Grindelwald and Lauterbrunnen, the photogenic valley.

Lauterbrunnen

A U-shaped glacial trough with near-vertical walls on both sides and 72 waterfalls falling into it. The Staubbach Falls drop almost 300 m directly behind the village, and in early summer, with the snowmelt at full volume, the whole valley is loud with water.

Trümmelbach Falls is the one people miss and should not: ten glacier-fed waterfalls inside the mountain, carrying the meltwater of the Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau through a gorge you enter by a tunnel lift. It is genuinely extraordinary and takes about an hour.

Grindelwald

Around the corner and beneath the Eiger north face — one of the most storied walls in mountaineering, and close enough from the village that its scale is properly unsettling.

The Eiger Express gondola climbs towards the Jungfrau region quickly, and the First cable car reaches the walkway, zip line and the trail to Bachalpsee, a lake that reflects the whole range on a still morning. Grindelwald is also where a lot of the region's hiking starts, so if you want to walk for an hour while the driver waits, that is a normal way to spend the day.

How the day works

Eight hours with the vehicle and driver, shaped around what you want. Both valleys in one day is comfortable; adding a mountain excursion on top makes it tight, so it is usually better to pick one high point and do it without rushing.

The driver stays with you throughout, which matters here more than most places: these are valleys where you walk away from the road and come back, and having the vehicle waiting with your coats and boots is worth more than it sounds in a place where the weather changes quickly.