfrau could welcome its guests again only 9 days after the fire.
Once you cross the part with heavy information you will reach the fairy-tale. There are many life-styled photo opportunities such as this huge snow globe. The Christmas carols are playing, the light is changing and the parts inside of the globe are moving - it's so much fun to watch!
People are actually queuing to get close to the snow globe and take a picture with it.
At the end of the Alpine sensation section you will finally reach the Ice Palace!
Ice Palace at Jungfraujoch is likely the highest ice palace in the world! It was carved into the Aletsch Glacier in 1934. It is surreal to walk INSIDE of a glacier, don't you think?
There are many tunnels with no directions but somehow you always come out on the other side of the palace. I have no idea how but we did it twice with the same result!
The temperature inside is stable at -3 degrees Celsius, so make sure to bring a jacket even when you visit in summer. I wouldn't recommend slippers or sandals as it's slippery. Sadly, there were some older couples who came down the stairs and when they saw the ice they realized they couldn't manage and returned.
Safety first, so walk slowly!
There are railings in all tunnels but I don't think it's necessary to use them when you're careful. I was pretending to ride skates and kept my balance easily 🙂
Look at this beautiful shape! I was so tempted to touch it but I didn't as I imagined that everyone would do the same and that would have a huge impact on the ice.
The palace sculptures include various animals, people, furniture or even a bar.
Here we have a bear family!
And a family of eagles..
This is a new sculpture of a pianist who performed outside at the platform of Jungfraujoch in April this year.
It's the Chinese pianist Lang Lang- one of the leading musicians in the classical music world.
His performance was not the first event which happened at Jungfraujoch. It started in 2007 with event such as the kick-off for the European Football Championship or a match between Roger Federed and Lindsay Vonn.
This is a classic! I visited the Ice Palace at Titlis too and there was the same sculpture.
Also dogs have their representation here...
And protected flora can't be missed either...
Some tunnels were dark and narrow...
Others were blueish and somehow airy...
This one was a bit scary as it was only as wide as my shoulders and I saw people walking there sideways...
Ice Palace wouldn't be an Ice Palace without an Igloo and penguins, right?
If you forgot, we were at top of Europe!
And the long tunnel out of the palace...
The visit of Jungfraujoch is not complete without a visit of Lindt Swiss Chocolate heaven. It's a combination of a museum with a shop full of all sorts of Lindt chocolate. Some of them I have never seen before!
The museum tells us a story of how the best Swiss chocolate was created. Rodolphe Lindt, the founder of Lindt had tried everything to make his chocolate taste better but with no success. He left the factory in frustration, forgetting to switch off his self-made mixer. When he came back after the weekend, he found that the crumbly cocoa-sugar mixture had become a delicious melting cream which he fell in love with.
You see the ingredients, old kitchen equipment and can learn from a virtual Lindt Maître Chocolatier how to make chocolate.
It all looks almost real and you catch yourself thinking of dipping your finger in the chocolate mixture 🙂
Every year, there are about 800,000 visitors of Lindt Swiss Chocolate heaven looking for the perfect souvenir or just something to snack on their journey back to Grindelwald.
This looks like a perfect hiking kit for me - hiking shoes, a backpack and delicious chocolate.
With a bag full of chocolate and a collection of memories it was time to return back home. Jungfraujoch, we will come back!
I hope that you have enjoyed our trip!
Thank you for reading,
Cheers,
Martina