Grindelwald Glacier Gorge

Price
CHF 21.00 Admission
From Interlaken Ost
53 min Train + bus
Season
April–November
Journey time checked
24 September 2026

Last updated:

In short

Behind the village of Grindelwald, the Lower Grindelwald Glacier has cut a gorge with walls up to 300 metres high. A walkway runs about a kilometre into it, through tunnels and galleries. Three things are worth settling before you go: the admission is not the price advertised, the operator states its season in five places and one of them disagrees, and there is a second glacier gorge that search results keep mixing in.

Quick Facts

Getting There
53 min from Interlaken Ost, change in Grindelwald to bus 122 Journey time checked
Duration
1–2 hrs
Price
CHF 21.00 Checked with the operator
Season
Summer operation — four of five operator statements say May
Best for
A short visit in any weather, families, rainy days

Chapter 01

The advertised price is the group price

The operator — Outdoor Switzerland AG, which also runs the site itself — advertises the visit as «Ab CHF 19.- / Gast». The price block on the same page then lists:

So the headline quotes the group rate without the group condition. Travelling alone or as a couple, you pay CHF 21.00, not CHF 19.00. Tickets are bought on site.

And how much the guest card takes off is stated twice, differently, on that same page. The price block says CHF 3.00 per person; the FAQ answer further up the page says «Ja, mit der Gästekarte Interlaken oder Grindelwald erhältst du CHF 2.– Rabatt pro Person.» — yes, with the Interlaken or Grindelwald guest card you get CHF 2 off per person. This matters more for visitors than it first looks: most hotels and many guesthouses in the region issue a guest card to people staying overnight, so admission comes to either CHF 18.00 or CHF 19.00 — and in the second case that is exactly the advertised figure, not below it. The operator says nowhere which of the two applies at the ticket desk. If you are staying locally, ask your accommodation for the card before you set off; it is worth having either way.

Chapter 02

The season is stated in five places — four agree

The gorge is a summer operation; the walkway does not run in winter. Exactly when it opens is the least certain figure on this page, and the uncertainty is not ours — the operator's own page states the start of the season in five places, and exactly one of them disagrees.

The price box adds the caveat «Dates may vary due to weather conditions.» No exact 2026 dates are published. Our table reads April–November, the wider window, because too narrow a one would have a guest miss an open attraction — but the honest addition is this: if you are planning for April, know that four of the five statements name May and the fifth only «Ende April», and ask before you travel. For the months in between the question does not arise.

Chapter 03

There are two glacier gorges

This distinction is missing from most search results, and getting it wrong costs a whole day of a trip:

Both are gorges carved by a glacier, both have walkways and tunnels, both are summer operations. They are not connected, and they do not combine sensibly into one day from Interlaken — one lies in the Lütschine valley, the other in the Haslital.

Chapter 04

Getting there: 53 minutes, and the bus is half-hourly

From Interlaken Ost it is 53 minutes with one change, measured as the daily minimum across eight departures on Thursday 20 August 2026. The chain is short and frequent:

Bus 122 alternates along the same line between Gletscherschlucht and Klusi or Bodmi, so every second departure is the one you want. The last bus from the stop leaves at 18:30 and reaches Interlaken Ost at 19:24. Whether the gorge closes before that, the operator states twice, differently, on the same page: its opening hours panel for «Gletscherschlucht 1» gives 07:30–16:00, while the FAQ answer beside it says «Täglich von Mai bis November, im Sommer bis 20:00 Uhr» (daily from May to November, until 20:00 in summer). If the second figure is the one that holds, the bus is gone ninety minutes before closing. To leave later you walk down to Grindelwald — the timetable allows forty minutes for it — and take the train, which departs Grindelwald at 19:47, 20:17 and 21:17, reaching Interlaken Ost at 20:24, 20:54 and 21:54. So the timetable does decide the evening here after all, much as it does at Saxeten or Isenfluh, only later.

Chapter 05

What it is good for — and what it is not

The glacier gorge is a short, dense visit: the operator itself gives 1 to 2 hours for about two kilometres there and back. It works in any weather, which makes it one of the region's few rainy-day options that is nonetheless outdoors — the walls keep most of the rain off, and it is wet down there in any case. The operator's own highlight is a 170 m² net suspended seven metres above the Lütschine.

