Bachalpsee Hike

From First-Grindelwald

The lake Bachalpsee hike is an extremely accessible one. You will get alpine lake views, restaurants, and activities, and can even go for a swim. To start the trail, you will need to head to Grindelwald, one of the most famous villages in Switzerland for hiking and winter sports. This hike is a perfect one-dayer, but it is extremely touristy as you can reach it by cable car, and it’s almost flat. If you want to hike a bit more, as we did, just continue until the Faulhorn peak, 2.75 km away from Bachalpsee. There you can get lunch and have some amazing views of lake Brienzersee.

Bachalpsee Hike: General Details

The Bachalpsee lake hike from First-Grindelwald is a very accessible 5.4 km out-and-back hike that starts at the First-Grindelwald cable car station and finishes at the lake. During the hike, you will always have a view of the Schreckhorn and Finsteraarhorn, iconic mountains. If you want to hike an extra leg, head on to Faulhorn peak for an amazing view of Lake Brienzersee.

• Hike Distance: 5.4 km (2.7 km each way) - 11 km if you hike until the Faulhorn summit.
• Hike Duration: Around 1.5 hours of walking time. Counting with a lunch break or time to take some photos, 3 hours. If you go to the Faulhorn summit, then count on 4 hours of walking time (5/6 for lunch + photos)
• Hike Difficulty: Easy. Unless you go to the Faulhorn summit, which adds 350m of inclination to the hike.
• Hike Incline: 112m or 465m if you go to the Faulhorn summit
• Hike Altitude: 2158m at the First-Grindelwald cable car station (lowest point), 2270m at Bachalpsee, and 2623m at the Faulhorn Summit (highest point)

If you want to hike in Zermatt, check out my Matterhorn Glacier Trail and Edelweissweg Trail articles. For hikes in Appenzell, check out my Saxer Lücke and Fälensee Hike.

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How To Get to the Bachalpsee Lake?

You need to take a train to the Grindelwald train station and walk 9 minutes to the cable car station Grindelwald Firstbahn. Once at Firstbahn, you take the cable car to First, Grindelwald, and walk for around 50 minutes to the beautiful Bachalpsee. If you wish to go further to Faulhorn and have an amazing view of the Brienzersee lake, you need to walk one more hour. For a 50% discount on train tickets, make sure you buy a Swiss Half-Fare Travel Card beforehand; it’s literally life-saving.

Bachalpsee Map (light blue dashed line)

What to Bring on the Bachalpsee Hike?

To ensure a safer and more comfortable journey in this mid-altitude mountain hike with some gravel sections, certain specific equipment is indispensable, especially if you’re staying overnight or doing it on a cold day: Essentials:

• Breathable T-shirt (Tech or Merino)
• Waterproof Jacket (Gore-Tex or H2O Technology)
• Puffer Jacket
• Shorts or Pants
• Hiking Shoes or Trekking Boots
• Backpack: 25-35 liters
• Gloves: One Layer (preferably merino wool for breathability and comfort)
• Sunglasses: Category 4 UV protection.
• Cap: Or a beanie and buff if it’s cold**.**
• Hiking Merino Socks: One Layer (preferably merino wool for breathability and comfort)
• Sunscreen: Ensure you have a minimum of SPF 50.
• Trekking Poles: For the entire hike.
• Low Gaiters: For peace of mind if there’s gravel.
• Swimming Clothes: (if you’re staying overnight or going for a swim)
• Dry-fast Towel: (if you’re staying overnight or going for a swim)

Camping and Extras:

• Cooking, Camping Tent, Sleeping Mat, Sleeping Bag
• Headlamp
• Victorinox Swiss Multi-Tool or Victorinox Hiker Knife
• Change of Clothes

Other Things:

• First-Aid Kit
• Drinks and Snacks: Bring enough of them, especially if you’re doing it in two days.
• Thermos

My Experience on the Bachalpsee Hike

Start by taking a train to the Grindelwald train station and walking 9 minutes to the cable car station Grindelwald Firstbahn. Once at Firstbahn, you take the cable car to First, Grindelwald, and walk for around 50 minutes to the beautiful Bachalpsee. If you wish to go further to Faulhorn and have an amazing view of the Brienzersee lake, you need to walk one more hour.

