Jungfraujoch

The Jungfraujoch is a long, expensive day trip from Wengen, but for most visitors it is the point of the whole exercise. The Jungfraubahn climbs from Kleine Scheidegg through a tunnel inside the Eiger and Mönch, surfacing at 3,454 metres at the saddle between the Mönch and the Jungfrau. The station complex includes a viewing platform on the Sphinx observatory, an ice palace carved into the glacier, and a terrace looking south across the 22-kilometre Aletsch Glacier — the longest in the Alps.

The round trip from Wengen takes about half a day. Acclimatise slowly: a third of visitors get altitude headaches. Tickets are eye-watering; the Jungfrau Travel Pass and various early-bird deals soften the blow.

things to do sight
A story
The Jungfraubahn was built between 1896 and 1912 by Adolf Guyer-Zeller, who blasted a 7-kilometre tunnel through the Eiger and Mönch and died before it was finished. At 3,454 metres, the Jungfraujoch station has been marketed since the day it opened as the 'Top of Europe' — which it isn't, but the Aletsch Glacier view from the terrace makes the case anyway.