Bettmeralp: The start of a Grand Tour!

Honestly speaking I wrote the title first before seeing this location in Bettmeralp. I had no idea there would be a public viewing area with a church around a “Grand Tour” frame! Such is luck.

I arrived Geneva this morning flying out of Newark. I was very skeptical if I would be able to make it on time or not. Newark is terrible regarding flight schedules. However nothing bad happened and I slept through the flight, I arrived Geneva right on time at 7:40 am. Plan was to head straight to Bettmeralp via train from there.

Geneva to Brig

The train goes along the northern shore of Lake Geneva (or Lac Léman). I am sitting at the right side of the train as recommended, but the haze today is terrible and sun on my side of the window doesn’t help the photos.

Yes the haze is that bad. That is a view towards Montreux towards the eastern termination of the lake.

By the way, this is my route in the SBB mobile app, a must have tool if you are traveling in Switzerland.

With the haze outside I rather focus on my co passengers. I always enjoy when I see someone reading a book. The young couple opposite me got off at Agile, likely for a day hike.

The guy was reading The Baron in the Tree by Italo Calvino while the young lady was reading The End of Loneliness by Benedict Wells. I haven’t read either books, but looked up both in Wikipedia. I like the plot of the Calvino novel, note to self to read it later.

It is mean time the train arrives at St-Maurice and looks like haze clearing up a bit. It is time to look outside.

Train pulled into Martigny station, people change trains here to get to Chamonix and Mont Blanc area in France

In about 2 hr 36 min, 12 stops later IR95 arrived at Brig. Here I changed train to head to Bettmeralp Talstation.

Brig to Bettmeralp Talstation

Brig is a relatively large station and the little that I saw seems like a decent sized town. I was a bit confused to find platform 14, as it was outside the main station.

However, when I found it, the train was completely empty.

The short 25 min ride was over in no time and I found myself at the base of the cable car ride up to Bettmeralp.

An important point of note, is that this gondola ride is not covered by the Swiss Train Pass, but it least it is half price and that is 17.5 CHF. For a 7 min ride that is a bit steep don’t you think? Well everything in Switzerland is expensive, I need to stop saying this over and over again! :)

Bettmeralp Talstation to Bettmeralp

Well this is the gondola that brought many of us from base of the canyon to a bench where Bettmeralp and Reideralp is located. Both are fabulous looking villages and not that crowded!

The ride was over real quick and the gondola dropped us on a sunny “balcony” like mountain shoulder. Most people came here for a day hike to Bettmerhorn to se Aletsch Glacier, the longest mountain glacier in Switzerland. It is about 20 KM long and I will also go to check it out, but first I checked in to the hotel.

Hotel Slalom

It is hard to find a bad hotel in this village! I am staying at Hotel Slalom, which is a cozy and comfortable place with absolutely stunning view of the valley below from my balcony!

After checking in I walked through the town to get up to Bergstation. Which is another gondola ride that will take me to the mountain top right next to the Aletsch glacier. This spot is typically considered one of the best views of Switzerland!

There you have it. Enough said. Just less than 24 hrs ago I was sitting in my living room in Houston and now I am eating lunch in front of this view! It is stunning!

That is all I have to you guys today. I wrote this post live on my phone. To travel really light, I am not carrying any laptop on this trip! My first in a long time!

Saw some sheep too! They are pretty and blends with the landscape.