Rosenlaui Glacier Gorge and the Rosenlaui Valley

Rosenlaui is a tiny hamlet at 1,328 metres in a side valley above Meiringen, and it has two reasons to visit: the Rosenlaui Glacier Gorge, a narrow limestone canyon you walk through on tunnels, galleries and more than 200 steps, and the valley itself, with the Wellhorn, the jagged Engelhörner and the Rosenlaui Glacier right above the meadows. We spent a whole day there on July 5, 2026, with our dog Miley: the gorge in the morning, a picnic by the Reichenbach river at midday, a walk up to the historic Hotel Rosenlaui in the afternoon. This guide covers 2026 prices, opening hours, the parking fee on the valley road, the PostBus and everything we learned on the day.

Is the Rosenlaui Glacier Gorge worth it?

Yes. For CHF 12 you get one of the wildest gorge walks in the Bernese Oberland, and the drive into the valley with the Wellhorn and the Rosenlaui Glacier in front of you is worth the trip on its own. It is smaller and quieter than the famous Aare Gorge near Meiringen, and on our July Sunday morning we often had whole sections to ourselves.

What sets Rosenlaui apart is how narrow and how raw it is. The meltwater from the Rosenlaui Glacier has cut a slot into solid limestone that is in places only a few metres wide, and the path squeezes through it on ledges, short tunnels and steel staircases. You are inside it, with polished rock walls curving over your head and white water roaring right below the railing.

The second reason is the valley. Most visitors to the Bernese Oberland have never heard of the Rosenlaui Valley, yet the view of the Wellhorn with the glacier tumbling down beside it is one of the most striking mountain scenes in the region. Combine the gorge with a walk or a picnic by the Reichenbach and you have a full, relaxed day away from the crowds of Interlaken and Lauterbrunnen. If you are collecting gorges and waterfalls in the Bernese Oberland, Rosenlaui belongs at the top of the list.

Walking through the gorge

The walk is a loop of about 1.2 kilometres. You climb up through the gorge on a secured path with tunnels and more than 200 steps, gaining 115 metres, and return on a gravel forest trail back to the ticket office. The operator gives 45 minutes; we took almost two hours because we kept stopping for photos.

Right after the ticket office the path leads to a viewpoint over the first big waterfall, where the stream drops out of the gorge into the forest. Numbered blue information panels explain the sights along the way, in German, English and French. Then the path turns into the rock: a dark wooden door opens into the first tunnel, and from there on you are in the gorge proper.

Inside, the gorge changes every few metres. In some places the walls are so close together that only a strip of sky is left above you; in others the water has hollowed out round pots and smooth overhangs, the glacier kettles and rock polishes the operator mentions. Sections of the path are cut as half-tunnels into the cliff, with the roof right above your head. The two longest tunnels have solar-powered lighting, but some ceilings are very low, so watch your head.

The deepest part is the middle section. The path runs on a ledge between two walls of grey limestone, the river hisses through boulders below, and you look straight up at trees growing on the rim far above. Higher up, steel stairs climb past a waterfall that shoots through a slot in the rock, and a narrow spiral staircase winds up inside the gorge.

The history of the path is impressive too. The gorge was known in the 19th century, when only a wooden staircase led into it. Meiringen hotelier Kaspar Brog bought the Rosenlaui properties in 1901, and from October of that year a contractor from Tyrol blasted the path through the rock with about 9,000 charges of dynamite. The gorge opened on June 6, 1903, and 38 people came on the first day. Brog’s descendants extended the path to its present length in the winter of 1930/31, and his family still runs the gorge in the fifth generation.

At the top you leave the gorge through a turnstile and come out into a quiet pine forest. Here the path crosses a clearing full of stone cairns, hundreds of small towers that visitors have stacked on the limestone boulders. From there the trail drops back down through the forest along the stream, partly on steps, past a carved wooden figure, to the ticket office.

Good to know: wear trainers with grip or hiking shoes, because the steps and ledges are wet in places. The path is not suitable for strollers or wheelchairs. There is no minimum age, but small children should hold an adult’s hand on the narrow sections. At the ticket office there is the small Café Schluchthüttli for drinks and snacks, and there is a public barbecue spot, the Brätelstelle Broch, about 15 minutes’ walk from the entrance.

Tickets and prices 2026

A single entry to the Rosenlaui Glacier Gorge costs CHF 12 for adults (about US$15) and CHF 6 for children from 6 to 15 (about US$7) in 2026. Children under 6 and dogs are free. You can pay at the ticket office or buy online in the operator’s ticket shop.

