Tanzbodeli is one of my favorite hikes in the Lauterbrunnen region because it provides the best 360 degrees of the entire mountainscape. On a clear day, it feels as though you are at the center of the Jungfrau region and you can see all of the glacier-laden peaks. On a gloomy, cloudy day, it is equally impressive as you are seemingly inside a cloud, on top of the world. We had bits of both on our journey to Tanzbodeli and Obersteinberg from Gimmewald.
Hike Distance: 13.9km Total distance from Gimmelwald to Tanzbodeli to Obersteinberg to Stechelberg. Total distance from Gimmelwald to Tanzbodeli was 6 steep kilometers in 2 hours.
Hike Duration: 4 hours of moving time but total time was 7 hours including an hour at the summit, an hour at the Obersteinberg Hotel and other stops.
Hike Difficulty: The trail is not technically difficult although there are parts where you will clamber up rocks. No drop-offs are ever apparent on either side of the trail. Dirt path most of the way. Relatively simple hiking although the incline is quite steep and air does get thin. Physically challenging but relatively safe.
Hike Incline: Total elevation throughout the hike 1100-meters.
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HOW TO GET TO TANZBODELI
The hike to Tanzbodeli can start from Stechelberg or Gimmelwald (among other various points making it shorter or longer), which are the two most popular spots to begin the trail. We began in Gimmelwald by catching the Schilthornbahn up to Gimmelwald and that still gave us 1100-meters of elevation for the day. This was an enjoyable distance and elevation throughout this hike, so I would suggest this starting point also.
I’ve attached my GPX map below, which you can download here for use on your Garmin, smartwatch or another app.
MY EXPERIENCE HIKING TO TANZBODELI & OBERSTEINBERG
The hike from Gimmelwald to Tanzbodeli has a bit of everything. You start in the dense forest before emerging onto the lush green hills to ascend up to the ‘dance floor’ as it’s called. Here you have a huge plateau that sits beneath the Spitzhorn and has 360-degree views of the Jungfrau region. On one side sits the Sefinen Valley while to the other side you stare down a huge drop-off into Lauterbrunnen.
We began the day in the town of Wengen and caught a train to the Schilthorn Bahn before riding that to Gimmelwald. We started early, arriving at Gimmelwald by 7 am. It seemed no-one was awake. We didn’t see a single person as we walked through Gimmelwald and began the trail, following the signs to Busenalp and Obersteinberg. You can follow the Obersteinberg signs the whole way as only sporadically did we see Tanzbodeli on the yellow signs.
The trail begins with a small descent out of Gimmelwald down to the raging river below. We crossed the river over a small wooden bridge and said goodbye to the descent. It was time to climb. Over the next few kilometers, we made our way through the forest and put in a couple of hundred vertical meters per kilometer in distance traveled. It was steep. By the time we had left the forest, we still hadn’t seen another person or even an animal for that matter. It was a gloomy, strange atmosphere.
We were now out of the forest and making our way up the mountain of a hill in front of us. It was a little intimidating to look up to be honest. Bit by bit we made our way up the steep ascent to Tanzbodeli. The final part of the climb was a bit of a scramble but there was always some sort of path… even if at times it was more rock than path.
Finally, we had reached the summit, but we were inside a cloud. It was actually kind of cool as the atmosphere was incredible. We were the only ones in Jungfrau it seemed and we had no idea what the view looked like. We would find that out later on as the clouds cleared the following day to reveal the incredible view you can get from Tanzbodeli.
Josh started to climb the Spitzhorn, which is an incredibly rocky climb that I don’t advise! Nevertheless, off he went into the cloud hopefully to be seen again while I waited on the plateau, watching the clouds roll in and out amongst the Spitzhorn.
On a clear day, across the plateau you will see the Abeni Flue and Mittaghorn rising above Lauterbrunnen. At the end of the valley you will get great looks of the Breithorn, Grosshorn, Tschingelhorn and Ellstabhorn among others as the Schmadribachfall (Waterfall) plummets down into the valley. It’s a smorgasbord of glaciers and incredible peaks with a view that will rise into the top ten scenes of your life…. if the clouds aren’t there!
I’ve taken a few photos from Murren and Schilthorn the following day when it was clearer to show you what Tanzbodeli is like on a clear day. Just look at that huge wall behind Tanzbodeli that was hiding from us while we were at the summit.
TANZBODELI TO OBERSTEINBERG
After enjoying Tanzbodeli we gathered our gear and headed back down to the junction of signs. You have to backtrack about 10-minutes from the summit and then head on to Obersteinberg. It’s about an hour-long walk underneath Tanzbodeli as you look down into Lauterbrunnen below. At Olbersteinberg you will find respite in the 1880 hotel and restaurant, which has amazing views of Schmadribachfall. The waterfall is 1000ft high and truly impressive to watch out of the window from the restaurant. Josh and I had a Rosti, eggs and toast and a coffee at the restaurant that was one of the cheapest mountain meals we had enjoyed so far. The dormitories at Obersteingberg Haus are $71 USD per night as of 2019.
OBERSTEINBERG TO STECHELBERG
From Obersteinberg you can make a 1-hour side-trip to Oberhornsee, a beautiful glacier lake. We were trying to escape the afternoon rain and continued down towards Stechelberg. On the way down to Stechelberg, you have two options. There is a high-route or the lower route. The high route is shorter and has great views of the mountain peaks before heading deep into the forest. The lower valley route gives you great views of the waterfall and leads you along the Weisse Lutschine River. Both of the trails end in the same place, at the Hotel Stechelberg where you can catch the bus back to Lauterbrunnen.
