Most day-trippers arrive in Grindelwald aiming for the Eiger Express and the Jungfraujoch, and First gets treated as the consolation prize. That gets the comparison backwards. First is a shorter trip, a cheaper ticket, and — for anyone who actually wants to walk somewhere rather than stand at a viewing platform — a better use of a day. The mountain tops out at 2,168m, modest by regional standards next to the Schilthorn’s 2,970m or the Jungfraujoch’s 3,454m, but the lower altitude means it opens earlier in the season, closes later, and the trails around it are genuinely good hiking rather than a stroll between souvenir shops.
Getting to First from Interlaken
The route runs through Grindelwald itself. From Interlaken Ost, the train to Grindelwald takes about 35 minutes on the BOB line, with departures roughly every half hour. From Grindelwald station it is a 15-20 minute walk, or a short bus ride, down to the Grindelwald Grund gondola station — not the Grindelwald Terminal used for the Eiger Express, which is a separate building on the other side of the village. Confusing the two stations is the single most common mistake visitors make here, and it costs a 20-minute walk in the wrong direction to fix.
The gondola to First runs in two sections and takes about 25 minutes total, climbing over meadows and forest before the final open stretch above the treeline. Door to door from Interlaken Ost, budget 50 minutes to an hour depending on connections.
| From | Method | Time |
|---|---|---|
| Interlaken Ost | Train to Grindelwald | ~35 min |
| Grindelwald station | Walk or bus to Grund gondola | 10-20 min |
| Grindelwald Grund | Gondola to First | ~25 min |
A return ticket runs around CHF 80 for an adult, with the usual 50% reduction for Half Fare Card and Swiss Travel Pass holders, and free travel on some regional passes. For those doing a single big-ticket excursion, the Berner Oberland Pass is worth pricing against a one-off ticket before buying.
Arriving at the summit station
First’s station sits on a wide grassy shoulder with genuinely open views: the Wetterhorn and Schreckhorn to the east, the long green run of the Grosse Scheidegg valley below, and on a clear day the string of 4,000m peaks along the horizon. Unlike the Jungfraujoch, there is no tunnel system to walk through first — you step off the gondola directly into the view, which is part of why First feels less like an attraction and more like an actual mountain.
The restaurant and self-service terrace here get busy at lunch in high season; arriving before 10am or after 2pm avoids the worst of it. For a broader look at how First compares with the region’s other big excursions, see the best mountain excursions from Interlaken guide.
The Cliff Walk
The Cliff Walk by Tissot is a steel walkway bolted directly onto the rock face just below the summit station, ending in a glass-floored platform that projects out over the drop. It takes five to ten minutes to walk, is included in the gondola ticket, and does not require a booking. The engineering is solid — full railings throughout, non-slip decking — but the exposure is real, and the glass section in particular unsettles a fair number of otherwise confident walkers. It photographs extremely well, which is exactly why it gets crowded between 11am and 3pm; early morning or the last hour before the gondola’s final descent are calmer.
Walking to Bachalpsee
This is the reason to come to First rather than just ride up and back. The path to Bachalpsee starts directly behind the station, climbs gently through alpine pasture for about an hour, and ends at a genuinely beautiful glacial lake that mirrors the surrounding peaks on a still day — the reflection shot that shows up on every Switzerland Instagram feed is taken here, usually before 8am when the water is flattest and the crowds haven’t arrived.
The path is wide, well-maintained gravel with a gentle, steady gradient and around 200m of ascent — manageable in trainers for most people, though proper shoes help on the sections that turn to mud after rain. Cattle graze the meadows either side in summer, and the marmots that live in the rocks near the lake are used enough to walkers that they barely bother moving.
- Distance: about 3km each way
- Time: 55-70 minutes up, 40-50 minutes down
- Ascent: roughly 200m
- Surface: gravel path, some sections stony near the lake
Beyond Bachalpsee the path splits, with one branch continuing toward the Faulhorn summit and another dropping to Bussalp — see below. For the walk on its own, the full write-up is in the Bachalpsee hike guide.
