Sledding is Dangerous. I want to highlight this straight away. There are many misconceptions that it can be a fun activity to do with small children. While this can be the case in your back yard or on some family-friendly tracks, most sledding tracks I have experienced in Switzerland, I can not recommend for small children.
If you are up for an adventure, however, you came to the right place! For safety reasons, I highly recommend helmets. And if you have one, take a back protector with you as well. While you may think this is overkill, I challenge you to a thought experiment: You are sledding alone and you crash. What is the worst that can happen? Right, you wont really hurt yourself. The issue is, for once, everyone else. You will not hurt yourself too bad, but someone running into you will. And they always come from the back, so protect your back and your head!
Having this disclaimer out of the way, I am more than happy to recommend Grindelwald and the Bussalp sledding track as one of the Top sledding tracks in Switzerland. We had the luxury of good snow and fantastic weather. Not only is the sledding great, but you get one of the best views of the Swiss alps with the renowned peaks of Eiger, Mönch, and Jungfrau across the Grindelwald Valley.
We set out of our Airbnb in Interlaken West, because prices in Grindelwald itself were much higher. The trip with the train takes about 40 Minutes and will set you back about 30 CHF, there and back, if you do not have a half tax. We arrived slightly late, at around 12:45, with just enough time to grab a quick sandwich before getting our Bus tickets at the Grindelwald Bus Point of Sale. I have to note here that the Train station does not sell full-day tickets for the sledding Bus, but only single trips. If you want a day pass ticket, you have to wait until Grindelwald to get it. A single trip is sold for 23 CHF, while the day pass costs a full 47 CHF. The buses leave every full hour. Although I had asked on the phone if I should reserve seats and sleds, they said it was not necessary. Now, however, the ticket lady was surprised when I wanted 9 tickets and didn’t have a reservation. Something to keep in mind.
Although I had asked on the phone if I should reserve seats and sleds, they said it was not necessary. Now, however, the ticket lady was surprised when I wanted 9 tickets and didn’t have a reservation.
We managed to scramble onto the last seats of the 13:00 Sledding Bus up to Bussalp. A rather remarkable journey. The Buses drive in a convoy up the street, which also serves as the main sledding track. This was not an issue at first, as the bottom part of the sledding track was not open due to being plowed black. After a short trip, we arrived at Weidli, which is the official end of the sledding track. There another 3 Buses waited for us and the Convoy ascended 4 strong, right up the sled path! Horning around every corner, shocked sledders had to jump off the streets holding their sled above their head while we rushed up the hill. This you will also have to do, if you are unfortunate enough to not have timed your descend accordingly. For the buses drive according to a defined schedule and you can easily avoid this trouble.
We arrived at the Bussalp at around 13:40. Half the group took a Bio break while the rest went to rent a sled. This is done just 50 meters from where the Bus drops you off and will set you back another 14 CHF. After having a short discussion which route to take (we settled on the Bussalp run), we set off around 13:55. The thing is… the buses run every hour from Weidli at 17 Past. If you manage to ride rather quick, then you can get to the bottom with time to spare. But because we had to still get the sleds, we set off late and missed the Bus by one minute. Luckily for us, they were just setting out and we didn’t have to meet them on the sledding track itself.
We spend the hour at the outdoor Bar at Weidli discussing our first Run and our first accidents. Sledding is dangerous after all and I had personally suffered the first consequences. The track itself is now my favorite. It is almost continuously quick, but never so fast that you feel afraid. Real adrenaline junkies might be a bit disappointed, but anybody who is bringing a sensible person along will be thankful that it isn’t any quicker. There is only one stretch that we had to walk, and even then, the walk was less than a minute. There are a lot of soft turns on the top of the run, allowing you to get used to the sled. Only at the bottom of run you get into a couple of hairpin turns. There you should definitely start breaking early enough, especially if it is icy. For us, only the turns itself were icy, allowing for some amazing sled drifting.
The second run was very similar to the first. But with a lot more people. We had to watch out a lot to make sure we don’t hit other people. For the third run, we didn’t have to hurry. The last regular bus leaves at 16:17 from Weidli, and the night bus doesn’t go again until 18:07. So we had about another hour to spend, and we would rather spend it in the Restaurant Bussalp at the top than at the open air Bar in Weidli. After some warming Beverages, we set out for the final day run. The run was already setting and the landscape was set in a mystic twilight. But more so, it had gotten colder again and the track was even faster. It only that, but because there weren’t 160 people being dropped off simultaneously, we had the whole track to ourselves. It was the most beautiful run of the day.
Catching the Bus back up you have to get another ticket. But more than that, you need a reservation, both for the bus, and the restaurant. Make sure you book this in Advance. The cost for the Bus trip is 17.40 CHF and you pay it cash directly to the Bus driver. The Restaurant was fully booked that day and the seating was “cozy”. It appeared the staff was a bit overwhelmed and made a very disorganized impression. It took over an hour for us to get our salads, and even then they came without dressing. Drinks alone took thirty minutes. The table besides us meanwhile had finished their first fondue and their second and were being served dessert while we were just getting our salad sauce. Maybe it was the size of our table (9 people), maybe they had a bad day. In any case, once we got our fondue, we were really happy. The fondue tasted fantastic and after a full day at the fresh air, everybody dug in with pleasure. The problem with being served late is that the Bussalp has two seatings in the evening and the next Busload of guests will stream in at pretty much a predefined time. By then you need to have eaten and paid. Needless to say, we tried to beat the masses and pay early but our efforts to pay were declined. It took us 30 minutes to pay. All in all, the dinner was good, but felt very stressed and services was friendly but slow.
After our strengthening meal we set out for our last run. This time it was pitch black and the track is not illuminated. Do bring a headlamp, or at least a torch or you may be lost, especially in bad weather. For us, the last run took us a bit past Weidli, where the street was plowed black. From there we had to walk back to Grindelwald station, which took us about 15 minutes. It was a nice walk and only downhill. We didn’t know when the next bus would be to take us back down and were all in good spirits to walk anyway. From Grindelwald we wanted to take the train, but for some reason, SBB only showed up with one bus (why SBB?). Crammed like sardines we got back to Interlaken where we fell to sleep like exhausted bags of Sand.
Packing List:
- Helmet and Back protector
- Warm winter clothes / Ski Dress
- Sturdy shoes with good profile
- Gloves, Scarf and Hat
- Thermal underwear
- Head Lamp and/or Torch
- And anything you need for an overnight stay 🙂
Link: https://www.grindelwaldbus.ch/de/schlitteln/nachtschlitteln
3818, Grindelwald.
