The Bachalpsee is a mountain lake at 2,266 m on a shelf below the Faulhorn, above Grindelwald in the Bernese Oberland. You reach it by cableway to the top station at First and then about an hour on foot, on a broad path graded T1 — the easiest category Switzerland uses. There is no road and no lift to the lake itself, so that hour is not optional. What most pages about it leave out is the part that can ruin the trip: the cableway shuts down completely from 26 October to 27 November 2026.
Quick Facts
- Elevation
- 2,266 m
- Getting There
- 1 h 12 from Interlaken Ost to First, then ~1 hr on foot
- Duration
- Half day
- Price
- Lake free · cableway from CHF 38
- Season
- June–October
- Best for
- Families, walkers, photographers
Journey time checked
Getting there, and what the journey time actually measures
Journey times to mountain destinations are quoted carelessly, so here is the chain with its parts named. All of it was checked against the Swiss timetable on 3 August 2026:
- Interlaken Ost → Grindelwald — 36 minutes, direct, no change, twice an hour at :04 and :34.
- Grindelwald → First — about 33 minutes, bus to the valley station and then the gondola, per the operator's own connection list.
- Interlaken Ost → First — 1 h 12 end to end with two changes. That is the number for the top station.
- First → Bachalpsee — about an hour on foot. Nothing carries you this last stretch.
So from Interlaken to the water is a little over two hours each way, and a visit is a half day at minimum. If you are staying in Grindelwald rather than Interlaken, take about 36 minutes off each direction.
The walk from First to the lake
From the top station the path climbs briefly towards the Gummihütte and then runs broad and nearly level across open alpine pasture, with the Wetterhorn, Schreckhorn and Finsteraarhorn opposite for the whole way. It is the kind of path you can walk in trainers on a dry August afternoon, and it is busy for exactly that reason.
The published figures for this walk look contradictory and are not. One Swiss hiking portal lists “3 km, 2 hours”, which reads as absurdly slow until you notice it means 3 km one way and 2 hours there and back. Komoot records the same round trip as a GPS track at 5.98 km and 1 h 54, with the lake itself at the 2.99 km mark. A third source rounds to 6 km return. All three describe one walk. We publish the range rather than the false precision of a single decimal.
What it costs — and the one thing the operator does not say
The lake is free. There is no gate, no ticket and no opening time at the water. What costs money is getting to the trailhead: the First cableway is priced from CHF 38 on the operator's own tariff page, checked on 17 August 2026. The “First Adventure” package, which bundles up to two of the adventure activities at the top, starts at CHF 60.
Whether the CHF 38 is one way or return is not stated on the operator’s tariff pages — its booking flow answers it: there, Grindelwald – First costs CHF 38 per direction, so up and back is CHF 76. There is no return discount — the figure is simply two single fares added together (queried on 9 August 2026). Reading the tariff pages alone leaves you budgeting half of what the day costs. Note too that a Swiss Travel Pass gives a reduction here rather than free travel.
When the cableway stops — 26 October to 27 November 2026
This is the most useful thing on this page, and none of the three travel blogs currently ranking for this lake mentions it. The First cableway is suspended for revision work from 26 October to 27 November 2026 — 33 consecutive days, each one marked “suspended due to revision work” in the operator's booking calendar. The current operating period is listed as running to 25 October 2026, and service resumes on 28 November.
During those five weeks there is no mechanical way to the trailhead. The lake does not close, but reaching it means walking up from Grindelwald and back — a serious full-day undertaking of a different character entirely, not the easy hour described above. If your trip falls in late October or November, verify the dates with the operator before building a day around this walk: revision windows move between years, and this one carries a year for that reason.
What about winter?
The cableway and the walk have different calendars, and conflating them is the easiest mistake to make here. The lift itself runs through the winter — the operator lists the current operating period as 29 November 2025 to 25 October 2026, so apart from the revision weeks above, First is reachable in January as readily as in July.
The walk to the lake is another matter. The route is published as a summer one, roughly June to October, and outside that window the path can hold snow. In winter the Bachalpsee is frozen and under it, and what you find at the top station is a snow landscape rather than the mirror in the photographs — a different outing, on different equipment, and not the easy hour described on this page. We have not verified whether the route is prepared as a winter trail, so we are not going to tell you it is: check conditions locally before setting out.
How it compares with the other high viewpoints
The question behind most searches for this lake is not how to get there but whether it is the right choice against the alternatives. It is the comparison none of the ranking pages makes:
| Destination | From Interlaken Ost | Price What is a pass day?One pass day is CHF 80 — the Berner Oberland Pass for 3 days (CHF 240), divided by 3. One-way fares are counted as return trips for this comparison. What else costs what here | Time needed | Season | Swiss Travel Pass | With kids |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bachalpsee | 132 min Train + bus + gondola | from CHF 38 one way · up to 1 pass day | Half day | June–October | Reduced | Yes |
| Harder Kulm | 20 min Funicular | from CHF 22 one way · up to 1 pass day | 2–3 hrs | April–November | Reduced | Yes |
| Schynige Platte | 61 min Train | from CHF 34 one way · up to 1 pass day | Half to full day | June–October | Reduced | Yes |
| Grindelwald First | 72 min Train + bus + gondola | from CHF 38 one way · up to 1 pass day | Half to full day | Year-round | Reduced | Yes |
Travel times: fastest public connection from Interlaken Ost to the destination itself — for mountain destinations that means the top station, not the valley station. Where a summit can only be reached on foot, the figure ends at the last station, and the destination page says which. Places in town are walking times.
