Eiger Trail

The Eiger Trail is the 6.5 km path that traces directly along the foot of the Eiger's north wall — a 1,800 m face of glaciated limestone first climbed in 1938 and synonymous with hard alpinism ever since. The trail starts at the Eigergletscher train station (2,322 m) on the Jungfrau railway, contours along the wall's lower talus and grass slopes, and descends to the Alpiglen train station (1,616 m) — a cogwheel ride back to Grindelwald. It's one of Switzerland's signature short hikes precisely because of what's looming overhead.

The walking is straightforward — gravel and dirt path, gradual descent, no exposure — but the experience is the wall. Looking up from the trail, you can pick out the famous routes (the original 1938 Heckmair line, the Difficult Crack, the Ramp, the Traverse of the Gods) and on a busy day in summer hear small rockfalls and see climbers as specks on the upper face. The trail is also a popular trail-runners' route in the opposite direction; the Eiger Ultra Trail race incorporates this section every July. Total descent is around 700 m; the small "climb" of 150 m comes in the gentler middle section before the trail tips back down.

The standard season is May to October, depending on snowmelt; the trail is rocky and exposed to weather, so check the Jungfrau Railways status before going up. The Jungfrau railway (Wengen → Kleine Scheidegg → Eigergletscher) and the BOB cogwheel (Alpiglen → Grindelwald) make the point-to-point logistics trivial — both trains run hourly in summer. Buy a Berner-Oberland Pass or use the Swiss Travel Pass for half-price tickets. The Mittellegi Hut and other Eiger objectives sit far above the trail; this is a hiker's walk, not climbers' approach, and stays well below the snowline.