Staubbach Falls

Staubbach Falls, on the floor of the Lauterbrunnen Valley just below Wengen, drops 297 metres straight off the cliff in one unbroken plume — one of the tallest free-falling waterfalls in Europe. In summer it is more spray than water by the time it reaches the bottom; in spring, with the snowmelt, it is a roaring full-volume cascade.

A short path from Lauterbrunnen village leads to a viewing gallery cut into the cliff behind the falls — wet, slippery, and worth it. You can see Staubbach from the train descending from Wengen, but to feel it you have to walk to the base.

things to do sight
A story
Goethe stood at the foot of the Staubbach in 1779 and wrote 'Song of the Spirits over the Waters' — a poem inspired, he said, by the way the water dissolves into mist before it reaches the ground. The falls have been a tourist draw ever since.

Other places in Things to Do