First Flieger, First Glider and other rides
For visitors who want the adrenaline rather than the walk, First has three engineered attractions clustered near the top station, all seasonal and all booked and paid separately from the gondola ticket:
| Attraction | What it is | Approx. price |
|---|---|---|
| First Flieger | Zip line reaching around 84km/h over the valley | CHF 45-50 |
| First Glider | Suspended flying-position zip line, longer run | CHF 45-50 |
| Mountain Cart | Self-driven three-wheeled cart down a gravel track | CHF 30-35 per run |
| Trottibike | Scooter-style descent on the road down to Bort or Grindelwald | CHF 25-30 rental |
The First Flieger and First Glider both launch from towers near the summit station and land lower down the mountain, with a return gondola or short walk back up. Both are worth booking online a day ahead in July and August, when the popular late-morning slots fill by mid-morning. The Mountain Cart runs on a dedicated gravel track between First and Bort (the middle gondola station) and needs no real skill beyond squeezing a hand brake, which makes it one of the better options for families with children over about eight.
The Trottibike is a scooter-style ride down the paved road rather than a track, suited to slightly older riders, and it stops running the moment the surface is wet or icy. Full details, minimum ages and current pricing are in the mountain carts and trottibikes guide.
None of these rides are included in the standard gondola ticket, and none run in winter — the towers and tracks come down or get mothballed once the snow settles in, and the gondola itself switches over to serving the First winter sledging run and snowshoe trails instead. For the winter version of this mountain, see skiing in the Jungfrau region.
When First is open — and when it isn’t
The gondola runs close to year-round, with the usual short shutdowns for annual maintenance that every lift in the region schedules in spring and again in late autumn — check the operator’s site for exact dates before planning a trip in April, May or November, since a lift down for revision with no advance notice online is the single most common reason a mountain day gets wasted here. Wind closures are also common on First specifically, since the upper station sits on an exposed ridge; a forecast showing strong gusts is a reasonable reason to switch plans to a lower-altitude walk instead.
The summer attractions have a narrower window. As a rough guide:
- Gondola: operates most of the year, aside from maintenance closures
- Cliff Walk: open with the gondola in the warmer months, closed in heavy snow or ice
- First Flieger / First Glider: late May to late October, weather dependent
- Mountain Cart: similar window, needs a dry, snow-free track
- Bachalpsee trail: typically snow-free and walkable from mid-June, sometimes later after a heavy winter — patches of snow can linger on the path into July in a cold year
For a season-by-season view of the whole region rather than just this mountain, see when mountain railways open and close.
The Bachalpsee-Faulhorn-Bussalp loop
This is, for hikers, the best full day in the region, and it is underused because most visitors stop at the lake and turn back. Continuing past Bachalpsee, the path climbs more seriously toward the Faulhorn at 2,681m — steeper, rockier, and exposed to sun and wind with no shelter, taking roughly 90 minutes to two hours from the lake. The summit has one of the oldest mountain inns in the Alps and views that take in the Bernese giants on one side and the lakes of Thun and Brienz on the other on a clear day.
From the Faulhorn, the descent toward Bussalp drops through quieter pasture on the far side of the ridge, away from the First crowds entirely, finishing at a road where a postbus runs back down to Grindelwald. The full loop — First up, Bachalpsee, Faulhorn, down to Bussalp — runs five to six hours of walking excluding stops, with around 550m of total ascent and considerably more descent.
It needs settled weather, since there is no cover on the ridge section, proper boots for the scree near the summit, and an early start to leave a margin before the last bus from Bussalp. The full route, timings and bail-out points are covered in the Faulhorn and Bussalp loop guide; a gentler version that skips the summit is outlined there too.
Anyone put off by the climb but still wanting more than the there-and-back to Bachalpsee has options nearby: the connecting ridge walk over to Mannlichen is a separate, lower-altitude route covered in its own guide, and both are compared directly in First vs Mannlichen vs Kleine Scheidegg.
Prices and passes
a combined gondola-and-attractions pass covering First works out cheaper than paying for the gondola and each ride separately if a visitor plans to do more than one activity, and it removes the queueing-at-the-till step at the base station on a busy day. Travellers coming without a rail pass, or wanting the trip organised without working out connections themselves, sometimes prefer a fixed-price day: an attraction ticket bundling transport from Interlaken with entry to First covers that.
