Ride the railway to the Top of Europe at 3,454m
The highest railway station in Europe, reached through seven kilometres of tunnel bored inside the Eiger and the Mönch. It took sixteen years to build and opened in 1912.
Adolf Guyer-Zeller sketched the plan in 1893 and did not live to see it finished. The line climbs from Kleine Scheidegg and then disappears into the mountain, tunnelling upward through the Eiger with two stops where windows were cut into the north face — the same wall climbers spend days on outside.
At the top there is the Sphinx Observatory terrace at 3,571 metres, the Aletsch Glacier running away below — the longest in the Alps, and UNESCO-listed — and the Ice Palace, a set of chambers carved into the glacier itself with the ice walls left bare.
You can walk out onto the snow plateau and, in season, up to the Mönchsjoch hut. The air at this altitude is noticeably thin, and most people feel it within a few minutes of arriving.
Good to Know
Availability, exact timings and pricing depend on your itinerary, hotel and season — your Finders & Keepers Safaris specialist will confirm details and slot this experience into your existing day-by-day plan.
Check the summit webcam before you commit
This is an expensive full day and in cloud you will see the inside of a tunnel and a white wall. Every operator publishes a live summit camera — look at it before travelling and move the day if it is socked in. The altitude gain is abrupt: go slowly at the top, drink water, and expect it to be well below freezing whatever the valley is doing.