You think you know Switzerland? Cheese with holes in it. Gstaad with the fancy-schmancy palace. And chocolate – all the chocolate. But have you heard of Jungfrau, pronounced ‘Yoong-frow’ and home to a peak nicknamed the ‘top of the world’, before? It’s one of Switzerland’s most iconic alpine destinations, but also one of its best-kept secrets – until now.
The Jungfrau Travel Pass is your ticket to ride as often as you like with unlimited travel on the mountain railways, cable cars and boats that make traversing the terrain and waterways simple and stress-free. From the soaring peak of Jungfraujoch, boasting Europe’s highest-altitude railway station, to the ice palace and the Aletsch Glacier, no snow-covered corner of this winter wonderland is off-limits. Just bring your pass – and a taste for adventure. Here’s our expert guide.
At 3,454m above sea level, it’s hardly surprising that Jungfraujoch is known as the ‘top of the world’. It’s part of the UNESCO World Heritage site with the longest glacier in the Alps and Europe’s highest-altitude railway station. Instagram content is a given and bragging rights come as standard, obvs.
Live out your wildest Frozen fantasies by frolicking in the cavernous wonderland of the ice palace. Dug out by mountain guides with their own bare hands (and picks and saws) in the 1930s, the halls and aisles are now home to mirror-smooth ice sculptures of eagles, penguins, bears and more crafted by local artists. It's snow joke!
Glacier with a view? We’ve got you. The Plateau is the coolest photo op in the whole wide world, quite literally, with the Mittelland on one side – spot the Black Forest and the Vosges in the distance – and the Great Aletsch Glacier on the other. Spellbinding stuff.
Burying lakes, forests and lands in its wake, the Great Aletsch Glacier is one of the largest and most beautiful of its kind spanning 22 kilometres of solid ice and covering 80 square metres as far as the eye can see. At its lowest point, it’s almost 900 metres thick – just think about that for a moment. Don’t miss the fir trees that feed on the glacier, the ice stream and the 4,000-metre peaks that frame the view. So gorgeous it could bring a (frozen) tear to the eye.
Thrill-seeker? Soar high above dangerously steep rock faces on a handglider or teeter on the edge of precipitous cliffs on foot at Grindelwald where your climb to frankly dizzying heights will be rewarded with a terrace that rises 45 metres out of the deep, dark void below. Proper goosebumps territory.
That’s Harder Kulm, not Heidi Klum. Easily reachable by rail, Harder Kulm is yet another vantage point in the land of vantage points that takes in the shimmering waters of Lake Thun and Lake Brienz, as well as the soaring peaks of Eiger, Mönc and Jungfraujoch. The natural way to get high.
Lace up your hiking boots and hit the trail at Schynige Platte, a scenic mountain ride with views for days in front of you, stars in the night sky above and flowers on the meadows as far as the eye can see. It’s good that you have distractions – you could easily hike for days and still not reach the end. Luckily, there’s a cosy bistro at the station to refuel serving Alpine classics, comfort food, the works.
Access all areas of Switzerland’s crowning glory with the Jungfrau Travel Pass