Adult prices, as of the date at the foot of this page. Cableway and boat fares vary by route, travelcard and guest card.
One pass day is CHF 80 — the Berner Oberland Pass for 3 days (CHF 240), divided by 3. One-way fares are counted as return trips for this comparison. What else costs what here
Read across the row and the trade is clear: Bachalpsee costs the most time of the four and is the only one where the destination is a walk rather than a platform. Harder Kulm is the opposite — twenty minutes from Interlaken Ost and a view without effort. Schynige Platte sits in between, with an alpine garden and its own network of trails. Choose Bachalpsee if you want the walking to be the point, and one of the other two if you want the view to be.
Can you swim in it?
It is one of the questions Google shows for this lake in both markets, so: you can get into the water, and almost nobody stays in it. At 2,266 m the lake is fed by snowmelt and stays cold right through the summer. It is also small, shallow at the margins and continuously photographed — a swim here happens in front of an audience. The realistic version of a good afternoon at the Bachalpsee is sitting on the north shore with the Schreckhorn reflected in front of you, not swimming.
The First Cliff Walk, at the start of the path
The First Cliff Walk is at the top station, a few minutes from the gondola: a steel walkway pinned to the rock face that runs out around the cliff to a viewing point projecting into open air. Since it stands exactly where the walk to the lake begins, most people do both on the same ticket-and-a-day, and it takes about fifteen minutes to walk out and back.
The other attractions at First — the zip line, the glider and the mountain carts — are separately priced activities rather than part of the ride up, which is what the “First Adventure” package from CHF 60 exists to bundle. Check what is included on the operator's tariff page before adding them.
Insider Tip
Take the first cableway of the day, at 08:00. The path faces the Wetterhorn and Schreckhorn across the valley, so the light is behind you and the reflection on the lake is still un-rippled early — and the walk is quiet before the mid-morning arrivals. The last descent is at 18:00, which leaves a long day even if you start late, but the reflection is a morning phenomenon.
Related Articles
Back to overview: All things to do in Interlaken
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I get from Grindelwald to Bachalpsee?
Take the cableway from Grindelwald up to First, then walk. There is no road and no lift to the lake itself — the last hour is on foot whatever you do. From Grindelwald station the cableway takes about 33 minutes including the bus to the valley station, and the path from the top station to the lake takes roughly an hour. From Interlaken Ost the whole chain is 1 h 12 to First (timetable checked 3 August 2026), so budget a little over two hours each way from Interlaken.
How long is the hike to Bachalpsee?
About 3 km each way, so roughly 6 km there and back, and about an hour in each direction. Published figures differ because they measure different things: one Swiss hiking portal gives 3 km and two hours, komoot measures the same round trip as a GPS track at 5.98 km and 1 h 54. They describe the same walk — 3 km one way, about 6 km in total.
How difficult is the walk?
T1 on the Swiss hiking scale, which is the easiest grade: a broad, well-built path with no exposure and no scrambling. The ascent is modest — between 147 m and 190 m depending on the source — and it comes almost entirely at the start, on the climb from the top station towards the Gummihütte. Normal shoes are enough in dry summer conditions. The season is roughly June to October; outside it the path can hold snow.
Can you swim in Bachalpsee?
You can get in, and almost nobody stays in. The lake sits at 2,266 m and is fed by snowmelt, so it stays genuinely cold through the whole summer — this is not an alpine lake people swim lengths in. It is also small, shallow at the edges and photographed constantly, so a swim here is a public event. Treat it as a place to sit by rather than a place to bathe, and you will not be disappointed.
Where is Bachalpsee?
Above Grindelwald in the Bernese Oberland, at 46.66953° N, 8.02130° E, on a shelf below the Faulhorn. The official Swiss gazetteer records it as "Bachsee" rather than Bachalpsee, and the surveyed water level is 2,266 m (swisstopo, checked 3 August 2026). The commonly quoted 2,265 m is a metre out, which matters to nobody standing there.
Is the cableway ever closed?
Yes, and it is the single thing worth checking before you plan this walk. The First cableway is out of service for revision work from 26 October to 27 November 2026 — 33 consecutive days, marked "suspended due to revision work" in the operator's own booking calendar. The current operating period runs to 25 October 2026 and service resumes on 28 November. In that gap there is no lift to the trailhead at all.