4sammy234

Hi all, welcome suggestions for our July trip (4 adults and 4 teens 15-19). We are active and easygoing group; we plan to do a lot of hiking and just relaxing and taking in the scenery. We know there is so much to see and do that we can’t do it all, and we want to soak it in and enjoy being together.

The itinerary is shaping up like this:

July 2 flight from DFW to Zurich ; travel to Merligen (on lake Thun) - 3 nights at Airbnb there. Looking at these activities :
-day trip to Grindewald (first cliff walk, hike lake bachalpsee)
-day trip to Interlaken / harder kulm? Skip this ? Worth it? Something else instead ?
-cruise lake Thun: explore Thun and castles - do we need a guided tour for this ?
-st beatus caves (look like they’re very close to our house)

Our rental is on the lake less than 1/2 mile to the bus station and boat docks. The host indicates that it is easy to get around without a car but I am a little worried about this. We are all healthy and strong walkers so I guess we will be ok?? Are Ubers a thing in the area?

July 6 / day 4 travel to Lucerne; we have 2 nights there. Most likely explore Lucerne and maybe cruise the lake on the travel day, hike Mt Pilatus on the second day.

July 8- day 6 travel to Zurich. 2 nights here. Arrival day we will prob just settle in and wander a bit, maybe take a walking tour. 2nd night the girls are attending Taylor Swift (!!!!! I’m an 50 year old mom and I am beside myself that this is happening!!!) and the boys are doing a beer tour . We leave late the next morning .

I would love to find a great fondue place for a special dinner (I posted that would love to find a private chef for a night but no responses so I guess that’s not a thing). Restaurant recs? We have a res at seerestaurant beatenbucht in Merligen as rec by our Airbnb host. The restaurant at St Beatus caves looks fun, but the menu doesn’t appeal . Are any of the dinner cruises on lake Thun or Lucerne any good ?

Suggestions welcome but please don’t tell us to change where we are staying 😂 too late and I think it’s just right for the time we have !

neckervd

Don't worry about Swiss Fondue. There are tons of restaurants in the historic city center of Thun serving this meal, usually with "the coup du milieu" a very small glass of Kirsch. Swiss people eat it either with tea or - nicer - with rather few Swiss white wine like Epesses, St. Saphorin, Yvorne, Twanner, Neuchatel, Vully or - more seldom - Fendant. The latter is rather drunken with Raclette.
https://www.yelp.com/search?cflt=fondue&find_loc=Thun

There are tons of buses between Merligen and Thun (from 5.28 until 23.04) and Interlaken (from 7.25 until 21.53).

From Thun or Interlaken you can reach all hidden and all popular and sometimes crowded trails in the closer and wider area, like:
Schynige Platte (alpine flowers garden, cog wheel railway) - Faulhorn (more than 100 years old mountain hotel) - Bachalpsee - First (gondola),
Niederhorn (gondola) - Gemmenalphorn - Oberberg and then eiher down to Justistal - Merligen or to Innereriz (bus) or to Habkern (bus),
if you are good hikers, you may continue from Oberberg to Gruenenberg and Kemmeribodenbad (with the best Emmental cheese and the biggest meringues for sure),
Brienzer Rothorn (cog wheel steam railway station) - Brunig Pass (railway station),
Alpen Tower (gondoal) - Balmeregghorn - Melchsee (gondola) - Tannensee - Engstlensee (bus),
Gelmersee rope railway, combined with a hike to/from Raeterichsbodensee bus stop and/or Grimsel High Dam (bus stop),
Lauchernalp (gondola) - Fafleralp (bus),
Sunnbuhl gondola - Daubensee - Gemmipass (gondola to open air thermal spa Leukerbad),
Ausserberg (railway station) - Eggen (bus) - Finnen (bus - Mund (bus),
etc. etc.
The possibilities are endless.

Ingo

Your itinerary looks good to me. With only three nights you won't have much more time for anything else than what you listed. I would skip Interlaken/Harder Kulm. It pales in comparison to the mountain experiences higher up. Also, the weather might not co-operate one day or a half day - a visit of the Trümmelbach waterfalls would be perfect then. If you can squeeze it in, take the gondola from Lauterbrunnen up to Grütschalp and walk via Allmendhubel to Mürren, from there either walk down to Stechelberg or take the cable car. You can either walk back to Lauterbrunnen or take a bus, if the latter then you could stop at Trümmelbach waterfalls.

No idea about fine dining, sorry. However, I know that Merligen has a luxury hotel (Beatus) with a very good restaurant. Lovely terrace by the lake also. That might be an option. Cheese fondue in July sounds a bit odd to me, it is more a winter thing.

4sammy234

Thanks so much! Feel much better about the transport. And thanks, neckervd for all of the tips on hikes !

Logistically it seems like we will have to choose between Grindelwald and Lauterbrunnen.

Day 1 - arrival day - I'm not sure if we will have time or energy to explore Thun on this day or if it will just be a settle in and figure out dinner , maybe walk down to the lake. I definitely want to visit at least one of the castles on Lake Thun so if we can do it this day, great, but I just don't know if we can count on it.
Day 2- Lauterbrunnen OR Grindelwald ?
Day 3 - Ideally, if we were able to visit the castle on Day 1, we could do the other city on this day. Otherwise cruise the lake, explore Thun and castle(s). Or, possibly we can shoot for Lauterbrunnen on this day and try to be back early enough for an evening wandering Thun (skip cruise and we can do a cruise on Lake Lucerne instead)
Day 4 - leave for Lucerne; cruise and explore Lucerne
Day 5 - Mt Pilatus hike

Sigh never enough time....

neckervd

The best castle is at Oberhofen boats's pier, 10 min by bus from Merligen.
Go to Grindelwad if you want to see Bachalpsee and cliff walk. If you are good hikers, you can approach this area from the other side:
Merligen dp 6.22 - Schynige Platte ar 8.17. Hike to Bachalpsee (about 5-6 hrs) - First cliff walk etc.(1 hr more)
Last gondola departure from First: 18.00