It’s amazing how much we get to explore since we started the Van life journey. We have previously been on a lot of road trips as well but most of the times driving from point A to point B, given the limited amount of time. Now, we barely make any plans and even though we sometimes have certain destinations in mind, we take our time to stop and discover what is on the way without rush. That’s how you really get to know and enjoy the beauty of a region. Plus, we want to make sure not to leave any of Switzerland’s hidden gems undiscovered. We will still be here for few months so we have plenty of time to explore at a slow pace.
During this time of the year, we get to experience all Seasons when wandering from place to place. Even though Switzerland is a small country, the difference in altitude has its own way. Up in the mountains, it is still very much Wintertime, in the forest, there are still traces of last Autumn, while in the cities and lakeside we encounter Spring or even Summer.
We adventured in Grindelwald and Lauterbrunnen for Easter where we run into a lot of snow. It was snowing like in a fairytale and we felt like it’s Christmas time instead.
Let us show you how a cute local restaurant from Grindelwald looks like at the beginning of April. Quite Christmasy huh?
Lauterbrunnen, which is very close to Grindelwald, it doesn’t only show magnificent mountains and cute cabins but it also hosts the Trümelbach falls – Europe’s largest subterranean waterfalls. We were there right in time for this year’s opening (it’s usually open from the beginning of April until November) so we could adventure in the canyon and watch the natural spectacle of the meltwater from the glaciers of Jungfrau (4158m), Mönch (4099m) and Eiger (3970m) coming down to the Valley.
The Trümmelbach falls are part of the Lauterbrunnen Valley’s 72 waterfalls, among them also the imposing Staubach falls which greeted us as soon as we arrived.
The time we spent in both Grindelwald and Lauterbrunnen was memorable and we got to hang out with Romanian friends who came to visit Switzerland for few days. The Lauterbrunnen Valley has especially stolen our hearts and we would like to share some more of the pictures we captured there.
But we didn’t really miss Winter so we left the mountains after a short while to drive downhill towards Interlaken. Downhill is always great but I don’t think we mentioned how is it to drive Leni uphills. Well, long story short, the maximum speed is around 25km/h so you can imagine how happy the drivers behind us are. We actually don’t mind going slow up in the mountains since we can enjoy the scenery and we’re not in a rush. Just too bad for the ones behind. We are nice though and pull over whenever we have the chance so they can pass by. If you’re driving an oldie, you know what we’re talking about. We are planning to add some funny stickers on the back to encourage the other drivers to be more understanding and patient with us and maybe share a laugh instead of a beep.
In Interlaken Unterseen we found a very nice spot right by the lake Thun, perfect for the overnight stay and with great surroundings to explore. We went for a hike in the forest before the Sun was down and realized how quiet the area is, compared to the main attractions in Interlaken. We were the only ones wandering around the whole time and the views were no less spectacular than in the main area of Interlaken.
Back to the parking spot, we found other two campervans who decided to be our neighbors, one of them a hippie VW as well. As the weather gets warmer we see more and more camping buddies around which is great. It gives us a sense of community and we’re always happy to get to know other people’s adventure stories.
Driving forward to Brienz the next day, we found out that we shouldn’t miss the Giessbach falls and the view of the historical Giessbach Grand Hotel. It was indeed magical and we spent the all afternoon exploring the area and taking pictures.
We of course stopped by Lake Brienz as well and had a bit of a relaxing time, enjoying the sunshine and our home on wheels. We do love exploring but also finding beautiful spots where we can just park and relax. This is the beauty of Van life and we feel very lucky being able to have such views outside our window for free.
“Home is where you park it” is one of our favorite quotes for this new lifestyle so we will end this post on this note.
We hope you enjoyed this overview of how few days can look like for us while adventuring in Switzerland with our van in early April.
Share your thoughts in the comments bellow and stay tuned for the next adventures!
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Love,
Roman & Ioana