BEST WAYS TO GET AROUND WITH TRANSPORT IN SWITZERLAND
In Switzerland, the most popular form of transport is the train (and sometimes bus). It always arrives on time, is comfortable, efficient and covers almost all parts of the country. It’s damn good and one of the best public transport systems in the world. But it’s not cheap. A one-way ticket for a 1.5-hour journey can quickly rise to 70 USD. The best option is to buy a 3-day, 8-day or 15-day pass with the Swiss Travel System Pass, which gives you unlimited train rides during that period. It will pay itself off very quickly and makes the train (and bus) travel very convenient without requiring you to buy a ticket each time. I used this myself and used the trains and buses for almost my whole time in Switzerland. To head to the page where you can book your Swiss Travel Pass online you can click HERE and select how many days you would like to purchase the pass for.
The other option (Which I also purchased) was the Swiss Half-Fare Card, which gives you half-price tickets on all transport including buses and trains. This ticket lasts for a month and is much cheaper than the full pass obviously but will pay itself off in a matter of a few days as we quickly found out! To visit the page where you can book your Swiss Half-Fare Card you can click HERE and select the date you want it to start.
The other option is renting a car. After our first few expensive train tickets, we started to think this might be the better option and to our surprise, the train can often be far more expensive than renting a car in Switzerland. For example one day we went from Zurich to hike Mount Pilatus and back to Zurich and our total train tickets for four people was $300 USD. The car rental per day was $90 USD. If you are in a group of two (definitely three) or more, I highly suggest renting a car if you are covering a lot of ground as it will give you scheduling freedom and likely be cheaper as we found.
MY SWITZERLAND HIKING GUIDES
I spent 100 days hiking in Switzerland and created a guide for different regions around the country. You can click on one of my Switzerland hiking guides below to help you plan your trip.
THE SWITZERLAND HIKING GUIDE: 50 AWESOME HIKES IN IN SWITZERLAND: I spent 100 days in Switzerland making this huge guide with all of the hikes I personally explored.
4 AWESOME VIA FERRATA COURSES IN SWITZERLAND: Via Ferrata is a cliff-side climbing route where you are harnessed in. You have to try it at least once!
10 AWESOME HIKES NEAR LAUTERBRUNNEN: Lauterbrunnen is the most picturesque valley in Switzerland and is situated perfectly amidst many famous hiking routes.
INTERLAKEN HIKING GUIDE: 15 AWESOME HIKES IN INTERLAKEN: Interlaken is my favorite town in Switzerland and is the number one hiking base.
12 AWESOME HIKES NEAR GRINDELWALD: A great location to base if you are a keen hiker with lots of hut-to-hut hikes and epic peaks.
7 AWESOME HIKES IN MURREN: Murren is one of the most beautiful towns in Switzerland and is surrounded by great hiking routes.
9 AWESOME HIKES NEAR APPENZELL: My favorite hikes around the Alpstein Region and other peaks near Appenzell.
7 AWESOME HIKES NEAR CHUR: Several beautiful lakes, and incredible gorge hike, and an epic Via Ferrata course.
MY PERSONALIZED SWITZERLAND TRAVEL TIPS
SWITZERLAND BUDGET BACKPACKING GUIDE: In this blog, I talk about the cost of travel and how to travel around Switzerland on the cheap with some tips and hacks from my experience.
20 THINGS TO KNOW BEFORE YOU GO: MY SWITZERLAND TRAVEL TIPS: You probably didn’t even think of half of these. I didn’t either and figured many of these tips out the hard way.
MOST IMPORTANT TRANSPORT TIP: SWISS HALF CARD
OPTION 1: Switzerland trains, buses, and cable cars are EXPENSIVE! I found the best way to get around cheaply was to buy the Swiss Half-Fare Card before I arrived. It gives you 50% off every regular train, bus, and even many cable cars. It only costs $150 USD but pays itself off in just a few days with many train tickets in Switzerland costing close to $100 alone. OPTION 2: The second option is to get the Swiss Travel Pass, which gives you unlimited train, bus, and (many) cable car rides but it’s pretty expensive at around $100 USD per day so if you don’t travel each day it isn’t worth it. OPTION 3: The final option is to get the FLEXI Swiss Travel Pass, which allows you to buy 8 days’ worth of transit but you can choose the night before if you want to activate the next day. That way you don’t need to travel every day to get your money’s worth, you can just activate the FLEXI Swiss Travel Pass on the days where you are doing sizeable transits. My advice is to book the Swiss Half-Fare Card or the FLEXI Swiss Travel Pass in advance before your trip so it’s ready to go when you arrive.
Naomi
Tuesday 24th of January 2023
Hi! Thanks so much for all this information!
My husband and I will be in Lauterbrunnen in June and this hike looks amazing! I’m definitely afraid of heights though…I’m good with distance and steepness as long as there’s not toooooo much exposure. I’m just curious how sketchy this trail feels? Especially that last bit before the dance floor🙃 Thanks!!
Aditya Pradeep
Thursday 30th of July 2020
Awesome guide with detailed pictures- as have been your other hikes in this region! I plan to do this exact hike from Gimmelwald next month and am very excited.
Is there a way to bail out midway via public transport if I find it too difficult?
Jackson
Friday 31st of July 2020
I think you will find it okay. It's slow and steady-going. Just leave early and take your time.