For visitors based further afield who want First folded into a wider loop of the region, a private day trip pairing Harder Kulm with Grindelwald covers both a city viewpoint and the mountain excursion without juggling train timetables.
Those without a Swiss rail or regional pass should compare the return gondola price against the Berner Oberland Pass and the Swiss Travel Pass before buying separate tickets — for a single visit to First alone the passes rarely pay for themselves, but they usually do if First is one of two or more mountain excursions in the same week.
Where to eat and what it costs
The self-service restaurant at the top station serves the usual mountain-restaurant menu — rösti, soup, sausage — at prices that reflect the altitude: expect CHF 20-28 for a main course and CHF 5-6 for a coffee. It is not overpriced relative to comparable summit restaurants at the Schilthorn or Mannlichen, but it is not cheap either, and portions are ordinary rather than generous. A packed lunch eaten on the grass near Bachalpsee is the better option on a fine day and costs nothing beyond what was already spent on the gondola. For a realistic budget across a full day including transport, food and one attraction, see Interlaken travel costs.
Getting back, and what to combine it with
The gondola runs until early evening in summer (check the last departure time at the base station, since it varies through the season), and the last train back to Interlaken from Grindelwald runs later still. Visitors basing themselves in Lauterbrunnen or the car-free villages of Wengen and Mürren can connect back via Kleine Scheidegg rather than returning all the way to Interlaken first, which saves a genuine amount of time on a long hiking day.
First combines naturally with a night in Grindelwald rather than a rushed return, particularly for anyone attempting the full Faulhorn loop, since the Bussalp bus timing leaves little slack for a same-day return to Interlaken on the earlier trains. A shorter, gentler evening option is the sunset hike paired with a cheese fondue dinner in Wengen, on the opposite side of the valley, for those who want one alpine walk and one alpine meal without the early start a Faulhorn attempt demands.
Grindelwald First: your questions answered
Is Grindelwald First worth visiting?
Yes, for a specific kind of day: First combines a short, dramatic cliff walk with genuinely good hiking, which makes it more of a doing-mountain than a looking-mountain. It is less crowded than the Jungfraujoch and considerably cheaper, though the summer attractions close outside roughly June to October.
How long does the walk to Bachalpsee take?
About one hour each way from the First gondola station, on a wide gravel path with a gentle, steady climb of around 200m. Most visitors take 55-70 minutes up and slightly less coming down; add 30-45 minutes at the lake for photos and a rest.
How much does the Grindelwald First gondola cost?
A return ticket from Grindelwald Grund to First costs roughly CHF 80 for an adult in 2026, with a discount for Swiss Travel Pass and Half Fare Card holders. The Cliff Walk itself is free once you have the gondola ticket; the First Flieger and Mountain Cart are booked and paid separately.
Is the Cliff Walk scary?
It is a solid steel walkway with a full railing bolted to the rock face, so it is safe rather than genuinely dangerous, but the exposure is real: the platform hangs over a drop of several hundred metres and the glass viewing point at the far end unsettles a fair number of visitors who are fine with normal mountain paths.
When is Grindelwald First open?
The gondola itself runs most of the year, closing only for short annual maintenance windows. The Cliff Walk, First Flieger zip line, First Glider and Mountain Cart are seasonal, typically operating from around late May to late October, weather and snow cover permitting; the Trottibike scooter descent needs a snow-free track.
Can you do First and the Jungfraujoch in one day?
Not comfortably. Both are reached from Grindelwald but in opposite directions, and each deserves three to four hours minimum once travel time is included. Pick one per day; First suits a hiking day, the Jungfraujoch suits a high-altitude, glacier-viewing day.
Is the Bachalpsee to Faulhorn hike difficult?
The Bachalpsee section is easy and well-graded. Continuing to the Faulhorn summit at 2,681m adds a steeper, rockier 90 minutes to two hours each way, with real altitude gain and no shade; it needs proper boots, water and settled weather, and is not suitable for young children or anyone uneasy on loose scree.
Do you need to book the First Flieger or Mountain Cart in advance?
Booking online in advance is recommended for the First Flieger and First Glider in July and August, when slots for popular times sell out by mid-morning. The Mountain Cart and Trottibike usually run on a walk-up basis, though a short wait is common on clear summer weekends.
