Riding up from Stechelberg to the Schilthorn, you stop for the first time after five minutes. The station is called Gimmelwald, almost everyone stays in the cabin — and that is the only question this page is about: is it worth getting out? The hamlet sits at 1,367 m, is car-free, and has neither a lift of its own nor a row of hotels.
Quick Facts
- Elevation
- 1,367 m
- Getting There
- 62 min from Interlaken Ost, 2 changes
- Duration
- Half day
- Price
- Not verified
- Season
- Year-round
- Best for
- Quiet, a stop en route, walking
Journey time checked
Getting there: train, bus, five minutes by cable car
Measured against the Swiss timetable for Thursday 13 August 2026 across five departure times: train from Interlaken Ost to Lauterbrunnen (22 minutes), bus 141 to Stechelberg, then the cable car — 62 minutes in total with two changes. Every measured connection took the same length, and the chain repeats every 30 minutes.
The fare nobody quotes for Gimmelwald alone
This is where the page can say less than it would like, and it says so rather than inventing a figure. The Schilthorn operator publishes no separate fare for Gimmelwald. Its «Timetable and Tariff» page lists only the through route: CHF 11.80 one way and CHF 23.60 return for adults, Stechelberg–Mürren.
This site records both amounts under Mürren, 25 August 2026 — because they belong to the Mürren route, not to the Gimmelwald stop. That is exactly the point of this section.
Gimmelwald is an intermediate stop on that very route. What the Stechelberg–Gimmelwald leg costs on its own appears neither in the tariff sheet nor on the operator's own page for the village — so the price row above reads «Not verified». It is the same gap as on the BLM route to Mürren, and it gets the same answer.
When the cableway stands still
Gimmelwald hangs off a single section, and that is the practical difference from Mürren: when it stops, the hamlet cannot be reached from Stechelberg at all, whereas Mürren still has the route via Lauterbrunnen and Grütschalp. The operator lists three maintenance windows: 19 to 30 October 2026, 26 April to 7 May 2027 and 28–29 October 2027. Outside those dates the section runs year-round. Wind and cloud stop it more often than maintenance does, and at short notice — the operator explicitly reserves the right to thin the timetable or suspend service.
What is up there, and what is not
Gimmelwald is a lived-in hamlet rather than a resort: no lift in the village, no viewing platform, no hotel row. The local tourism organisation describes it as one of the last car-free villages in the Bernese Oberland and points to its position in the Jungfrau-Aletsch-Bietschhorn UNESCO World Heritage site — both its own account of itself, not a neutral finding.
A footnote on the elevation, because it explains why figures differ: operator and tourism organisation both say 1,367 m, while the official swisstopo elevation service reads 1,379.8 m at the gazetteer's village point. Both are right — Gimmelwald lies on a slope, and a village on a slope has no single elevation. This page prints the published figure, because that is how the whole site handles village elevations.
The honest advice: if your day is built around the Schilthorn, stopping here costs you half an hour and buys you a quiet view down the valley. If quiet is the point of the day, this is a better address than Mürren, precisely because nothing is going on. If you are collecting sights, stay in the cabin.
Timetable and fares from the Schilthorn operator — the source for the prices and maintenance dates above, retrieved 12 August 2026.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you get to Gimmelwald?
Train from Interlaken Ost to Lauterbrunnen (22 minutes), bus 141 to Stechelberg, then five minutes up by cable car — 62 minutes in total with two changes, measured against the Swiss timetable for Thursday 13 August 2026 across five departure times. Every one of them took exactly the same length, and the chain repeats every 30 minutes. From Mürren the same cableway runs one section down.
What does the cable car to Gimmelwald cost?
This is the honest gap on this page: the Schilthorn operator publishes no fare for Gimmelwald on its own. Only the through route Stechelberg–Mürren is listed, at CHF 11.80 one way and CHF 23.60 return for adults — figures this site records under the Mürren entry, 25 August 2026. Gimmelwald is an intermediate stop on exactly that route, and what the single section costs is nowhere stated in checkable form. We would rather print «Not verified» than a plausible number.
Can you drive to Gimmelwald?
No. Gimmelwald is car-free and has no road connection to the valley at all. The car stays in Stechelberg or in Lauterbrunnen, depending on which side you approach from.
Is it worth stopping in Gimmelwald?
If you want quiet, yes. If you want things to do, no. Gimmelwald has no lift of its own, no row of hotels and no viewing platform. It is a lived-in hamlet on a terrace above the valley, and its appeal is precisely that none of that is there. Anyone collecting sights should carry on to Mürren or the Schilthorn.
When is the cableway to Gimmelwald closed?
For maintenance in late autumn and in spring. The operator closes the Stechelberg–Gimmelwald–Mürren section from 19 to 30 October 2026, then again from 26 April to 7 May 2027 and on 28–29 October 2027. During those days Gimmelwald cannot be reached from Stechelberg at all — unlike Mürren, which stays reachable via Lauterbrunnen and Grütschalp. Operator figures, retrieved 12 August 2026.
Related Articles
