Hello everyone! In my last post I wrote about the Mountain Schynige Platte and after it, I continued my journey to Männlichen, which is not a heavily advertised mountain actually, and I only read about it on the SBB website because Sbb has 30% discount for the cable car to and from this mountain. The offer is only valid from 19. September to 23. Oktober 2016 so if you are interested, you should plan your trip soon. As I said in my previous post, this mountain is also in the Jungfrau region so,
- If you wanna know more about the hiking trails in the Jungfrau region please click here.
- If you wanna know more about the ticket prices in the Jungfrau region please click here. (You can click on your starting point on the left column and you will see the stops you can go to and then you can find your stop and check how much it costs to go there.)
- If you wanna know about the timetables please click here and type in your starting stop and destination.
- On the right up corner, you can see the discounts for your tickets.(for example, for kids, SBB GA holders, SBB Half-price card holders etc.) (Check the discounts section carefully to make sure your destination is included in GA or 1-day swiss travel pass, it’s quite complicated, but I’ll state clearly in my post which routes I’ve taken are included in GA and which you need to buy extra tickets.)
- If you know exactly where you are going to (the starting stop and destination) you can click here to check the ticket prices.
1. Wengen and Männlichen, from valley to summit
Männlichen is a very nice starting point for various kinds of hiking trails such as Lieselotte Trail, Chamois Trail, Apple Fritter Trail, Panorama Trail, Romantic Trail, Classic Hikes, Chamois Test and since the summer of 2015, a new walking trail, the Royal Walk. I took the Royal Walk as it take only 20-25 mins net walking time but the view is wonderful! You can see more than 20 snowy high mountains along your way and when you reach the top – the crown, your reward is the vantage point where you can see more than 20 snowy mountains, villages, lakes etc. by simply turning your head around (you can turn your body around of course, don’t worry). I’ll talk about the walk in detail in the next few minutes.
If you are interested in other hiking trails in summer please click here.
2. How to get to Männlichen
You can go to Männlichen either from Wengen or Grindelwald (both are cable cars but on different sides of the mountain). I took the route from Wengen and went back to Wengen so I’ll explain this route in detail. You need to take a train from Lauterbrunnen to Wengen and for this route you can use GA or 1-day swiss pass however, beyond this point, you will need to buy extra tickets. In Wengen you will need to buy a cable car ticket to go to Männlichen and as for the return journey, you can buy Wengen-Männlichen return journey or with hiking for example, Wengen–Männlichen and from Kl. Scheidegg–Wengen or Wengen–Männlichen and from Wengeralp–Wengen or Wengen–Männlichen
and from Alpiglen–Kl. Scheidegg–Wengen or Wengen–Männlichen–Holenstein and from Brandegg–Kl. Scheidegg–Wengen. All the ticket prices are different.
2.1 Ticket prices
If you are interested in cable car together with hiking (or just cable car trips) in Männlichen please click here (lower terminal at Wengen) or click here (lower terminal at Grindelwald) for more info about ticket prices.
2.2 Cable car schedule
If you only wanna take cable cars please click here (summer time) or click here (winter time) for more info about the timetables of Grindelwald–Männlichen Gondola Cableway or Wengen–Männlichen Aerial Cableway.
If you don’t have enough time or are not fit enough to take a 1.5 – 2 hours or even longer hiking trail, I suggest you go to Männlichen and take the cable car for both ways (However, I still recommend you should take the 20-mins Royal Walk to the summit).
3. Wengen & On the way
I took the cable car from Wengen up to Männlichen and the same route back so I didn’t go to Grindelwald. The ticket price is 22 CHF for both ways but I got the offer from SBB so it’s only a little bit more than 15 CHF. The whole journey took several minutes and when you’re closer to the lower terminal, you get a great view of the village Wengen and when you’re closer to the upper terminal, you get a great view of the snowy mountains and the avalanche defenses. These defenses are visible even if you are far away and when you’re at the upper terminal you can get a brochure and read more about it.
4. At the upper station, Männlichen
When you reach the upper station you will see the sigh telling you where to go if you choose a cable car+hiking journey. There are platforms where you have pretty amazing views already. However, trust me, if you take the Royal Walk, you will have a much better view and the whole experience is just unforgettable! Also, as this mountain is not heavily advertised, there are few tourists, which gives you a great opportunity to have a peaceful and quiet walk.
5. The Royal Walk
The Royal Walk is a comparatively new walking trail opened in summer last year. the best feature of this walk is that it’s not long (20mins net walking) and the view will be unforgettable in your lifetime. 3 quarters of the trail is quite easy except the last part, which requires some efforts, but if you’re a healthy person, I don’t think that should be a problem. I guess this is also the purpose of the walk, let unprofessional hikers without any professional equipments to experience what hiking in the Alps brings to you.
5.1 Seven info points
On your way up to the crown, you will pass seven information points which tell you more about the Alpine world. The seven info points are The King’s Gate, The Legacy, The Treasury, Royal Ties, the Court Painter, The Secret Sovereign, The Royal Court and the Royal view. If you wanna know what these points mean, I think you should go and find out by yourself.
5.2 The Royal View
Except the info points, the view is really breathtaking. Some people might say, the journey is more important than the destination, but here in the Royal Walk, the destination is as important and as amazing as the journey. From the crown, you can take a picture which includes Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau, the world-famous “triumvirate”!
In the crown (2343m), you can walk around and you will see on the table several stickers, which tell you what the mountains are in the direction you’re facing. For example, you can see Sägissa (2465m), Schwarzhorn (2928m), Titlis (3238m), Wetterhorn (3701m), Schreckhorn (4078m), Eiger (3970m), Mönch (4099m), Jungfrau (4158m), Silberhorn (3695m), Mittaghorn(3897m), Schilthorn (2970m), Niesen (2362m) etc.
After the Royal Walk, I took the same cable car down to Wengen and went back to Zürich. I know it’s always complicated to check the train or cable car routes, timetables and ticket prices in Jungfrau region because there are so many options. I hope my posts in this region give you a clearer understanding of this kind of info, if not, you can write to me about your questions or trip plans and I’ll try my best to help you. Thank you for reading my post and I wish you a great trip in Männlichen. Be the king for a day!
