Scintillating Switzerland

Ask a hundred people what they did on their Swiss trip and they’ll tell you pretty much the same things — had fondue at Zurich, walked around the streets of Geneva and maybe, took a cruise on Lake Geneva. When we decided to make a trip to Europe, we knew we wouldn’t do anything that was clichéd. We threw out the guide books and decided to rough it out. Our trip to Switzerland was part of a larger Western Europe tour.

We spent a week in the Swiss countryside, living in a small village called Gluringen. It’s not easy getting there, but when you do, you realise it’s the most magical place. It’s the Switzerland that tourist brochures don’t write about and tourists don’t know about. It’s a hidden Switzerland that’s just postcard perfect.

One of the first things that strike you as you exit the Matterhorn Express at the Gluringen station is the stillness. The air is cold and very still. There is a hushed, peaceful silence as the train rolls away sliently through the Alps stretching all around you, and you feel a glorious sense of freedom from everything that was holding you back. A pleasant 20-minute walk through the cobbled village roads, past churches and small all-in-one stores brings you to a lovely little bed-and-breakfast nestled high up in the middle of rolling green pastures. There are only two places to stay in Gluringen — a tourist hotel just outside the train station, and a bed-and-breakfast called Wallis where we stayed.

The place is run by a sweet Austrian couple, Peter Paul and Mary, and is listed on Airbnb.
The hotel is a lovely little place with about eight rooms, and a large airy dining area. The meals are cooked by Mary, and you need to tell her what you want to eat. The food, once served, is spectacular. The view from our room was serene — on one side, vast, sloping, green pastures as far as the eye can see, peppered with flowering plants of all colours, and in between, narrow grey cobblestoned streets lined with identical thatched roof huts, and on the other, the mighty, majestic Alps looming over the village.

All we could hear was the jingles of the bells tied around the countless cows grazing on the pastures, and the occasional gush of wind as it rushed down the mountains and tried its best to break down the wooden huts in the village.

We took a train to Fiesch, a municipality in the district of Goms in the canton of Valais in Switzerland. A picturesque town, this is slightly more well-known than Gluringen because of the Eggishorn Mountain. The Eggishorn is a mountain of the Bernese Alps, located north of Fiesch. A cable car station is located on a secondary summit named Fiescherhorli, about 500 metres south of the main peak. The cable car ride from the base to the very top of the Eggishorn summit was slow and dramatic; as the car creaked its way up to the peak, the lands fell away and the mountains threatened to crash into us, we were in awe at the burst of colour all around us. It’s an experience truly worth having.

At the peak, almost 3000 metres high, the air is freezing cold, thick snow blankets everything and your breath freezes in mid-air. There’s a little coffee shop that serves hot chocolate, which is a blessing, and ice cream, which is insanity. The peak is supposed to have a lot of positive energy, especially for stimulating the mind, and there are energy rocks all around the peak. When you sit at the edge of the peak, knee-deep in snow, and look out over the world stretching away beneath you, the valleys, the gorges, and the glaciers, you are filled with a deep sense of optimism.

Maybe there is a chance for peace everywhere. If only everyone could experience it at least once. The hidden Switzerland has more secrets up her sleeve than one can imagine.

How to get there
One can take a Jet Airways flight from Bengaluru to Zurich or Geneva. The cost is Rs 32,000 for a round trip for one.

From either of these places, get on to the Matterhorn Express going towards Jungfrau or Grimwald. You can get down at Reckingen or Gluringen. The train cost is approximately Rs 900 per person one way.

Places to stay

We stayed at Wallis Hotel in Gluringen. The cost for two adults is approximately Rs 16,500 a day which includes the stay, food, and sightseeing (including the cable car cost and a day trip to Fiesch).

Mansi Pal
(The author can be contacted at [e-mail])