First Cliff Walk (Switzerland) – Incredible Viewing Platform With Magnificent Views of Swiss Alps

It was an early morning in Switzerland and the wife and I were on our way to the famous First Cliff Walk by Tissot. We were on the train to Grindelwald, trying not to doze off. From Grindelwald, we would be taking a cable car up to the First summit. This article was last updated on 03 March 2020.

Table of Contents

• What is First Cliff Walk?
• How to Get to First Cliff Walk
• Buying Cable Car Tickets
• Cable Car Ride
• Walking to First Cliff Walk
• Another Vantage Point
• First Cliff Walk By Tissot
• Incredible Viewing Platform
• Berggasthaus First Restaurant
• Gift Shop
• First Cliff Walk Bar
• First Flyer
• Other First Activities
• Useful Tips For Visiting First Cliff Walk
• Conclusion

What is the First Cliff Walk?

First Cliff Walk By Tissot is a bridge walk along “First”, a famous summit in the Jungfrau region of Bernese Oberland, Switzerland.

The bridge stands at over 2000 metres above ground, and ends with a heart-stopping viewing platform that extends far out over the cliff face.

It is sponsored by the Swiss luxury watch company Tissot, hence the name.

For this year, the bridge walk will open from 30 November 2019 until 25 October 2020, according to the official dates on the Grindelwald First website.

How to Get to First Cliff Walk

It is quite easy to get to the cliff walk. Basically, you just need to get to Grindelwald town and take a cable car up to the summit. For more details, check out my detailed article on how to get to First Cliff Walk.

Buying Cable Car Tickets

Grindelwald Firstbahn cable car station

After reaching Grindelwald train station, we walked for about 15 minutes to the Grindelwald Firstbahn cable car station. We reached at 8.30am and were the very first tourists.

The office opens at 9am so we waited outside the door first. While waiting, I used the very clean washroom in the cable car station.

By 9am, a group of tourists had formed up behind us in the queue. Once the doors opened, we quickly made our way in to buy our cable car tickets at the counter.

A round-trip cable car ride to First costs CHF 60 (CHF 30 with the Swiss Half Fare Card). However, it is more economical to buy the cable car tickets as part of a package with the First activities.

The four First activities are: First Flyer, First Glider, Mountain Cart, and Trottibike Scooter.

Unfortunately, the staff informed us that the Mountain Cart and Trottibike Scooter activities were not available, because the snow on the mountain had not cleared yet.

Therefore, I decided to purchase the package for the cable car (unlimited rides) and one activity. This cost CHF 46 with my Swiss Half Fare Card. If I had purchased the cable car and activity tickets separately, it would have cost CHF 59 instead.

Therefore, it is important to decide how many activities you want to do before buying the cable car ticket. For example, if you want to do both the First Flyer and First Glider, then you should buy the package for the cable car and two activities.

It is still possible to buy the activity tickets after you reach the First summit, but as mentioned it will be more expensive to buy them separately.

To help with your decision, you can refer to this helpful Grindelwald-First brochure which contains the full list of activities and package prices.

Cable Car Ride

Cloudy day

Chilling out on the 25-minute cable car ride

After buying the tickets, the wife and I made our way to the cable car station, which is just around the corner from the sales counters.

We were first in line!

We got into the cable car, and settled in to enjoy our ride up. The line has three cable car stations: Bort, Shreckfeld, and First. Initially, I felt a little bummed out because we were completely surrounded by clouds / fog. However, the weather got slightly clearer as we went higher up into the Swiss alps.

Beautiful snowy landscape along the way

First cable car station

As we got nearer to the summit, I was surprised to see that the terrain was almost fully covered in snow. It was quite beautiful. As it was April, I had not been expecting to see such a snowy landscape.

Finally, after a 25 minute cable-car ride, we arrived at the First cable car station!

Walking To First Cliff Walk

After exiting the cable car station, I was expecting to see the First Cliff Walk viewing platform immediately.

However, all I saw was a sign directing me to walk along a snowy trail. Raevian and I were caught by surprise; we had not expected the ground to be completely covered in snow!

It was mid-April and we thought the snow would have melted by now. Consequently, we had worn completely inappropriate shoes.

Well, there was no turning back now.

I held Raevian’s hand tightly and proceeded to glide walk along the snow-covered trail. I slipped multiple times along the way and almost fell down a few times.

And it didn’t help that it was really cold because of the chilly wind. Luckily, at least we were wearing proper winter clothing.

Initially, I thought we would be the first tourists to reach the First Cliff Walk, since we had caught the first cable car up the mountain (typical kiasu Singaporeans).

