Having spent the night on top of the world, we had planned to go even higher up and head to the top of Europe - Jungfraujoch! It's also known as the highest train station in Europe sitting at a pretty cool 3454m above sea level. We knew we had plenty of time for this section of the adventure, as our next stop was only about a 2 hour drive away (a short distance in comparison to some of the drives we had done so far) so once we got back down from our hotel, we had a short walk across to the train station to get the train on up.
We had pre-booked this trip through Swiss Travel Centre, as we had also bought a Half Fare Railcard each - at £89 each, they're not cheap, but the savings you get from these railcards quickly adds up as they do what they say on the tin and give you 50% discount on the trains, boats, buses and some cable cars. For the 2 excursions we knew we had planned, we had effectively made our money back on the ticket costs, and then there were added bonuses like our gondola up to our hotel the previous night being included in the half price offer as well. The savings definitely tot up!
Anyway, appeared and on we got. We enjoyed a slow climb up through the mountains before reaching Kleine Scheidegg where you have to change trains to continue upwards. From there you climb further and further up before travelling into the mountain itself. The last bit of the ascent is through a tunnel. They stop shortly before you reach Jungfraujoch to allow people off to look out of the windows carved in the tunnel, and then you remain in the tunnel even when you reach the final station. From there you walk through the tunnels to finally come out at the top of the mountain.
After the last bit of journey down the mountain, we hopped in the car and hit the road for the next part of our adventure... and little did I know it would be the most exciting part of this adventure yet!
We had pre-booked this trip through Swiss Travel Centre, as we had also bought a Half Fare Railcard each - at £89 each, they're not cheap, but the savings you get from these railcards quickly adds up as they do what they say on the tin and give you 50% discount on the trains, boats, buses and some cable cars. For the 2 excursions we knew we had planned, we had effectively made our money back on the ticket costs, and then there were added bonuses like our gondola up to our hotel the previous night being included in the half price offer as well. The savings definitely tot up!
Anyway, appeared and on we got. We enjoyed a slow climb up through the mountains before reaching Kleine Scheidegg where you have to change trains to continue upwards. From there you climb further and further up before travelling into the mountain itself. The last bit of the ascent is through a tunnel. They stop shortly before you reach Jungfraujoch to allow people off to look out of the windows carved in the tunnel, and then you remain in the tunnel even when you reach the final station. From there you walk through the tunnels to finally come out at the top of the mountain.
The views from the top were incredible. The only thing that spoiled it a bit for us is that it is incredibly touristy. Don't get me wrong, we knew it would be touristy - it's a tourist attraction after all; but we hadn't anticipated it being quite as busy as it was considering it wasn't peak season, and everywhere else so far had been relatively quiet. There was lots of tour groups and slow movers, so if you visit here, anticipate it not necessarily being at your pace.
In the end as it was so busy up there, we only stayed for a short while, and decided it would be better to head back down and head onto our next stop. We had also planned to eat at the top of the mountain, but as it was very busy, we decided we would stop down at Kleine Sheidegg instead to get a bite to eat.
After the last bit of journey down the mountain, we hopped in the car and hit the road for the next part of our adventure... and little did I know it would be the most exciting part of this adventure yet!
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