Duration: Approximately 1.5 to 2 hours of narrated hiking (round trip) Distance: 6 km (round trip) Elevation Gain: 200 m ascent / 200 m descent Starting Elevation: 2,168 m (First gondola station) High Point: 2,265 m (Bachalpsee) Difficulty: T1-T2 (easy to moderate hiking) Best Season: June to October GPS Start: 46.6600N, 8.0555E (First) GPS Bachalpsee: 46.6710N, 8.0152E
Introduction
Welcome to one of the most beloved family hikes in Switzerland: the walk from First to Bachalpsee, a classic Bernese Oberland trail that delivers world-famous scenery with minimal effort. This is a hike that rewards every step with views of the Eiger, Schreckhorn, Wetterhorn, and a dozen other iconic peaks, culminating at a mountain lake whose reflections have graced a million postcards.
You have arrived at the First gondola station at 2,168 metres, riding the gondola from Grindelwald in about 25 minutes. The station sits on an open ridge above the Grindelwald valley, and from the moment you step off the gondola, the panorama of the Bernese Alps surrounds you.
The walk to Bachalpsee is 3 kilometres each way, with only 100 metres of net elevation gain. The trail is wide, well-graded, and suitable for families with children, making it one of the most accessible alpine hikes in Switzerland. But do not mistake accessibility for ordinariness. This trail passes through some of the most photogenic terrain in the Alps, and the Bachalpsee itself, with its perfect reflections of the Schreckhorn and Wetterhorn, is one of the iconic images of Switzerland.
Practical notes: Wear comfortable hiking shoes, as the trail is well-maintained. Carry water, sun protection, and a warm layer. Even on warm days, the wind at 2,200 metres can be brisk. The trail is usually free of snow from mid-June to late October.
Follow the yellow hiking signs toward "Bachalpsee" from the First station.
Waypoint 1: First Station Terrace (2,168 m)
GPS: 46.6600N, 8.0555E
Before setting off, take a few moments on the First terrace to orient yourself. The panorama is extensive and rewards careful observation.
Directly to the south, three peaks dominate the skyline. The Wetterhorn, at 3,692 metres, is the closest and most prominent, its summit often trailing a banner of cloud. The name means "weather peak," and its condition has long been used by locals as a weather forecaster: cloud streaming from its summit signals approaching bad weather from the west.
To the right of the Wetterhorn, the Schreckhorn, at 4,078 metres, rises in a dark, imposing pyramid. The Schreckhorn is one of the most technically challenging of the Bernese four-thousanders, and its first ascent in 1861 by the British climber Leslie Stephen, father of Virginia Woolf, was considered one of the great mountaineering achievements of the age.
Further right, the Finsteraarhorn, at 4,274 metres, the highest peak in the Bernese Alps, is visible on clear days. Its name means "dark eagle peak," and it is one of the most remote summits in the Alps, requiring a long approach up the Aletsch Glacier.
First has become an adventure playground in recent years. The cliff walk, a narrow walkway bolted to the cliff face, the First Flyer zip line, and the mountain cart and trottibike descents attract thrill-seekers alongside hikers. But the walk to Bachalpsee remains the timeless attraction, a trail that has been welcoming visitors for well over a century without losing any of its magic.
The gondola that brought you here is a modern replacement for an earlier system, but tourists have been ascending to this viewpoint since the nineteenth century, when the only route was on foot or by mule. The Grindelwald mountain guides, one of the oldest professional guide associations in the Alps, led early visitors to the Bachalpsee and beyond, sharing their deep knowledge of the mountains, the weather, and the flora and fauna of the high country. The tradition of guiding continues today, with Grindelwald's guides offering everything from gentle walking tours to technical ascents of the Eiger and Schreckhorn.
Begin walking northwest along the broad, well-marked trail.
Next waypoint: 800 m, approximately 12 minutes.
Waypoint 2: The First Ridge (2,180 m)
GPS: 46.6620N, 8.0480E
The trail follows a gentle ridge, climbing almost imperceptibly through alpine meadow. The path is wide enough for two to walk abreast, and the gradient is negligible. This is hiking at its most relaxing.
The meadows on either side of the trail are a masterclass in alpine botany. In July, they are a riot of colour: blue gentians, yellow hawkbits, pink alpine clover, white marguerites, and the deep purple of alpine bartsia create a tapestry that changes composition from week to week through the summer.