The reduced price applies to groups of 10 or more, school classes, holders of the Haslital, Jungfrau region, Brienz or Interlaken guest cards, the Camping Card Berner Oberland, the Berner Oberland Pass, the Thun and Brienz lake pass and online RailAway tickets. Show the card at the ticket office. Groups of 20 or more have to register in advance.

There is no online discount, so it makes no difference where you buy. We paid on site without any queue. If you come by car, add the valley parking fee (see below).

Opening hours and the best time to go

The gorge is open only in summer. In 2026 it opens daily from May 14 to September 30, 9:00 to 18:00, and from October 1 to 18, 9:00 to 17:00. It is closed in winter. The operator can close at short notice for safety reasons, for example in heavy rain, so check the home page or call before a long drive.

• Morning: the best time. We entered at about 10:30 and met only a few small groups. The low sun sends beams into the gorge and lights up the spray at the first waterfall.
• Midday and afternoon: busier, especially on summer weekends, and the small parking area fills up. The gorge itself stays cool even in a heat wave, which makes it a good escape on hot days.
• After rain: the water is louder and more impressive, but stay away during storms. On very hot afternoons the glacier melts faster and the river carries more water and more milky sediment.

The pass road and the PostBus follow the same season: in 2026 from May 14 to October 18.

How to get to Rosenlaui

Rosenlaui lies about 11 kilometres above Meiringen on the narrow road towards Schwarzwaldalp and the Grosse Scheidegg. You can drive up in about 25 minutes or take PostBus line 164 from Meiringen station, which takes 32 minutes to the stop “Rosenlaui, Gletscherschlucht”, less than a minute from the gorge entrance.

By car: the “toll road” and parking fee

The road into the Rosenlaui Valley is often called a toll road, but technically you pay a parking fee for the whole valley. A day ticket costs CHF 8 (about US$10), an afternoon ticket from 12:00 costs CHF 4 (about US$5). You buy it at the machine at the valley entrance with cash or card and display it in the car; the same ticket is valid at all car parks in the valley, including the one at the gorge.

The road leaves Meiringen near Willigen and climbs in hairpins past the Reichenbach Falls. Shortly after the forest section you reach the pay station: a small concrete hut with a STOP sign, “Zahlstelle / Point of payment” and the parking zone sign for Rosenlaui and Schwarzwaldalp. A large board says that parking fees apply from this point on. We passed it at 9:56.

Beyond the pay station the road is asphalted but only about 3 metres wide, with a maximum gradient of 15 percent. Oncoming cars pass each other at wider spots, and the PostBus always has priority: pull in and let it pass. Vehicles over 3.5 tonnes are not allowed beyond the Lammi junction, so leave large motorhomes in Meiringen.

Important: you cannot drive through to Grindelwald. Between Schwarzwaldalp and Grindelwald (Hotel Wetterhorn) the road is closed to all private motor traffic, motorcycles included. Only the PostBus, farm and forestry vehicles and residents with a permit may use it. If you want to cross the Grosse Scheidegg, park and take the bus. Our guide to driving in the Bernese Oberland explains the other roads with special rules.

• Navigation: “Gletscherschlucht Rosenlaui, 3860 Meiringen”. The car park is at the gorge entrance.
• From Brienz: about 23 kilometres, roughly 40 minutes according to the route planner. From Interlaken about 37 kilometres and 50 minutes.

By PostBus

PostBus line 164 runs from Meiringen station via Rosenlaui to Schwarzwaldalp, 40 minutes for the full route. From May 30 to October 11, 2026 there are eight buses a day; in the shoulder season (May 14 to 29 and October 12 to 18) there are four. At Schwarzwaldalp you change to bus 128, which crosses the Grosse Scheidegg to Grindelwald; Meiringen to Grindelwald over the pass takes about 1 hour 35 minutes. From Interlaken Ost the train to Meiringen takes about 30 minutes.

The Berner Oberland Pass covers the whole bus route and gives you the reduced gorge ticket. PostBus also sells an excursion ticket called RosenlauiToTal that combines the bus, the Reichenbach Falls funicular, the gorge, the old sawmill at Schwarzwaldalp and lunch. Groups of 10 or more must reserve the bus, and bikes need a reservation too.

With a car you are more flexible, but the bus saves you the narrow road and the parking fee, and it is the only way over the pass to Grindelwald.

