Männlichen Royal Walk – A Short But Steep Hike in the Swiss Alps

The Männlichen Royal Walk in the Swiss Alps is a short but steep hike with great views and friendly cows. It’s only about a mile long but your calves will feel it! At the end of the “walk” there is a lookout point shaped like a crown where you can enjoy beautiful views of the mountains and the valley.

How to get to the Männlichen Royal Walk

You can reach the walk by cable car from Grindelwald or Wengen. From Wengen, it’s a beautiful 10 minute ride up the mountainside. It’s even prettier if you book a “royal ride.” That’s the balcony that sits on top of the cable car. That’s right, you can ride ON TOP of the cable car! It sounds terrifying but is actually very nice.

On the balcony, you can feel the mountain breeze and the sun on your cheeks as the cable car rises dramatically up the mountain. It’s an extra 5 francs for the “royal” add-on but we were the only ones up top during our ride, so it really did feel more special than staying in the packed interior.

When you get off at the top it’s immediately clear where the royal walk is because off in the distance at the top of a hill you’ll see a lookout point that looks like a crown.

The Männlichen Royal Walk is only about a mile but it is very steep and the path is paved with gravel which to me felt pretty slippery. I ended up walking mostly just off to the side on the grassy shoulder. If you walk in the grass though you have to tread carefully to avoid the cow patties!

What to expect on the Männlichen Royal Walk

Before I start talking about the view I do want to take a moment to tell you about the cows. There were so many cows up here! There were even more cows than in Gruyères. They didn’t seem bothered by the humans, just stood around chewing their cud and mooing. They were all wearing bells with different sounds to them so there was a lovely cacophony of ringing and mooing to encourage you in your walk.

Once you get up to the walk you have plenty of space to enjoy the panoramic views of the mountains around you. On a clear day you can see the Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau peaks. When we went it was partially clear but there was some intermittent cloud cover so our views were obstructed for a little bit. We went in the morning which in September was probably not ideal since there was some fog still burning off a little bit.

Where to go after conquering the Männlichen Royal Walk?

After you get to the top of the Royal Walk, catch your breath, take photos, and admire the mountains. Then head down (which is more precarious than coming up) and keep walking the other direction if you feel like prolonging your hike.

There is signage right outside the cable car station that shows you where else you can go. We carried on toward Kleine Scheidegg along with several other scattered groups. That hike was a beautiful stretch across the mountains. You get a great view of the Eiger, Mönch, and Jungfrau peaks straight ahead of you the whole way.

There were times the pathway had a pretty steep drop on one side. Brian and I were watching the ground almost as much as the mountains!

We took the train from Kleine Scheidegg to Grindelwald which was a fun and scenic journey over the mountains. From Grindelwald we took a gondola to First where there was all sorts of fun to be had. Check out my next post to read about our time at the First Cliff Walk!