© Lonely Planet Publications 170 Bernese Oberland BERNESE OBERLAND The Bernese Oberland should come with a health warning – caution: may cause trembling in the north face of Eiger, uncontrollable bouts of euphoria at the foot of Jungfrau, 007 delusions at Schilthorn and A-list fever in Gstaad. And it’s highly addictive. Mark Twain wrote that no opiate compared to walking through this landscape (and he should know), but even when sober the electric-green spruce forests, so-big-they’ll-swallow-you-up mountains, surreal china-blue skies, swirling glaciers and turquoise lakes seem the products of hallucination. After an adrenalin fix in Interlaken, the Jungfrau Region beckons. Feel the spray of the wispy Staubbach Falls, savour chocolate-box Mürren, slalom the Lauberhorn and feel hum- bled by the original pearly kings and queens: Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau. Up at Europe’s highest station, Jungfraujoch, husky yapping mingles with Bollywood beats. Yet just paces away, the serpentine Aletsch Glacier flicks out its tongue and you’re surrounded by 4000m turrets and frosty stillness. From Interlaken, head east to Meiringen for Sherlock Holmes eccentricities and meringues, or west for medieval flair at Thun’s turreted castle. Down south you enter wilder territory in Kandersteg, where the dress-code is muddy walking boots. Not so in nearby Gstaad, where Paris Hilton pouts in the paparazzi’s lens and the nouveaux riches flash porcelain smiles whiter than snow. But though photographers might capture celebs at their best, the landscape defeats them. Listen carefully for the tutting of tourists at the postcard carousels trying – and failing – to find something to match their memories. An inevitable side effect, surely, of a place so outrageously beautiful it has to be seen to be believed. HIGHLIGHTS Getting dizzy on zip-wires, hanging bridges and Eiger views on the via ferrata in Mürren ( p188 ) Meiringen Hiking the heavenly Faulhornweg ( p69 ) Interlaken from Schynige Platte to Grindelwald-First Faulhornweg Whizzing past 4000m mountains and Mürren glaciers on a husky-driven sleigh at Jungfraujoch Jungfraujoch ( p183 ) Gliding above the peaks on a tandem paragliding flight from Interlaken ( p174 ) Discovering Sherlock Holmes mysteries and divine meringues in Meiringen ( p193 ) POPULATION: 897,500 AREA: 5907 SQ KM LANGUAGE: GERMAN lonelyplanet.com 0 20 km BERNESE OBERLAND 0 12 miles To Bern To Lucerne (12km) A12 BERN (37km) Münsingen LUZERN N4 Brienzer Rothorn Kiesen Engelberg (2350m) OBERLAND BERNESE UNTERWALDEN Brünig Fribourg Titlis Pass (3239m) Steffisburg Brienz Thun A6 Hilterfingen Aare Gadmen Meiringen Gorge N11 Oberhofen St Beatus Brienzersee Giessbachfälle Susten Höhlen (Lake Brienz) Axalp Gwatt Gunten Nessental Trift Cable Pass Car Beatenberg See Jungfrau Region Map (p178) FRIBOURG Stockhorn Innertkirchen Spiez Aare Trift (2190m) Rosenlaui Faulensee Faulhorn First Triftsee Suspension Thunersee Interlaken (2681m) (2167m) Gorge Bridge N8 (Lake Thun) Schynige Platte URI Erienbach Grosse To Andermatt Niesen Mülenen Wilderswil (1967m) Scheidegg N6 (2362m) (2km) Bulle Zweilütschinen Grindelwald Lauterbrunnen Wengen Kleine Scheidegg Frutigen Gruyères Eiger Grimselsee Mürren (3970m) Furka Schwenden Schilthorn Pass Jungfraujoch St Gotthard Zweisimmen (2970m) Mönch (4107m) Grimsel Gletsch Pass (3454m) Pass Gimmelwald Jungfrau Tunnel Stechelberg (4158m) Saanenmöser Oeschinensee Ulrichen Saanen Blümlisalp Adelboden (3663m) r Kandersteg e i c Nufenen TICINO a Gstaad l Pass Lenk G h N19 c s Tunnel t e l A Gemmi VALAIS To Montreux Pass I T A L Y (30km) VAUD Rhône Leukerbad Col du Pillon Reusch Les Diablerets Brig Glacier 3000 Montana Cable Car Crans VALAIS Sierre Visp 171 A9 To Zermatt (32km) BERNESE OBERLAND OBERLAND BERNESE.