From Grindelwald to the First Cable Car Station

You have to buy the ticket at the counter or the ticket machines at the Grindelwald Firstbahn station. It’s a CHF 64 return ticket, but you can use the Half-Fare/Swiss Pass Card for a 50% discount. You can also buy it online here. Of course, you can go up and down on foot and save some bucks, but the fastest path goes right underneath the cable cars, so you won’t have any special view or reward by doing it that way. If you do this hike without cable cars, you will have to add an extra 10 km to the hike. Once you reach the First Grindelwald station, you can eat something at their restaurant or go on one of the many adventures they offer. The path to the Bachalpsee lake afterward is a very easy and marked hiking, dirt and gravel path. We went on the First Cliff Walk on our way back, which probably let us visit it without a thousand tourists, and it was quite fun.

First, Grindelwald cable car Station

The path right after the First station

Paragliders over the Bachalpsee

The Schreckhorn seen from the Bachalpsee lake

From the First Cable Car Station to the Bachalpsee Lake

The path from First to the Bachalpsee lake winds around the beautiful alpine meadows, and you have the constant backdrop of the mountain range in the distance. After hiking for around one hour, we reached the Bachalpsee lake and finally saw one of the most famous lakes and views in Switzerland. It’s seriously one of the must-do hikes if you ever are in Switzerland. There are a lot of tourists, but in any case, the paths are large enough and you can pretty much hike them without worrying that much. We were also accompanied during the entire hike by Swiss cows, which made the hike more interesting, seeing them running around like they own the place. Beautiful, but a bit dangerous. At some point, a couple of them went all the way to the lake to drink, and they didn’t care that there were tourists there; if the tourists hadn’t run away fast enough, they would have for sure gotten hit by the stampede.

From the Bachalpsee Lake to the Faulhorn Summit

After a quick lunch break, a photo shoot with the Schreckhorn in the background, and a quick swim at the lake, we decided to hike up to Faulhorn. The trail is again in dirt and gravel and very well marked, and it was quite easy to climb; however, due to the incline and the distance, it might not be the best extra path for a family. When we reached the Berghotel Faulhorn, we got ourselves a proper meal, a traditional soup, and some beers with an amazing view of Schreckhorn, Finsteraarhorn, and even the famous Eiger mountain. After that, we went to the back of the hut and watched the unbelievable view from there of Lake Brienzersee. You’ve a 360º view around the hut. I would one hundred percent advise you to come up here. Tip-top experience! After spending more than an hour up there, we slowly started going down. Pay attention, as always, to the cable car closing times, or you may end up stuck up in the station and have to walk all the way down. I wanted to send the drone up, but unfortunately, I had no time for that in order to catch the cable car.

The path to the Faulhorn Summit

The views on the way to the Faulhorn summit

Bachalpsee rock formations

The Bachalpsee lake

From the Faulhorn Summit Back to Grindelwald

On the way down to the First station, clouds started covering the sky, and we didn’t have enough time to deviate from the route and explore other places. However, it was nice to see the place completely changing with clouds giving it a moody feeling. Also, the Schreckhorn, which at first was completely free of clouds, was now covered, so if you plan to take some nice shots of that mountain, I advise you to come early in the morning, cause the weather in the Alps tends to get worse after midday. And that’s it, after we got to First, the hike was over. What about you, have you already done the Bachalpsee hike?  Leave me a comment down here if you did, and after you did it, with your impression. Thanks for reading through and have fun hiking! I’ll drop a couple of my other favorite photos from this hike down below. Enjoy!

Photo Gallery

From Grindelwald to the First Cable Car Station

From the First Cable Car Station to the Bachalpsee Lake

From the Bachalpsee Lake to the Faulhorn Summit

From the Faulhorn Summit Back to Grindelwald