The grasses here are adapted to the extremes of alpine life. Nardus stricta, mat grass, forms tough, wiry clumps that resist grazing and trampling. Festuca species, the fescues, create a fine-textured sward that is the hallmark of well-managed alpine pastures. These grasses grow quickly during the short summer, storing energy in their roots for the long months under snow.
The butterflies here are a delight. The small heath, the common blue, and the dark green fritillary are among the most visible. On warm, calm days, the meadows seem to shimmer with their movement. The small pearl-bordered fritillary, with its orange wings marked with silver spots, is particularly beautiful.
The biodiversity of these meadows is directly linked to their traditional management. For centuries, local farmers have grazed cattle and cut hay from these slopes, maintaining the open grassland habitat that supports such a rich community of wildflowers and insects. Without this management, shrubs and eventually trees would colonise the meadows, reducing the diversity to a fraction of its current richness. This is one of the great paradoxes of alpine conservation: the landscapes we value most are often not pristine wilderness but cultural landscapes shaped by centuries of careful human stewardship.
Next waypoint: 800 m, approximately 12 minutes.
Waypoint 3: The Wetterhorn Viewpoint (2,200 m)
GPS: 46.6640N, 8.0400E
As the trail curves gently northward, the Wetterhorn comes into full view on your right, and its impact is considerable. From this angle, the mountain presents its classic profile: a steep, triangular rock face rising above a broad skirt of glacier and moraine.
The Wetterhorn is historically significant as one of the first major Alpine peaks to be climbed. On 31 August 1854, a party led by the British alpinist Alfred Wills reached the summit, an event that is sometimes cited as the beginning of the Golden Age of Alpinism, the period from 1854 to 1865 when the major peaks of the Alps were climbed for the first time.
In reality, the summit had been reached before, by local hunters and guides, but Wills's ascent was the first to be widely publicised in Britain, and his book about the climb, "Wanderings Among the High Alps," inspired a generation of British climbers. The rush to conquer the Alpine peaks that followed gave rise to organised mountaineering, the founding of alpine clubs, and the development of the professional mountain guide system.
The glacier on the Wetterhorn's north face, the Obergrindelwald Glacier, was once one of the most dramatic sights in the Alps, reaching almost to the Grindelwald valley floor. Eighteenth-century visitors described it as a river of ice cascading down the mountainside. Today, it has retreated far up the face, and the vast moraine field below testifies to its former extent.
Next waypoint: 700 m, approximately 10 minutes.
Waypoint 4: The Marmot Zone (2,220 m)
GPS: 46.6660N, 8.0330E
This stretch of the trail passes through prime marmot territory. The grassy slopes, dotted with boulders, provide ideal habitat for Alpine marmots, and their whistling alarm calls are a constant soundtrack on warm summer days.
Marmots are social animals that live in family groups of up to 15 individuals. Their burrow systems are extensive, with a main chamber for sleeping, satellite chambers for latrines, and multiple entrances for escape. The burrows can extend several metres underground and are reused and expanded over many generations.
The marmot's annual cycle is dominated by the need to survive the long alpine winter. From October to April, they hibernate in their burrows, their body temperature dropping from 37 degrees to just 5 degrees Celsius and their heart rate slowing from over 100 beats per minute to about 3. During hibernation, they live entirely on the fat reserves accumulated during the summer, losing up to half their body weight by spring.
Watch for marmots standing upright on boulders, scanning for predators. When one spots a threat, usually a golden eagle or a fox, it gives a sharp, piercing whistle that alerts the entire colony. The other marmots dive for their burrows, and the hillside, moments before alive with grazing animals, is suddenly empty. The speed of the response is remarkable.
Next waypoint: 700 m, approximately 10 minutes.
Waypoint 5: Bachalpsee Approach (2,250 m)
GPS: 46.6690N, 8.0210E
The trail crests a gentle rise, and there before you is the Bachalpsee, the goal of your walk and one of the most beautiful mountain lakes in Switzerland.
The first impression is of colour: the dark, clear water reflecting the sky and peaks with mirror-like precision. On a calm morning, the reflections are so perfect that photographs taken at the lakeside can be flipped upside down with no loss of realism. This is the image that has appeared on countless postcards, calendars, and tourism campaigns, the quintessential Swiss mountain lake.
Bachalpsee sits at 2,265 metres in a shallow basin scooped from the bedrock by a small glacier during the Ice Age. The lake is actually two connected pools, separated by a narrow causeway, with a combined length of about 400 metres. The water is clear and cold, typically 6 to 10 degrees Celsius in summer, and the lake is free of glacial sediment, giving it a dark, transparent quality that differs from the milky turquoise of glacier-fed lakes.
