Kleine Scheidegg: the junction under the Eiger.

Kleine Scheidegg is a mountain pass, not a village — a scattering of hotels and a railway station sitting on a saddle between the Lauberhorn and the base of the Eiger. It's the single interchange point on the whole route: the Wengernalpbahn arrives here from both Grindelwald (via Grindelwald Grund) and Wengen, and the Jungfraubahn departs from here toward Eigergletscher and the summit. If you're not going all the way to Jungfraujoch, this is also a legitimate destination in its own right — a viewpoint directly under the Eiger's north face with none of the crowds heading further up.

What's actually here

A handful of hotels (some open since the 1840s, long before the railway existed — Kleine Scheidegg was a hiking pass stop first), a station building, and open meadow in every direction. In summer it's a hiking hub for the Eiger Trail and the classic Männlichen ridge walk; in winter it sits inside the Kleine Scheidegg–Männlichen ski area, one of the region's larger connected ski zones.

The view that made it famous

The Eiger's 1,800-metre north face rises almost directly above the station — the same wall climbed in the first successful ascent in 1938, after a series of fatal attempts through the 1930s that were, at the time, watched through telescopes from hotel terraces at Kleine Scheidegg itself. That history is part of why this specific spot, rather than any other viewpoint in the region, became the railway's natural starting point.