Posted by Wengen is a well-known village with just over 1,000 inhabitants in the Bernese Alps in Switzerland. Wengen is famous because of the famous ski world cup races (Lauberhorn downhill etc.) that take place here every winter in January. Wengen can be reached only by train or on foot. There are no roads for cars to Wengen.
Wengen, like Murren and other villages, belongs to the municipality of Lauterbrunnen. Wengen is the largest part of the municipality, so Wengen now has more inhabitants than Lauterbrunnen itself. Wengen is located about 500 meters higher than the nearby village in the valley Lauterbrunnen. The Wengernalpbahn (longest rack railroad on earth) runs during the day about every half hour between Lauterbrunnen – Wengen – Kleine Scheidegg and Grindelwald. The fastest way to get from Interlaken to Wengen is by train with a change in Lauterbrunnen.
Wengenalpbahn brings almost all the people to Wengen, roads do not exist
Wengen has a lot of tourism: hotels, restaurants, stores, etc. Winter sports tourists come in winter, hikers and day trippers in summer. There are also many international tourists from the upper class coming to Wengen, it is also a celebrity place. There is a landing place for helicopters. The main season in the ski resort is in winter.
>>> Overview of tours to Jungfraujoch from Interlaken, Zurich and other cities
Wengen is a good starting point for visiting the biggest sight of the region. The train ride to the Jungfraujoch (Top of Europe), the highest station in Europe in the glacier. To do this, take the Wengernalp rack railroad from Wengen to Kleine Scheidegg station and change to the Jungfraujochbahn.
There is a large parking garage in Lauterbrunnen that is connected to the train station. You can park here and take the train up to Wengen. It’s not far to walk, but it is steep. Lauterbrunnen is a good 700 meters above sea level, Wengen a good 400 meters higher. There are over 20 trains every day from Lauterbrunnen to Wengen. There is also a cable car from Wengen to the Mannlichen mountain.
Wengen has officially only a maximum of 1,200 inhabitants. However, in summer with the tourists there are often more than 5,000 people in Wengen, in winter it can be sometimes more than 10,000. The finish (so-called finish arena) of the famous Lauberhorn ski race course is just outside Wengen, about a fifteen-minute walk. The World Cup skiers take the rack railroad to Kleine Scheidegg and on to the start house of the World Cup downhill runs.
Wengen has many hours of sunshine, even in winter. Since there are no cars, the air in Wengen is considered cleaner than elsewhere. Great is the quietness without the traffic noise. In addition, at an altitude of over 1200 meters, the village is quite protected from the wind by the mountains.
Wengen has a large Coop supermarket near the train station and some smaller stores. Also sports stores, souvenir stores and other stores can be found in the center of the village. There is even a small nightlife (bars). Wengen is growing: more and more houses and hotels are being built on the steep slopes around the village of Wengen. The ski resort is also popular with families as a vacation spot.
Wengen has well over 20 hotels and several hundred vacation apartments. There are more than 5,000 beds for tourists in Wengen, 4 times more than residents. Vacation and tourism in Wengen have a long tradition. The village has been accessible by train for over 125 years, since 1893. Since that time, vacationers and day-trippers have been coming to Wengen.
Hiking / Walking Wengen
Many hikers make difficult high mountain tours around Wengen. But there are also some easy walks. You can walk in 15 minutes to the finish arena of the Wengen downhill ski run. A few minutes further is the Staubbachbänkli. From here you have a wonderful view of the highest free waterfall in Switzerland, the Staubbach Falls near Lauerbrunnen. Also interesting is a short hike from Wengen to the Hunneflue. Here it goes down 600 meters almost vertically and you have a great view of mountains and valleys.
Tickets to the Jungfraujoch
Demand is high for the limited capacity on the train, etc., we recommend booking online in advance.
Only tickets for trains and cable car to the Jungfraujoch and back are available on this link: More info and booking
There are complete tours from Interlaken with guide, which are hardly more expensive than the tickets with the trains: More info and booking