Murren

On the descent, step off at Birg at 2,677 m — most visitors don't realise the cable car stops here at all. Walk five minutes around the back of the station to the Thrill Walk: a 200-metre glass-floor catwalk and rope tunnel pinned to the vertical cliff face, with over 200 m of nothing beneath your feet. Beyond it sits the Skyline View Platform, a cantilevered glass step that hangs over the void with the Jungfrau range filling the sky.

Tip: Both attractions are free — already included in your cable car ticket — but most tour groups skip the Skyline Platform because the signage past the Thrill Walk is small and points away from the station; follow the painted yellow arrows on the rock face. Stand on the cantilever's final glass step and look straight down: the cliff falls directly to Stechelberg 2,000 m below. Wind sharpens fast here even in July — keep a layer in your daypack.

Cable car down to Murren station, then a three-minute walk uphill along the main street to the Allmendhubel funicular — an antique red carriage that climbs 250 m in four minutes. At 1,907 m the Northface Trail begins: a 6.5 km balcony loop named for the killing wall of the Eiger that watches you the whole way, passing four working alpine dairies — Suppenalp, Schiltalp, Spielbodenalp, Gimmeln — before descending back into Murren. Every step faces the Eiger-Mönch-Jungfrau wall; there is no other walk in the Alps where all three peaks stay in your peripheral vision for two straight hours.

Tip: At Schiltalp (about a third in) the working dairy sells fresh Alpkäse and buttermilk from a wooden hut with no signage — walk to the door and ring the cowbell. A 200 g wedge costs CHF 8 and is the same cheese they ship down to the Swiss army; you will not find it in any Coop downvalley. Order it cut thin and eat it walking, with a slice of dark Walliser rye from the bench outside. The trail is downhill the whole way — don't waste energy on Allmendhubel's panorama platform up top before you start.

The Northface Trail spits you out at the top of Murren's main street; the Sport Bar terrace is 30 seconds south on the cliff side, facing the same Eiger you just spent two hours staring at. Order the bratwurst with rösti at the outdoor grill counter (CHF 22) and a Rugenbräu beer (CHF 7), and eat at one of the wooden bench tables on the edge. This is Hotel Eiger's fast-casual side — locals' lunch spot, no reservations, ten-minute turnaround.

Tip: Skip the indoor bar — the queue runs double inside and the view is on the terrace anyway. The bratwurst is CHF 22 with rösti; pair it with the house Rugenbräu Märzen (brewed down in Interlaken, CHF 7) over any imported lager. If the grill is queued, the Coop Pronto across the street sells the same Bernese sausages cooked behind the counter for CHF 8 — locals eat them on the wooden bench outside facing the valley, and you save 20 minutes.

From the Sport Bar, walk south through Murren's car-free main street past the curling rink and the Allmendhubel funicular base, and look for the small wooden sign reading 'Gimmelwald 30 min'; the path drops 250 m through pine forest to Gimmelwald — the smaller, scruffier, more authentic sister-village (population 130) where Rick Steves famously stays. Continue past the Mountain Hostel and pick up the trail down to Stechelberg on the valley floor: 1,000 m of switchbacks through wildflower meadows with the Trümmelbach waterfalls roaring inside the cliff to your right. From Stechelberg, ride the Schilthornbahn back up to Murren — the round trip from village to valley floor and back is the only way to feel how Murren actually hangs in the air.

Tip: Halfway down to Gimmelwald, look for the lone larch tree about 15 minutes below Murren — there is an unmarked wooden bench at the only spot where the Eiger and Jungfrau frame together in one window through the valley. In Gimmelwald, the Mountain Hostel runs an honesty-system fridge selling Schiltalp cheese and homemade bread for CHF 5 — drop coins in the wooden box. Aim for the 17:25 Stechelberg cable car back to Murren to catch the alpenglow on the Eiger from the village; the last lift technically runs until 23:55, but you do not want to miss that light.

After the cable car back to Murren, walk three minutes south down the main street to the dark-wood chalet on the corner — Stägerstübli has been Murren's local Stube since 1907 and is still where the alpine guides, ski instructors, and farmers gather every night. Order the Älplermagronen — the herder's mac-and-cheese with caramelized onions and apple sauce (CHF 26) — and the Bernerplatte of sausage, ham, and sauerkraut (CHF 34). The room seats thirty and runs entirely on locals, who treat the carved wooden bar like a living room.

Tip: Reserve by phone (+41 33 855 13 16) the moment you finish breakfast — they hold maybe four tables for walk-ins and they vanish by 18:30. Two non-negotiable orders: the Älplermagronen, and a Pflümli plum schnapps to close (CHF 7) — the bartender pours from an unlabeled bottle tableside. Murren pitfall: avoid the 'panoramic dinner' set menus posted on chalkboards outside the hotels along the cliff strip — they charge CHF 80–120 for views every restaurant in Murren has, and the food is half what the price suggests; the view is free from the bench behind the curling rink, and Stägerstübli is where Murren actually eats.