Mürren

I knew we would have great views, but wasn’t prepared for the amazing mountains, valleys and green meadows creating a postcard type picture. Great hikes and hospitality.

Facing the Eiger, Mönch and the Jungfrau in the central Alps: no better place to be for mid-summer hiking...Stock up on bread and cheese (Swiss, of course) in Mürren, and head out on the trails above the Lauterbrunnen Valley; cowbells will be your soundtrack and wildflowers the foreground...

Verbier remains one of the most popular resorts in Switzerland, and nothing encapsulates its chic, trendy image more than La Vache (The Cow). This converted ski-lift station was opened by pop star James Blunt, former England rugby international Lawrence Dallaglio and the most successful World’s superbike champion Karl Fogarty. The three celebs put together a menu, with the help of experimental chef Heston Blumenthal, of simple and inexpensive food such as home-made soup, pizzas and burgers. In Mürren, multiple cable-car rides take you to Schilthorn Mountain and its famous Piz Gloria revolving restaurant (pictured), where the James Bond movie On Her Majesty’s Secret Service was filmed.

My best friend came to visit me in Switzerland, and I decided to take her to a place I hadn’t visited yet and was at the top of my list: Mürren. Mürren is a tiny town situated above Lauterbrunnen Valley 15 minutes by train from Interlaken. We were staying in a beautiful hostel in Lauterbrunnen, which is in the valley, and not until we got up to Mürren did we realize we surrounded by mountains. We ate lunch with our legs dangling over the valley observing sheep and cows, it was a great day.

I have never understood people who go back to the same vacation spot year after year. Timeshares and cruises make no sense to me either. Maybe we, as human creatures of habit, are supposed to look for comfort in predictable and familiar places, but who made that rule? My opinion leans towards the idea that travel should be to new places, not familiar ones, and only the brave have the best experiences. Staying in the remote town of Murren in the Jungrau Mountains was once such experience (and was where this photo was taken). This tiny village is perched high on a ridge above the Lauterbrunnen Valley and afforded us this amazing view of the Eiger, Monch, and Jungfrau mountains on a snowy February morning. While most people will go to Grindelwald or Interlaken when they visit the Swiss Bernese Alps, I would suggest (to those brave few) that they venture beyond the overpriced Swiss watch/Swiss army knife shops, and the $50 per person fondue restaurants and try a town like Gimmelwald or Murren. At the very least, give Wengen a shot. You’ll be rewarded with a car-free experience that still feels like the Switzerland of legend, and the prices for services can approach the “reasonable” rate. Yes, nothing is cheap in Switzerland, but at least give yourself the experience you deserve without feeling like part of a human lemming line in the ridiculously over-crowded Interlaken or Grindelwald.

The village of Mürren, which perches on a broad plateau about 1,000 feet over the Lauterbrunnen Valley, is easily one of Switzerland’s most picturesque destinations. It’s also an incredible place to bike ride. Sign up for a mountain-bike tour with a local guide—ask at the local visitors center or at your hotel to find one—and you can zoom down well-marked, not-too-technical trails on the 007 Classic Tour. This three-hour, mostly downhill route takes its name from the James Bond film On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, which was filmed here in 1969; it wanders from Mürren to Stechelberg and Lauterbrunnen, passing gorgeous scenery all the way. From Lauterbrunnen you can take a cable car and train ride train back to Mürren—and reward yourself with a rich, traditional cheese fondue, served with toasted bread cubes and accompanied by kirsch (a cherry brandy) at the Taverne, a cozy wood and brick restaurant next to the cable car station. To learn more about Mountain Biking in and around Mürren, visit here.