Trippieness

Wengen, Switzerland

July 30, Walking from Bort to Bussalp, Grindelwald valley

To begin our hiking day, we walk up Mannlichen peak after we get off the cable tram that ran us up from Wengen. The cable operator pointed out a half dozen grazing chamois on the mountainside as we ascended.

By now, we've changed our minds about where we're walking today. That's typical. So now we've decided to start our hike at Bort, which is part way up the mountain on the First gondola from Grindelwald.

To get there, we climb into the gondola at Mannlichen and ride down into Grindlewald valley, catch a bus to the First gondola bahn, and then ride the big gondola up to the Bort transit point.

While waiting for the bus, Mary and Lynn check out the plants at the Grindelwald tram station.

Jim and Kevin check the bus schedule and map.

At Bort, we find the Wanderweg sign for Bussalp and get walking.

We're almost there. Took us a couple of hours; a very pleasant hike. Bussalp is up the hill to the left of the houses. You can see a white dot above the trees.

We've arrived at Bussalp. Jim latches the gate so the cows don't wander into the restaurant site where the bus stops.

We're happy to sit while we wait for the bus. Our 6-day local area rail passes cover the bus travel, too. The restaurant requests a one-franc fee for using the WC. At rail stations, clean WC is free.

After an interesting bus ride on a really narrow road with continuous switchbacks and some oncoming traffic (the bus always won), we cruise through shops in Grindelwald before catching the train.

Across the street, the hotel folks are preparing for Swiss Day by hanging bunting. Swiss Day is Aug. 1.


Our train arrives in a few minutes. Mary and Jim are happy to be heading back for dinner. We ride from here (Grindelwald) to Kleine Scheidegg, switch trains, and ride into Wengen. Love this 6-day rail pass!