kjess

Ideas for short walks/hikes, outdoor activities, and day trips? We are a family of 4 (2 kids 19, 16). 16 year old loves mountain biking. Thanks for any suggestions! We are traveling at the very beginning of August.

kappa1

For a starter.
http://www.mylauterbrunnen.com/en.cfm/sommer/

kwren

I stayed in Lauterbrunnen with my 2 then 13 year olds a few years ago and we loved the area.

Altho expensive, I recommend the trip to the Jungfrau. Once up there you can zip line, ride the husky-pulled sleds, go through the ice palace cut into the glacier and of course admire the views. On the way back down, we saw plenty of people hiking some paths roughly parallel to the train tracks (we didn't do the hiking)

My kids also loved our trip up the Schilthorn. We watched the clouds come in and completely surround the mountaintop from the comfort of the rotating restaurant. Awesome ice cream sundaes up there!

One of our favorite things was to take the train to Wengen and the cable car up to Mannlichen. A few walking/hiking paths start from there. We took the Panoramaweg and it was a fairly level easy 1 1/2 hour walk with beautiful scenery. It ends in Kleine Scheidigg where there are goats roaming freely and wonderful food to eat at picnic tables. I've been talking about getting back there with my husband.

Just a few ideas to get you going.

ThinGorjus

Whooooooooohhhhhhhhhooooooo!

I can't wait to have a gin-laced ice cream sundae when I go up to Piz Gloria.

For the OP: what about Schynige Platte??

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uyxecv1uFG0

Thin, 6 more weeks until my Percocet tour of Swiss Pharmaceutical Cos.

kwren

The walk on the above link isn't the same Panorama walk I was talking about from Mannlichen, but it shows the same type of scenery - just breathtaking! The one we took was a sidewalk-width path almost the entire way (but not cement like a sidewalk), hardly any rocks and it just follows around the contours of the mountains. I posted pictures on Fodors a few years ago. If I can find them, I'll tell you the site.

kwren

We went to a festival in Lauterbrunnen which I heard about at the hotel. Bell ringers, dancers, alphorn players and other local acts. We sat at tables with local people drinking beer and eating. Really fun!

Hike to the waterfall at the edge of town and go up the path behind it.

Trummelbach Falls out towards the Schilthorn actually cuts through the mountain so you go inside to see it. It carries the runoff from the glaciers and is very powerfall! You can walk ot take a bus to get there.

kwren

Hopefully this will work for my pictures while we were at Lauterbrunnen

http://tinyurl.com/2fqe7p3