How To See Gelmersee & Gelmerbahn

Maybe you’ve seen a video of the Gelmerbahn on social media? An open-air cable car that goes down a mountain in the Alps at top speed. Well, it’s not really that fast, but the time-lapse footage has made it famous.
Together with the Gelmersee (Lake Gelmer), the Gelmerbahn is one of the most rewarding excursions in the Canton of Bern. How to see Gelmersee & Gelmerbahn? This information can be found here.

Journey to Gelmerbahn & Gelmersee

The first thing you should know if you want to know how to see Gelmersee & Gelmerbahn, is that they can be reached by car or by public transportation. By car, a round trip over the Furka, Grimsel and Susten passes is a good option. For other destinations in the region or what you can combine see at the end of this article.

The valley station with ticket office is a 5 minute walk from the Handeck, Gelmerbahn parking lot.

The Gelmerbahn can be reached from Innertkirchen in 20 minutes by car or post bus.
Postbus stop: Handegg, Gelmerbahn
This parking lot can be used for those arriving by car: Link

For the hike to the Gelmersee, we recommend the Handegg parking lot.

Hiking to Gelmersee

We have already walked to Gelmersee twice because we wanted to be at the lake before the first cable car. The first cable car leaves at 09:00.
We can also highly recommend this option and therefore write it right at the beginning. Why? The hike is not very strenuous and once you have enjoyed the peace and quiet at the top, you can take one of the first cable cars down. These will be quite empty and the likelihood of you being at the front is very high.

It is of course also possible to return, but we recommend the Gelmerbahn.
You can buy the voucher online in advance. You will then have to exchange it for a real ticket (timed ticket) at the ticket counter. However, as you hiked up before the ticket office opened, you only have your voucher.
We briefly showed this to the ticket inspector, explained the situation to him and it was no problem at all.

You can buy tickets online in advance here.
You can find more information in the “Gelmerbahn” section.

Hike Details (parking lot to Gelmersee):

Distance: 1.6 km
Walking time: approx. 1 hour
Difficulty: Easy, mountain hiking trail T2, marked red and white.
Altitude difference: 240 m
Cost: Free of charge

Once you arrive at Gelmersee, you can enjoy the peace and quiet. From 9.15 a.m. it gets fuller and by 10 or 11 a.m. it’s really crowded. We set up our picnic there and had breakfast. Then we took a walk around the lake. The second time we were here we took the Gelmerbahn down to the lake because we wanted to do another hike in the area.

Gelmersee Circular Hike

While you’re there, why not take a walk around the lake? There is a trail around the lake. For the most part, it is well developed and marked. However, there are places that are very narrow or go through unpaved terrain. Overall, the hike can be classified as moderately difficult.
Start and end point is the top station of the Gelmerbahn.

Gelmersee circular trail:

Distance: 4.7 km
Walking time: approx. 2 hours
Difficulty: Medium
Elevation gain: 170 m
Cost: Free of charge

How to See Gelmerbahn

Time for the Gelmerbahn. If you don’t want to hike all the way to Gelmersee, you can of course ride up and down and have a nice day at the lake.
The ride takes 12 minutes. With a gradient of 106 percent, it is the steepest open funicular in Europe.

Opening hours:
June, September, October: 9.00-16.00 (last ascent 15.48, last descent 16.00)
July, August: 9.00-17.00 (last ascent 16.36, last descent 16.48)

Prices:
Adults return CHF 36.00 / one way CHF 18.00
Children 6-15 years return CHF 18.00 / one way CHF 9.00

No discounts with Half-Fare Card, GA or Swiss Travel Card.

Early online reservation is strongly recommended, as there may be longer queues when purchasing tickets at the valley station.

With the purchased ticket voucher, the correct ticket can be collected from the ticket office at least 15 minutes before departure. Otherwise the reserved seats are not guaranteed. If you are ascending (before sunrise) and cannot exchange your voucher for a season ticket, please read the section Hike to Gelmersee again.

Please note that you must choose a time slot in advance and cannot postpone it. If you miss it, the ticket will be invalid.

Places of interest in the surrounding area

The Gelmersee is theoretically suitable for a day trip without other excursions. We have also combined it with other activities, such as the hike to the Siedelen hut on the Furka pass.
In general, it is possible to combine the Grimsel, Susten and Furka Passes with a visit to the Rhone Glacier.

Close to the Gelmersee there is another suspension bridge called “Handeckfallbrücke”. The bridge is 70 meters long and offers a beautiful view of the Handeck waterfall, which plunges 45 meters into a gorge.

We hope this article has helped you to know how to see Gelmersee & Gelmerbahn or inspired you to go!