About Murrenbach Falls (Mürrenbachfälle)
Murrenbach Falls (also Mürrenbachfall or Mürrenbachfälle in German; pronounced “MEUR-un-bahkh-fell-uh”) took us by surprise as it fell prominently deep within the back end of Lauterbrunnen Valley near Stechelberg.
It surprised us because prior to our first visit in June 2010, we thought the main waterfalls in the valley were Staubbach Falls and Trümmelbach Falls.
But the more we looked at Murrenbach Falls, the more we realized that it was every bit as legit as its more famous counterparts.
Perhaps it didn’t quite get the notoriety that its neighbors got because it tended not to be noticed by those who didn’t venture further into the valley beyond the town of Lauterbrunnen.
In any case, we were able to view this waterfall from a variety of positions whether it’s within the valley, or on the cable car up to Murren or down from Gimmelwald.
Although, the existing trails and lookouts didn’t allow us to get as close to Murrenbach Falls as say Staubbach Falls or Trummelbach Falls so we didn’t quite get that intimate feeling that its more famous counterparts provided.
Nevertheless, as you can see from the photos on this page, the views we did get were good enough to still feel like we got to be familiar with it.
Now it’s also worth mentioning that even though this was an unexpected waterfall when we first came here in June 2010, I’d observed from our latest visit in June 2025 that this waterfall seemed to be getting greater notoriety over the years.
Anyways, our pursuit of Murrenbach Falls also presented us with opportunities to see even more waterfalls (many of which could challenge existing claims of tallest waterfalls in Switzerland or the world depending on what your criteria of a waterfall is).
In fact, regarding the other waterfalls in the area, most of them were on minor creeks that may exhibit more seasonal behavior compared to the larger streams like the Murrenbach, Trümmelbach, or Staubbach.
While it has been claimed that there are at least 72 waterfalls in Lauterbrunnen Valley (a widely touted figure in the signage here though it’s hard to reliably quantify), at least it becomes more credible if you count such minor waterfalls such as these.
The “minor” waterfalls that come to mind include the Wydeweldbachfall, the Mattenbachfälle, the Staldenbachfälle, and other random ones like Grosse Rufibachfall, and even glimpses of the elusive Schmadribachfälle.
All of these waterfalls spill towards the backside of Lauterbrunnen Valley towards Stechelberg (with the latter two being even further south of the village mostly unseen to most Lauterbrunnen Valley visitors).
An excursion to Murrenbach Falls also opens up the possibility of taking the cable car beyond Murren towards Birg and Schilthorn as well as exploring the village of Gimmelwald.
Such excursions yield even more waterfall sightings (both minor and major ones), and this includes a hike on the North Face Trail between Murren and Gimmelwald to the Wasserfall Sprutz.
I made a separate write-up for the Wasserfall Sprutz since that hike involved a bit more time and physical exertion.
Indeed, it was almost as if the Murrenbach Falls was more of a backdrop or side attraction to the other options available in this part of the Lauterbrunnen Valley.
Thus, it further reinforces the notion that the Lauterbrunnen Valley itself is indeed one of the world’s most beautiful valleys.
The Longevity of Murrenbach Falls
I believe Murrenbach Falls flows year round, but I can only guess about its flow towards late Summer or through Autumn.
Given my experience with other snowmelt waterfalls such as the ones throughout Yosemite Valley, I’m guessing that its flow might be considerably thinner through those warmer, drier months.
However, I also noticed that the mountains here seem to get a lot more snow than in the Sierras of California so perhaps my hypothesis might be overly conservative.
The bottom line is that the best time to really see the Murrenbach Falls perform would be in the early Summer when the snowmelt volume would be at its highest for the year.
Concerning our personal observations (once in mid-June 2010 and again in late June 2025), all I can say is that this waterfall’s flow was more significant on the first visit than the second, but it’s unclear if we can draw any further conclusions.
Technicalities on the height of Murrenbach Falls
On a technical note, the signs here indicated that Murrenbach Falls was possibly the tallest singular vertical waterfall in Lauterbrunnen Valley (and possibly the country) at 417m.
Interestingly, I noticed other signs during our June 2010 visit that said the height figure was more like 428m or 430m among others (so even the authorities can be wishy-washy about waterfall height).
In any case, that would put it higher than Staubbach Falls’ 297m drop and Seerenbach Falls‘ 305m drop on its middle (2nd) tier.
Admittedly, I don’t think there was a consensus out there as to what the criteria is for a waterfall to be significant enough to be considered among the tallest (there are easily ephemeral ones that are taller).
Nevertheless, this waterfall was significant enough to even be seen via the cable car up to Murren so there’s no denying that we’re dealing with a legitimately tall waterfall here that also seems to pass our consideration tests for longevity and slope.
So as far as cumulative height, there’s no denying its height figure, but if we’re talking about singular vertical drop, there might be a bit of a borderline case for this waterfall if we have to consider the verticality of its slope.
To further support my skepticism, this waterfall didn’t quite exhibit the scattering behavior under windy conditions that its more vertical neighbors (e.g. Staubbach Falls and Ägertenbach Falls) exhibited.
We were able to further test this notion by visually inspecting the waterfall from the cable car between Gimmelwald and the station near Stechelberg.
I still think it was a judgment call to determine the slope’s steepness even with this method, but there had to be a reason why Murrenbach Falls tended to languish in relative obscurity despite its lofty height figure.
I guess to be scientific about it, we would have to use a rangefinder
And instead of performing calculations using the acquired data to determine its height, we would have to tweak the calculations to determine the length.
This can be done by using the cosine of the measured hypotenuse instead of the sine; see How Do I Measure A Waterfall’s Height?).
Authorities
Murrenbach Falls resides between the towns of Stechelberg and Lauterbrunnen, which sit within the Interlaken-Oberhasli District of the Bern Canton. It may be administered by the authorities of the Lauterbrunnen municipality. So for information or inquiries about the area as well as current conditions, you may try visiting their tourism office website.
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Murrenbach Falls – Harder to get to, but worth it August 18, 2017 9:07 pm - The original post makes it sound as if you can't get close to the falls. In fact, just across the parking lot from the cable car in Stechelburg is a Nordic walking trail that leads to the falls. It's a steep scramble up, and a tough descent, but the brief hike puts you right next… ...Read MoreVisitor Reviews of this Waterfall:
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