However, because we were busy slipping and falling along the route, we were soon overtaken by a group of tourists. They must have found the sight of a couple struggling to keep their balance on the slippery icy ground pretty amusing.

Taking some pictures along the way

Trying not to fall

However, I tried to maintain a positive attitude, and even managed to take some photos along the way. It was quite difficult to keep my eyes open for the photos because the reflected sunlight from the snow was really glaring.

Another Vantage Point

Great vantage point

Along the way, I saw that the trail diverged to a few other uphill paths. Several tourists made their way up these paths, which led upwards to a great vantage point.

Or at least I imagined it to be a great vantage point, since there was no way the wife and I could go up the slippery slopes with our shoes. We were already trying our best not to fall on flat ground.

First Cliff Walk By Tissot

Harrowing bridge

I was actually really nervous

Can you see the icicles?

After walking along the snowy trail for around 10 minutes, we reached the start of the First Cliff Walk!

The first part of the cliff walk was a harrowing metal bridge that skirted the cliff face. I was feeling really nervous as I walked along the bridge.

I looked down and realised that the bridge had plenty of holes which I could see through; this certainly didn’t help matters.

While it was indeed quite unnerving to walk on a bridge that’s over 2000 metres above ground, it was the first time in my life doing something like this, and I tried my best to enjoy the special experience.

Along the way, I saw tiny icicles on the cliff face. Yes it was really cold up here!

There were a few binoculars along the path, along with information telling you what to look out for. However, these “binoculars” did not have any lenses, and anyway it was too foggy to see anything.

Incredible Viewing Platform

Cloudy day but still an awesome experience

So scary

As breathtaking as it was, the metal pathway was just the prelude.

After walking for another ten minutes, we reached the main highlight of the First Cliff Walk, the amazing viewing platform!

This heart-stopping platform extends 45 metres out over the precipice, offering great photo opportunities and magnificent views of the Swiss Alps.

Well, magnificent views on clear days at least.

Unfortunately, it was rather cloudy on the day we visited, and visibility was very poor. I could only imagine how incredible the views must be from this fantastic vantage point on a clear day.

The wife, ever the thrill-seeker, quickly rushed out to the platform. I followed behind, trying my best to conquer my fear of heights in the shortest amount of time possible.

Nonetheless, it was surreal to walk out to the furthest end of the platform, and know that I was literally standing over the deep valleys of the Swiss Alps. It was a super cool experience.

We took many photos from this spot. However, a queue of tourists soon formed up behind me, and we had to give up the coveted photo spot.

We walk to the other end of the platform. It turned out the view from here was actually better, because the sky was less cloudy. We took some nice photos here.

Interestingly, I spotted some animal footprints in the snow. I wondered if they belonged to wild foxes.

Took some nice footage using my DJI Mavic Pro drone

By now, the viewing platform had become too crowded so me to take any nice photos. Therefore, I decided to use my drone to take some aerial shots. Luckily, it worked fine despite the cold weather and poor signal (due to the mountainous terrain). I managed to get some decent footage.

Berggasthaus First Restaurant

Berggasthaus First Restaurant is a large Swiss casual dining restaurant located at the First summit. It is part of the Berggasthaus First Hotel.

While I was flying the drone, the wife quickly made her way into the restaurant because it was really cold.

By the time I was done flying, I was literally shivering. My face and fingers had gone numb from the cold. I quickly packed up the drone and hurried into the restaurant.

The restaurant was extremely spacious with plenty of seats. More importantly, it was very warm. This was the perfect place to hide from the cold and rest for a while.

Self service area

The restaurant sells Korean cup noodles!

Clean toilet in the restaurant

Berggasthaus First Restaurant has two areas: one is for self service and the other is for table service.

The self service area offers a variety of Swiss / Western comfort food such as Schnitzel, Rosti, Fries, Pasta, Burgers, Bratwurst, etc. And surprisingly, we even saw Korean cup noodles!

I didn’t see the menu for the table service.

Raevian and I didn’t eat here because the food didn’t really look very appetising. And it was a little expensive.

However, we did make use of the very clean toilets in the restaurant.

Gift Shop

Inside the restaurant, there is a small gift shop where you can buy Tissot watches, Swiss army knifes, and other Swiss memorabilia. However, I was not really interested and only browsed around for a short while.

First Cliff Walk Bar

I saw a bar outside the restaurant, but it was closed. Perhaps it only opens during the warmer months in summer.

First Flyer

Had to trek through the snow to get to the First Flyer

Our next activity was the famous First Flyer! This is a zip line that carries riders from First cable car station downhill to Shreckfeld cable car station.

To get to the First Flyer take off point, we had to walk back to the First station, and then walk another few minutes from there.

