Schynige Platte

I rectified an oversight this past weekend and need to bring it up now so that no one else makes the same horrible mistake.  Saturday, ten years after moving here, I hiked on Schynige Platte for the first time.   If you haven’t done this yet, do it.  Now.  You can read the rest of this later.   I had thought that the Stoos ridge hike was the best in Switzerland but I was wrong.  Granted, it’s a very good hike.  A great one even, but I have to give the nod to Schynige Platte, if for no other reason than that the hikes there can be tailored to every level of difficulty and length, all without having to backtrack.    You can make a loop as short as an hour or as long as three and if that’s not enough you can just head towards Grindelwald and turn it into an all-day trek.  The surface options are flat gravel, rocky mountain paths or staircases built into the side of a cliff.  Again, up to you to mix and match as you like.  And since it’s a panoramic ridge hike your head will swivel like Linda Blair’s in the Exorcist as you try to take it all in.  Look to the southeast and you’re staring at the Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau, so close you want to reach out to touch them.  Shift your gaze westward and the glistening water of the Thunersee stretches out before you.  Continue turning your head to the right and your view passes over Interlaken before resting upon the Brienzersee and its aqua blueness.    And that’s not all.  For your time and sweat, your rewards continue to mount.  Alpine flowers?  Check.  Meadows full of more than you can imagine and if you stroll through the Alpen garden they’re even labelled.   Wildlife?  Check.  Marmots, perhaps an Ibex and, of course, Swiss mountain cows clanging their bells.   Hungry?  Check.  A lovely restaurant with a terrace looking out at the big three and more other +3500 meter “Horns” than you can count.  The only down side is that for tourists (i.e. those without a half fare card) the round trip fare for the cog train up the mountain is a bit pricey but it’s a steal compared to Jungfraujoch and its crush of tourists.   If you are a tourist, you’re there to see the mountains anyway and you’ll get no better mountain to Swiss franc ratio anywhere else.  On the off chance that you have a UBS account, wave that card before October 31^st and all of this will be yours for only CHF 10.  Really incredible.   Like I said.  Go.  Now.