Kleine Scheidegg

Kleine Scheidegg is where the Eiger north face was watched from. In 1935 onlookers followed a fatal attempt through telescopes; in 1936 the disaster that killed Toni Kurz and his three companions was watched from here through binoculars. Today the railway's mountain restaurant beside the station has a sun terrace facing the face and pours a Valais Pinot Noir by the glass. It is the Eiger stop on the Grindelwald wine trail.

The Bergrestaurant's sun terrace serves Röstizza, Jungfrau bratwurst from the grill and goulash soup with the north face in front. Before lunch, the 2.5 km Jungfrau Eiger Walk comes down from Eigergletscher station in about an hour, past stations on the face's tragedies, dramas and triumphs. In winter the pass is the centre of the Grindelwald–Wengen ski area, and a path leads down to Alpiglen. The trail's Kleine Scheidegg stop starts here.

The pass can be reached by train all year, but each side of the line closes for a few weeks of autumn works: in 2026 Grindelwald to Kleine Scheidegg shuts from 26 October to 6 November, Wengen to Kleine Scheidegg from 9 November to 4 December. Restaurant Eigernordwand serves daily from 30 May to 26 October. The Hotel Bellevue des Alpes is closed in summer 2026 and reopens on 18 December 2026.

At the Bergrestaurant a glass (1 dl) of Pinot Noir "Le Préféré" from Gregor Kuonen in Salgesch costs CHF 7 and a Twann Chasselas CHF 6.50; a Röstizza is CHF 24.50. An alcohol-free sparkling wine is on the list. The restaurant's page gives no opening hours: book a table online or call +41 33 828 78 88. Wheelchair users travelling via Kleine Scheidegg must register by phone in advance.

The pass is car-free. The Wengernalp railway climbs to it all year from Grindelwald, and from Lauterbrunnen via Wengen; from Interlaken Ost the trip takes about 1 hour 15 minutes either way. Another route: the Eiger Express gondola from Grindelwald to Eigergletscher, then the Jungfrau railway down to the pass. The operator lists Kleine Scheidegg tickets from CHF 40.60.

Kleine Scheidegg is a 2,061 m mountain pass below the Eiger north face, where the Wengernalp railway from Grindelwald and Wengen meets the Jungfrau railway to the Jungfraujoch. Around the station stand the railway's mountain restaurant and its lodge, Restaurant Eigernordwand and the Hotel Bellevue des Alpes, which grew from an inn of 1840. Wine is poured here by the glass; none is made.

Christian Seiler built the inn Zur Gemse, later the Hotel Bellevue, on the pass in 1840. From the 1930s the pass was the base for north-face attempts. After the deaths of 1936 the canton of Bern banned climbing it, briefly. Several climbers had died on it before Anderl Heckmair, Ludwig Vörg, Heinrich Harrer and Fritz Kasparek climbed the face in July 1938, a feat the Nazi regime used for propaganda. Over 60 have died on it in all.

The Hotel Bellevue des Alpes says every north-face party up to Heckmair's stayed at the Scheidegg, and that photos of the north-face climbers from 1937 to 1992 hang outside the swing door of its 1929 bar. ICOMOS Switzerland named it Historic Hotel of the Year 2011. Its day restaurant asks for a reservation; it reopens on 18 December 2026.