Watching Clouds Form at Schynige Platte

If we had been asked to describe a Swiss hiking experience before we left for this trip, our Schynige Platte excursion might have been exactly what we came up with. And not because we had done such great, thorough research on what to expect, but because everything about the day felt like what you’d imagine Swiss hiking to be — even the aspects that you’re sure are just old stereotypes.

Schynige Platte (shh-nah-gah plah-tuh ;) is in the Interlaken area, in the Berner Oberland, the Alps region south of Bern. Much of what we wanted to do while staying in Interlaken was head up into the surrounding mountains to hike. There are a bunch of trains, trams, gondolas, cog rails, etc. that take you from the valleys up into the mountains for alpine views and hiking. Schynige Platte is accessed from one of those, a cog rail train that has been running for 125 years.

We took a train up from the valley into the mountains. They described it as a lovely historic ride, which is basically marketing-speak for “you’re going to be sitting on uncomfortable and crowded wooden benches.” ;) After about a 50 minute ride, we got out and started hiking along our second Panoramaweg of the trip (recall #1 here). We were there early in the day, trying to avoid a rainstorm coming in the afternoon, and the air was a bit chilly, but warming up with the sun. We could tell that there should be a spectacular Alp panorama off one side of the plateau, but it was mostly blocked by clouds forming and rising out from the valley below. Even though the view was obscured, it was really beautiful to watch, and we did get to see the mountains peeking through here and there.

Our hike around the plateau took us up to ridge lines with incredible views down over the Interlaken area (with its two stunningly blue lakes), led us up to stark rocky outcroppings, and kept us always within hearing distance of the melodic cowbells in the center of the plateau. Near the train station there was also an Alpine Garden, where hundreds of species of alpine herbs and flowers were planted. After a few hours of hiking, we wandered through the garden, then headed to the panorama restaurant for a drink (coffee ice cream float for me, Panaché for Scott…ask him for the story) before catching the train back down.

Overall, we didn’t get the complete stunning Alp panorama, but we still had an unbelievably beautiful day and took way too many photos. It’s actually an amazing feat that Scott ever was able to sort through them all and find the ones to feature in this post :)

Another train passed us going down the mountain as we were coming up. Kinda looks like a Disneyland ride, right?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gOvNNnTpPOw?rel=0&controls=0&showinfo=0

A short clip of watching the clouds form and getting glimpses of the Eiger:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RI2UZ_weXaY?rel=0&controls=0&showinfo=0

Here’s a video showing the full panorama across Schynige Platte from near the beginning of the hike. We walked all along the left side of this area, up to the ridge and then up the rocky outcropping (Oberberghorn), then into the far background and back through the middle.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jcjYWjVrOhI?rel=0&controls=0&showinfo=0

It couldn’t have been more Swiss than finding a trio of Alphorns when we went to have a drink at the panorama restaurant.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fnRFggFYt84?rel=0&controls=0&showinfo=0