The Rosenlaui Valley: Wellhorn, Engelhörner and the glacier

The Rosenlaui Valley, officially the Reichenbach Valley, runs from Meiringen up to the Grosse Scheidegg. Its highlight is the view of the 3,192-metre Wellhorn with the Rosenlaui Glacier beside it, best seen from the flat Gschwantenmad meadows below Rosenlaui, and the jagged limestone towers of the Engelhörner above the hamlet.

For us the Gschwantenmad was the best part of the valley: lying in the grass by the stream in the sunshine, with the Wellhorn, the Wetterhorn and their neighbours right in front of you, is simply wonderful. Bring a blanket and something to eat, and plan more time here than you think.

The valley is part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site Swiss Alps Jungfrau-Aletsch, and you notice why. The road runs between meadows and old barns, the milky-turquoise Reichenbach beside it, with views of ice and rock at every bend.

The Rosenlaui Glacier hangs in a bowl beside the Wellhorn; with a zoom you see its crevasses and the meltwater falls that feed the gorge. Above Rosenlaui, the Engelhörner form a ragged wall of limestone towers. They are a famous climbing area, and Rosenlaui had the first mountaineering school in Switzerland, which from 1954 also trained Sherpas, among them Tenzing Norgay.

The easiest walk in the valley follows the Reichenbach on a gravel trail from the Gschwantenmad meadows below Rosenlaui up to the hamlet. It is flat or gently uphill, shaded in parts, and takes a good half hour each way at a relaxed pace. Along the way you pass meadows with cows and horses, benches by the water, a wooden self-service hut that sells local Alpine cheese, Hobelkäse and Mutschli on an honesty basis, and a cluster of old wooden storehouses on stilts with the glacier behind them. On the way out of the valley, on the road down, we found a second little hut with the sign “Alpmutschli” selling cheese the same way. Bring some Swiss coins.

Hotel Rosenlaui and the valley’s history

Hotel Rosenlaui is the big Belle Époque building in the middle of the hamlet, and guests have been staying at this spot since 1771. The older wing dates from 1862, the main building with its salons and restaurant from 1905. It is still run by the Kehrli family and deliberately has no TV, radio or internet in its lounges.

Rosenlaui’s history starts with water. In 1771 Andreas von Bergen discovered a sulphur spring here, and a spa grew around it that had its heyday in the first half of the 19th century. Earth movements buried the spring in 1912. The hotel survived, and today it is the kind of place where time seems to have stopped: green shutters, wrought-iron balconies, an old horse-drawn carriage on the terrace, and a sign over the door that just says “Hotel Rosenlaui”.

Non-guests can eat in the restaurant. In 2026 the season ends on October 18, and the hotel reopens on May 14, 2027. Pets cannot stay overnight, so with a dog it is a place for lunch or a drink, not a night. The PostBus stops directly in front of the hotel.

Across the road, a stone memorial is dedicated “to the Alpine painters” François Diday (1802 to 1877) and Alexandre Calame (1810 to 1864), two painters from Geneva who made landscapes like this one famous in the 19th century.

Reichenbach Falls and Sherlock Holmes

The Reichenbach Falls are on your way up to Rosenlaui: the stream from the valley plunges down the cliffs above Meiringen, and it is here that Arthur Conan Doyle let Sherlock Holmes fall into the water with Professor Moriarty. A historic funicular from Willigen has been taking visitors up to the upper falls since 1899.

The funicular runs in summer from 9:00 to 17:30 (last ride up 17:15); a return ticket costs CHF 15 for adults (about US$18). The valley station is next to a private clinic in Willigen with very little parking, so the operator recommends the public Alpbach car park in Meiringen. The ride takes only a few minutes. We drove past on this day and kept the falls for another visit, so check the current season dates on the operator’s website. If you want to combine Holmes, waterfalls and gorges, the Aare Gorge in Meiringen is only a few minutes away and makes a good second stop on the same day.

Rosenlaui with a dog

The Rosenlaui Glacier Gorge is dog-friendly: dogs go in free and there are no metal grating floors that scare some dogs. They must stay on a leash throughout, because the area lies in the Schwarzhorn federal hunting reserve.

• At the top exit there is a turnstile. Most dogs can crawl under it; if yours cannot, you have to walk back down through the gorge.
• The steps are steep in places and wet. Miley managed easily, but a very small or old dog may need to be carried on the staircases.
• The gorge is loud. Nervous dogs may not like the roar of the water in the tunnels.
• The Reichenbach is ideal for a cool-off. Miley went into the water at our picnic spot, but the current is strong in the middle and the water ice cold, so stay at the calm edges.
• Hotel Rosenlaui does not take pets overnight.

