Jungfraujoch Railway

The Jungfrau Railway runs from Kleine Scheidegg through a tunnel bored inside the Eiger and Mönch to Jungfraujoch at 3,454m, the highest railway station in Europe. It is not covered outright by the Swiss Travel Pass, though the pass gives a discount on the final section.

A tunnel inside the Eiger

The line took sixteen years to build and opened in 1912. Most of it runs inside the mountain: from Eigergletscher the train climbs through a tunnel driven through the Eiger and the Mönch, stopping partway at Eismeer, where windows cut into the rock face look out over the glacier. The engineer who began it, Adolf Guyer-Zeller, died before it was finished.

What is at the top

Jungfraujoch is marketed as the Top of Europe, and the station sits at 3,454m on the saddle between the Mönch and the Jungfrau. There is an ice palace cut into the glacier, viewing terraces over the Aletsch Glacier — the longest in the Alps — and the Sphinx observatory. It is genuinely high: the air is thin enough that some visitors feel it, and the temperature stays below freezing year round.

Practical detail, and the cost

This is the expensive one. The Swiss Travel Pass does not cover the final climb from Grindelwald or Lauterbrunnen, only discounting it, so budget for a substantial supplement on top of your pass — considerably more than any other journey on this site. The Eiger Express gondola, opened in 2020, cuts the ascent from Grindelwald significantly and is the faster way up.

Go early and check the mountain webcams before committing. In cloud there is nothing to see from the top, and the ticket is too expensive to waste on a white-out.

More pictures

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