It will not carry a full day. One to two hours on site plus close to two hours of travel fills a half day; the rest belongs to something else in Grindelwald — the Männlichen, for instance, whose gondola starts from the same place. For a comparable experience elsewhere in the region, the St. Beatus Caves on Lake Thun are the same idea inside a mountain rather than in a gorge, at a similar admission and a similar time budget.

Chapter 06

Sources

Prices, season statements, visit duration, path length and the figures for the net come from the operator Outdoor Switzerland AG, retrieved 19.08.2026 and re-checked 10.09.2026; the five season statements are spread across that page in the wording quoted, four agreeing and one not. Journey times, bus frequency and return connections from transport.opendata.ch for a Thursday in August 2026. Coordinate, endpoint and elevation from the swisstopo gazetteer and elevation service (api3.geo.admin.ch): the stop «Grindelwald, Gletscherschlucht» sits at 1,014 m and about one metre from the timetable endpoint, while the terrain name «Gletscherschlucht» marks a point some 900 metres further up the valley at 1,106 m, which is not the entrance.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much does the Grindelwald Glacier Gorge cost?

Adults pay CHF 21.00, children under 16 pay CHF 11.00, and children under 6 are free. The operator advertises «Ab CHF 19.- / Gast» (from CHF 19 per guest) on the same page, but that is the rate for groups of ten or more; school groups of ten or more pay CHF 9.00. How much a guest card takes off is stated twice, differently, on that same page: CHF 3.00 per person in the price block, CHF 2.00 in the FAQ answer beside it — so with a card, admission is either CHF 18.00 or CHF 19.00. Tickets are bought on site. Checked 14 October 2026.

How do you get to the glacier gorge from Interlaken?

Take the train from Interlaken Ost to Grindelwald (36 minutes), then bus 122 to the stop «Grindelwald, Gletscherschlucht» right at the entrance (11 minutes). The fastest connection takes 53 minutes in total with one change, measured as the daily minimum across eight departures on Thursday 20 August 2026. Bus 122 runs every half hour.

When is the glacier gorge open?

It is a summer operation. The operator gives no exact dates, and its own page states the start of the season in five places: the body text, the headline figure, the price box and the FAQ all say «Mai bis November» (May to November), while only the fact row «Wichtige Infos» says «Geöffnet von Ende April bis November» (open from the end of April), followed by «Dates may vary due to weather conditions.» If you are planning for late April, ask before you travel. The time of day is stated twice, differently, as well: the opening hours panel for the address gives 07:30 to 16:00, while the FAQ answer beside it says «Täglich von Mai bis November, im Sommer bis 20:00 Uhr» (until 20:00 in summer). That is not a detail, because the last bus from the stop leaves at 18:30 — the gap between the two figures is the question of whether you still catch it.

How long does a visit take?

The operator gives 1 to 2 hours for about two kilometres there and back. The walkway runs roughly one kilometre into the gorge through tunnels and galleries, with walls up to 300 metres high. With the journey from Interlaken this is a half-day trip, not a full day.

Is this the same as the Rosenlaui glacier gorge?

No, and the two are easily confused. The Bernese Oberland has two glacier gorges: this one behind Grindelwald at about 1,014 m, and the Rosenlaui glacier gorge in the Reichenbach valley behind Meiringen, some 11 kilometres away as the crow flies. Both are summer operations charging their own admission, but they have different operators and sit in different valleys. A search for «glacier gorge» returns both, mixed together.

Is the Grindelwald Glacier Gorge covered by the Swiss Travel Pass?

The operator does not say. Its price list names adult, child, group and school-group rates plus the guest-card reduction, but states no pass condition anywhere. The comparison table therefore reads «Not verified» rather than guessing. Note that the bus and train legs to get there are ordinary public transport and are covered by rail passes in the usual way — it is the admission itself that is unstated.

Sources & last check

Price
outdoor.ch · checked
Season
outdoor.ch · checked
Coordinates
swisstopo · checked