More dog-friendly ideas for the region are in our guide Switzerland with a dog.

Our day in Rosenlaui, hour by hour

This is how our day went on Sunday, July 5, 2026, starting from our holiday flat in Brienz. The weather was perfect: clear blue sky in the morning, a few clouds in the afternoon, warm in the valley and cool in the gorge.

• 9:40: through Meiringen towards Willigen, the cliffs of the Reichenbach Falls on the right.
• 9:56: the pay station on the valley road. Then a narrow drive through the forest and out onto the meadows.
• 10:08: first full view of the Wellhorn and the glacier from the meadows below Rosenlaui. Several photo stops.
• 10:22: parked near the gorge entrance, a few cars already there.
• 10:27 to 11:20: through the gorge: first waterfall, tunnel, narrows, the waterfall stairs and the spiral staircase.
• 11:22 to 11:40: the field of stone cairns at the top. Miley sniffed every single tower.
• 11:40 to 12:33: back down through the forest along the stream, slowly, with many stops.
• 12:33: back at the ticket office and the Café Schluchthüttli, then a first look at Hotel Rosenlaui.
• 13:00 to 14:30: picnic on the meadow by the Reichenbach with the Wellhorn in front of us. Miley in the water, a few other families picnicking, the PostBus passing on the road.
• 14:40 to 15:20: walk upstream along the river to Rosenlaui, past cows, horses and the self-service cheese hut.
• 15:20 to 16:00: the Diday and Calame memorial and Hotel Rosenlaui with its old carriage.
• 16:00 to 16:40: back along the river to the old storehouses and the car.
• 17:00: cheese stop at the little Alpmutschli hut on the way down, then shopping in Meiringen and home along the Lake Brienz.

With only half a day, do the gorge in the morning, stop on the meadows below Rosenlaui for the Wellhorn view and have lunch at the hotel.

Tips from our visit

• Go in the morning. The gorge is quietest before 11:00, and the parking area at the entrance is small.
• Buy the parking ticket for the whole day. CHF 8 covers every car park in the valley, so you can move between the gorge, the meadows and the hotel.
• Bring a jacket. On a hot July day in the valley, the gorge still felt cool and damp.
• Good shoes. Trainers with grip were enough for us, but flip-flops are a bad idea on the wet steps.
• Pack a picnic. Apart from the café at the gorge and the hotel restaurant there is nowhere to eat, and the meadows by the Reichenbach are the best picnic spot in the area.
• Carry Swiss coins for the self-service cheese huts.
• Drive slowly and expect the PostBus behind every bend. It always has priority.

Tours and tickets

For the gorge itself you do not need a tour: the ticket costs CHF 12 at the entrance. Organised trips make sense if you have no car and want to see the valley by e-bike, or if you want to combine Rosenlaui with the Aare Gorge and the Reichenbach Falls. These are the options we found:

FAQ: Rosenlaui Glacier Gorge

How long does the Rosenlaui Glacier Gorge take?

The loop of about 1.2 kilometres takes around 45 minutes, including the descent through the forest. With photo stops and the cairn field at the top, plan 1.5 hours.

How much does the Rosenlaui Glacier Gorge cost in 2026?

CHF 12 for adults and CHF 6 for children from 6 to 15. With the Berner Oberland Pass or a regional guest card you pay CHF 10. Dogs and children under 6 are free.

Is the road to Rosenlaui a toll road?

Not exactly. You pay a parking fee for the whole valley: CHF 8 per day or CHF 4 from 12:00, at the machine at the valley entrance. The road is narrow and the PostBus has priority.

Can you drive from Rosenlaui to Grindelwald?

No. The road between Schwarzwaldalp and Grindelwald is closed to private cars and motorcycles. Take PostBus 164 to Schwarzwaldalp and change to bus 128 over the Grosse Scheidegg.

Are dogs allowed in the Rosenlaui Glacier Gorge?

Yes, for free and on a leash. There are no grating floors; only the turnstile at the top exit can be a problem for large dogs.

Rosenlaui or Aare Gorge?

The Aare Gorge is longer, wider and busier, with a level boardwalk. Rosenlaui is shorter, steeper and wilder, with tunnels and stairs, and it comes with the Wellhorn view. If you have time, do both on the same day.

Check tours around Rosenlaui →

Rosenlaui is one of many detours in our Bernese Oberland travel guide. For more ideas, start on the swissdetours home page, or plan a gorge day with the nearby Aare Gorge and a stop in the woodcarving village of Brienz on the way back.