The lake has no surface inlet or outlet. It is fed by snowmelt and rainfall percolating through the soil, and it drains underground through the porous substrate. The water level drops noticeably through the summer as the snowmelt supply diminishes.
Next waypoint: 200 m, approximately 5 minutes.
Waypoint 6: Bachalpsee Lakeside (2,265 m)
GPS: 46.6710N, 8.0152E
Find a comfortable spot on the grassy shore and take in the scene. This is the moment to sit, breathe, and absorb the beauty of the Alps.
The peaks reflected in the lake are, from left to right: the Wetterhorn, the Schreckhorn, and the Finsteraarhorn. On exceptionally calm days, every detail of the peaks, every ridge and couloir, every snow field and rock band, is reproduced in the water with almost holographic clarity.
The best conditions for reflections are early morning and late afternoon, when the air is still and the angle of light is low. By midday, thermals generate breezes that ripple the surface and fragment the reflections. If you have arrived in the morning, you may be rewarded with perfect mirror conditions.
Photography tips: The classic Bachalpsee shot is taken from the northeastern shore, looking south toward the peaks. A wide-angle lens captures both the peaks and their reflections. For the most dramatic light, visit in the early morning when the peaks are lit by warm, golden light while the lake is still in shadow, or in the evening when the peaks glow pink and orange.
The lake is home to small populations of alpine newts, and the surrounding meadows support a community of ground-nesting birds, including the water pipit and the wheatear. Please stay on the paths around the lake to protect these sensitive habitats.
If you have time and energy, the trail continues from Bachalpsee to the Faulhorn summit, a further 2 kilometres and 400 metres of climbing. The Faulhorn, at 2,681 metres, hosts the oldest mountain inn in Europe and offers a panorama that ranks among the finest in the Bernese Oberland. This extension turns a gentle walk into a more serious half-day hike.
For the return, simply retrace your steps along the same trail back to First. The walk back offers the peaks as a continuous backdrop ahead of you, with the Eiger now visible to the southwest.
Waypoint 7: The Return Walk (2,200 m)
GPS: 46.6650N, 8.0370E
As you retrace your steps, the perspective changes. Walking east toward First, the Eiger's North Face comes into view to the southwest, its dark, brooding wall a stark contrast to the bright meadows underfoot. The Eiger, at 3,967 metres, is the easternmost of the famous Bernese triumvirate, and from this angle its notorious north wall is partially visible, the face that challenged climbers for decades before its first ascent in 1938.
The return walk also provides an opportunity to notice details you may have missed on the way out. The alpine choughs, glossy black birds with yellow bills, often gather in flocks along the ridge, performing acrobatic manoeuvres on the wind currents. Their social calls, a series of sharp, piping notes, are a characteristic sound of the high Alps.
If you are walking in the late afternoon, the light becomes increasingly warm and golden, painting the meadows in amber tones and casting long shadows from every boulder and wildflower. This is the golden hour of mountain photography, and the trail between Bachalpsee and First provides superb subjects: the peaks backlit by the descending sun, the meadows glowing with warm light, and the long view east toward the Grosse Scheidegg and the Wetterhorn.
The Grindelwald valley below is now filling with shadow while the peaks above remain sunlit, a phenomenon called "alpenglow" that creates one of the most beautiful light effects in mountain landscapes. The warm light on the snow and ice of the Jungfrau and Schreckhorn contrasts with the deep blue shadow in the valley, creating a colour palette that has inspired artists for centuries.
As you approach First, you may encounter families with children, couples, and elderly walkers enjoying the final section of the trail. The accessibility of this hike is one of its greatest strengths. In a world where many alpine experiences require advanced fitness or technical skills, the walk to Bachalpsee offers world-class scenery to everyone.
Closing
You have walked one of Switzerland's classic trails, a route that distils the essence of the Bernese Oberland into a compact, accessible package. The reflections of the Schreckhorn in Bachalpsee, the wildflower meadows, the marmot whistles, and the vast panorama of peaks and glaciers combine to create an experience that resonates long after you leave.
The gondola from First to Grindelwald takes about 25 minutes and runs until late afternoon. From Grindelwald, trains connect to Interlaken and the wider Swiss rail network.
Grindelwald itself is worth exploring. The village has been a mountain resort since the 1880s and retains much of its traditional character despite the modern tourist infrastructure. The Grindelwald Museum, housed in a historic chalet, documents the village's evolution from farming community to international resort.
Thank you for hiking with ch.tours. The Bachalpsee awaits your return. Safe travels.