Throughout history, this medieval hamlet has remained relatively secluded from the outside world. But now, the world's steepest cable car whisks travellers to the 430-person village.

On a freezing day in December 2024, I took a scenic three-hour train ride from Geneva to Lauterbrunnen, an Alpine village nestled between Interlaken and the Jungfrau massif in central Switzerland. I was now at the gateway to the car-free mountain hamletof Mürren.

For most of Mürren's history, residents would lead their mules three hours down to gather essential supplies in the valley before trekking back up. Then in 1891, a narrow-gauge railway opened, connecting Mürren to the nearby mountain village of Grütschalp and a funicular that reached Lauterbrunnen. In 1965, a single-track cableway opened that could ferry residents down to another traffic-free village, Gimmelwald, above the valley.

But the day I arrived, this formerly secluded 430-person hamlet perched 1638m in the Bernese Oberland became directly connected with the outside world and valley below through the opening of the world's steepest cable car: the Schilthornbahn, which whisks travellers 775m up through some of the Swiss Alps' most jaw-dropping scenery in just four minutes.

After arriving at the Stechelberg car park, I was soon being hoisted from the valley floor up in a glass-enclosed cabin, staring down towards the storybook cottages below and surrounded by craggy mountains and snow-covered pines. The trip up the vertical Mürrenfluh rockface was so smooth that I barely noticed the 159.4% gradient (the world's previous steepest cable car, the Loen Skylift in Norway, rises 133%), until my ears started to pop.

Perched on a natural terrace at the foot of the Schilthorn summit (2970m) overlooking the Lauterbrunnen valley, Mürren is a 13th-Century village with traditional stone and timber cottages that looks like it's clinging to the edge of a cliff. Because of its unique position, engineers have never been able to connect it to the outside world by road.

"Taking the cable car to school might seem unusual to many, but it was an everyday ritual for me," said Mürren native Michael Abegglen. "Most everyday necessities and services are available in Mürren, but every time we need a doctor, hairdresser or dentist, we need to go down to the valley where many of us have our cars parked."

According to Abegglen, the village's few year-round residents have long relied on one another. "When you grow up here like I did, you know almost everyone, and there's a strong close-knit community," Abegglen adds. "Some guests are like locals, as they return to Mürren every single year."

After checking into the Hotel Alpenruh, and admiring the........

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