Luckily, I realised that the restaurant was actually connected to the First cable car station. This meant that we did not have to walk back along the same treacherous path that we took earlier.

Therefore, we simply walked through the restaurant to the cable car station. From the station, we trekked through the snow-covered ground for 5 minutes to get to the First Flyer take off point.

We did not have to buy separate tickets for this activity because we had bought the cable car package deal earlier (see above section “Buying Cable Car Tickets”).

Indemnity form

Four First Flyer seats in all

Raevian strapped in. I’m next!

The wife and I tapped our tickets at the gantry, signed an indemnity form, and made our way to the zip line seats.

The friendly staff strapped Raevian into her seat, and then came to me.

I was carrying a backpack and was worried that it would not be allowed for the ride. Luckily, the staff said it was fine.

And so I tightened my action camera chest strap, held on tight to my gimbal, and braced myself for an epic Swiss zip line experience.

Blown-back hairstyle

The gate opened, and all of a sudden I was whooshing through the air! The beginning part of the descent was the fastest and I was yelling my lungs out.

Raevian, who left after me, said that I glided down much faster than her. This was probably due to my heavy backpack.

I slowed down slightly in the middle, and came to a relatively gentle stop at the end of the zip line.

Even though the view was literally non-existent due to the heavy fog, it was still a very exciting experience. I highly recommend this activity for the adrenaline junkies!

By the time we were done with the First Flyer, it was already 12.30pm. Somehow we had already spent almost 3 hours on the summit!

We quickly took the cable car down to Grindelwald. On the way down, it was less cloudy than in the morning, and we got to enjoy scenic views of Grindelwald town.

Other First Activities

Other than the First Flyer, the other three First activities are the First Glider, Mountain Cart, and Trottibike Scooter.

The First Glider is a round-trip zip line. The station is located near Schreckfeld cable car station. The glider whooshes you up to First, before bringing you back down to Schreckfeld again. We did not do this activity because we felt it was similar to the zip line.

The Mountain Cart is a very fun activity where you get to ride a manual go-cart downhill from Shreckfeld down to Bort.

The Trottibike Scooter is another fun activity where you ride a trottibike (a cross between a bicycle and a standing scooter) downhill from Bort to Grindelwald.

Therefore, my ideal itinerary would have been to take the First Flyer down to Schreckfeld, then ride the Mountain Cart from Schreckfeld down to Bort, and finally take the Trottibike Scooter from Bort down to Grindelwald.

Unfortunately, both the Mountain Cart and Trottibike Scooter were not available because there was still too much snow covering the mountain paths when I visited in April.

Useful Tips For Visiting First Cliff Walk

1. We used the Swiss Half Fare Card which helped us to save money on the train ticket to Grindelwald, and also on the cable car and First Flyer tickets. Read our full review of the Swiss half fare card.

2. Make sure you wear sun glasses because the snowy landscape reflects the sunlight which makes it very glaring. I forgot to bring my sunglasses and had difficulty opening my eyes.

3. You should apply sunblock too because the snow will reflect sunlight onto your face and body. If you spend too much time outdoors you might even get sunburnt.

4. Make sure you wear suitable shoes for walking on snow if you are not visiting during summer! We thought the snow would have melted by the time we visited in April, and ended up wearing completely inappropriate shoes. Thinking back now, it’s pretty funny that we kept slipping along the way. However, it definitely wasn’t funny when we were trying our best not to fall and break our bones on the cold icy ground.

5. If you are planning a trip to the First Cliff Walk and have questions, you can just email the Jungfraubahn company helpdesk. I asked them many logistical questions about my trip to Grindelwald-First (opening hours, weather conditions, etc), and they were very prompt in their replies. If you are interested in the First activities like Mountain Cart and Trottibike Scooter, it’s best that you email them beforehand because these activities are not available during some months.

Conclusion

All in all, the wife and I had a wonderful morning at the iconic First Cliff Walk By Tissot. This is truly a spectacular piece of Swiss engineering.

It was really cool to walk on a bridge that is over 2000 metres above ground. Along the way, I experienced a rich mix of emotions: fear, excitement, awe, and more!

And of course, it was surreal to stand at the edge of the viewing platform, above the deep valleys of the majestic Swiss Alps. Even though the views weren’t that great on the day we visited, it was definitely still a very special experience.

First Cliff Walk (Switzerland)
Website: www.jungfrau.ch/en-gb/grindelwaldfirst
Helpdesk Email: helpdesk@jungfrau.ch

This article is part of our completely free and fantastic Ultimate Jungfrau Region Travel Guide. Why spend days researching when all your holiday information is simply a click away?