Grindelwald: Where the Eiger Meets the Vine
Three days from Grindelwald village to the Jungfraujoch and Männlichen, by train, gondola and on foot.
A Humagne Blanche aged in the Jungfraujoch's ice, a CHF 7 Pinot Noir facing the Eiger's north face, and fondue in a retired gondola cabin
Three days in Grindelwald, with a glass at every stop. Day one stays in the village: the Cork Club, one of GaultMillau's ten best Swiss wine bars in March 2026; Hotel Glacier, whose sommelier pours three wines on Sundays at 16:00 in a cellar that was once a barn, and whose own Pinot Blanc comes from vines near Sion; and, for dinner, a pizzeria with about 350 wines. Day two rides up to the Jungfraujoch at 3,454 m, where name plates on the tunnel wall remember the 30 Italian workers who died building the railway, and where a Valais Humagne Blanche has matured in the glacier's ice since 2022. On the way down, the mountain restaurant at Kleine Scheidegg pours a Pinot Noir from the same Salgesch cellar, CHF 7 a decilitre, on a terrace facing the north face; in 1935 and 1936 onlookers on this pass followed fatal climbs on it through telescopes and binoculars. Day three takes the gondola to Männlichen, with a bar on board when booked 48 hours ahead, climbs the Royal Walk to its crown at 2,343 m, and ends in the village with fondue in a cabin that rode up to Männlichen from 1978 to 2019.
A Wine Memories curated trail · winememories.fi
Map
Stops
Curated by Wine Memories
- 1
Grindelwald's Cork Club and the Magnum Aged in Ice
In March 2026 GaultMillau named the Cork Club, on Grindelwald's village street, among the ten best wine bars in Switzerland and counted 160 wines by the glass. On its bottle list is a magnum of Humagne Blanche from Salgesch that matured from March 2022 in oak barrels in an ice vault on the Jungfraujoch (stop 4). It opens Wednesday to Sunday, winter included: come for a Swiss glass or a coffee, read the line marked "Aged on Jungfraujoch", and take your photo under the members' corkscrews.
Tasting Price: high - 2
Hotel Glacier: The Barn Cellar and the House's Own Wine
On Sundays the Glacier's sommelier pours three wines with a Swiss cheese and meat board in the hotel's wine cellar, a barn the house says held Swiss wrestling from 1945. On other days, come for lunch or dinner and order the house's own wine, a Pinot Blanc made for it near Sion: 310 bottles of the 2024. VINUM's Swiss Wine List Award gave the Glacier's list its Fine Dining category in the 2025 and 2026 editions. The same owners run stop 1.
Dining Price: high - 3
Onkel Tom's Hütte: Pizza With About 350 Wines
Onkel Tom's Hütte, on Grindelwald's Dorfstrasse, is a pizzeria and a wine place, and the house says it is a small family one: too small to take reservations. Its wine list counts about 350 wines, with a large choice of magnums. Walk in, sit down to a pizza, turn the list to the magnums, and take your photo with it open beside the plate. It is shut on Wednesdays and Thursdays.
Dining Price: moderate Optional - 4
Jungfraujoch: 30 Name Plates and a Bottle of Red a Day
In 2012 the 30 Italian workers who died building the Jungfrau Railway each received a name plate on the tunnel wall, in the corridor every visitor walks from the station to the Ice Palace. The railway says its site management gave each worker a bottle of red wine a day. Since 2022 a Valais Humagne Blanche has matured in oak barrels in that ice, and the summit's à la carte restaurant lists it. Read the names, walk the ice, then raise a Valais glass to them at 3,454 m.
Adventure Price: very high - 5
Kleine Scheidegg: A Glass Facing the Eiger North Face
Kleine Scheidegg is the car-free pass below the Eiger, and the north face, 1,800 m high, stands in direct view. In 1935 and 1936 onlookers followed fatal attempts on it through telescopes and binoculars, the 1936 disaster from this pass; in July 1938 Anderl Heckmair led the four-man rope that climbed it. The railway's mountain restaurant beside the station pours a Valais Pinot Noir by the glass on a sun terrace facing the face, and lists an alcohol-free sparkling wine.
Tasting Price: moderate - 6
Männlichen: A Gondola Bar, Then the Walk to the Crown
Männlichen is the 2343 m mountain top above Grindelwald and Wengen. The first gondola up from Grindelwald, opened in 1978, was considered the world's longest; today's ride takes 19 minutes, and booked 48 hours ahead a cabin comes with a bar: a Swiss white or Champagne by the half or full bottle. At the top, the Royal Walk climbs 120 m to a crown-shaped platform on the summit, facing Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau, and from 12 December it is a prepared winter trail.
Adventure Price: moderate - 7
Hotel Belvedere: Fondue in a Retired Gondola Cabin
Hotel Belvedere has been part of Grindelwald since 1907, run today by the fourth generation of the Hauser family. In its garden, old gondola cabins that rode the line up from the village from 1978 until 2019 now stand still, each furnished for two, and serve cheese fondue at CHF 35 a person. The fondue menu carries no wine pairing: what is poured is the house's own «Jubiläumscuvée 110 Jahre Belvedere», white or red, by the glass or the bottle. It is the last table of the trail.
Dining Price: moderate
Plan the trip
Insider tip. Start on a Sunday: Hotel Glacier's cellar tasting runs on Sundays at 16:00, and the Cork Club (closed Mondays and Tuesdays) and Onkel Tom's (closed Wednesdays and Thursdays, no reservations) are both open. Request the Männlichen gondola bar at least 48 hours ahead, and from 1 May to 31 October reserve seats on the Jungfraujoch trains.
Getting there and around
- Car required
- No
- Drinking and driving
- Every stop is reached by train, gondola or on foot, so nobody needs to drive after a glass.
- Without a car
- The Berner Oberland-Bahn runs from Interlaken Ost to Grindelwald, and the village stops are on foot. From Grindelwald Terminal the Eiger Express and the Jungfrau Railway reach the Jungfraujoch in 45 minutes; going down, the Jungfrau Railway stops at Kleine Scheidegg, where the Wengernalp railway runs on to Grindelwald. The Männlichen gondola leaves from Grindelwald Terminal and takes 19 minutes.
If your time is short
- Do not miss
- If you only have one day
- If it rains
- The Cork Club, Hotel Glacier's cellar, and the Jungfraujoch's tunnel corridor and Ice Palace are indoors.