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Accessible by car or local bus, the village of Isenfluh sits over 1,300 ft (400 m) above the Lauterbrunnen Valley.
Once in the village, visitors can either hike up or take the aerial cable car to Sulwald (5,000 ft/1,500 m).
The Isenfluh cable-car is a two-man operation (one man at the bottom in Isenfluh and one man at the top in Sulwald)! We waited for a few minutes at the lower station before a gentleman showed up. He spoke no English and simply pointed to a clock on the wall indicating when the next cable-car would be leaving.
The nostalgic red cable-car fits up to 8 people (or 1 cow, as advertised on their website).
Like most things in Switzerland, the cable-car was a little pricey, but worth it in the end.
We were nervous that we wouldn’t be able to see anything once we got to the top given the cloud coverage at the higher elevation.
Up at the Sulwald station following the 5-minute ride up the mountain, we really couldn’t see much of the surrounding mountains, but it was still a beautiful hike nonetheless.
Although we had hoped to take the short jaunt out to the overlook Sulwaldfluh for incredible views, we settled on heading back in the other direction (due to the visibility conditions) to make the hour-long hike back down to Isenfluh.
The beginning portion of the hike was a paved road through small huts and houses.
After a short distance, we took a turn following the well-marked path, which then took us into the woods!
At this point on the trail, it didn’t matter that there was a lot of cloud coverage, as we were surrounding by thick forest.
The trail was still clearly marked with an obvious path and markings where maybe the way to go wasn’t so obvious!
We came upon a clearing in the trees and low and behold, the clouds had parted to reveal the Jungfrau peaks in the distance!
The scenery in Switzerland is simply awe-inspiring and must be seen in person to truly grasp its beauty!
As we continued our descent, we were again led down tree-lined paths…
…occasionally coming upon clearings offering remarkable views!
As we walked, we talked a lot about what it would be like to live in one of these huts/cabins along the way, and the peace and solitude it would bring!
It sure is tempting to think about renting out such a place in the summer months, although winter would probably make us feel differently!
Go figure, as we got closer to the base of the mountain, the sky started to clear, making for more sunny conditions. However, we had such an incredible hiking experience barely passing a single soul, that the peace and relaxation we felt could not have been beat!
Click here to read about our experience on one of the world’s longest cable car ride, from the nearby village of Grindelwald.
Check out the brief video below to see how we spent our time in the beautiful Jungfrau region of Switzerland: