Agree with Sue81

To my mind, Interlaken is not a destination in itself; it's a jumping off point (so to speak) for the Bernese Alps, for Wengen and Murren and Kleine Scheidegg and Jungfraujoch and Grindelwald and more and for the lakes of Brienz and Thun. Interlaken makes a great base for daytrips to these places.

Note that if you have a short time to see a city, detouring to a hotel to drop off your bags takes time out of your sightseeing.

Note that if you have a short time to see a city, detouring to a hotel to drop off your bags takes time out of your sightseeing.>

Not as much as having to come back to check in and though you may not be able to stay in the room until noon or so you can often check-in in the morning when leave bags.

YOu will be very glad if you do this. Sue

sorry didn;t read all of thread, leave bags at trusted hotel/train station locker if going to be gone for days/week, makes life much easier.

And you can send bags ahead to any large train station and retrieve them any time.

As mentioned multiple times already, I would take the train on day 1 to Wengen or Mürren and spend 2 nights. My last night I would spend it in Lucerne and on departure day train early in the morning to the airport (50 min direct).

Yes TVoyager has it right IMO too - experience the high Alps and beautifully situated Wengen (would be my choiceen as Murren is neat too but rather isolated as with just a day many would I think want to take the Jungfraubahn to the highest train station in Europe and a sea of ice and glaciers and ice caves:

https://www.google.com/search?q=jung...HbBrD30QsAQIKA

And again Wengen is your quintessential Alpine village with traditional chaleet-style hotels and rooms with a view to kill:

https://www.google.com/search?q=weng...w=1536&bih=758

If doing that Junfraujoch train a Half-Fare Card will nearly pay for itself on that train trip alone.

Hi, When I mentioned Murren, I meant to comment on it as a walk thru, with the loop to the lift, not necessarily to stay there. It is isolated, with walls of mountain on one side, at least I saw that from my cabin, high walls, but a nice little village. Wengen would be a nicer spot to stay with lovely vistas.

Yes that loop from Lauterbrunnen-Murren-Schilthorn-Gimmelwald-Stechelberg-Lauterbrunnen is fantastic as is a walk thru Murren is my favorite thing to do in Jungfrau Region.

Now we are leaning towards that. We may need to drop Tiitlis . Which hotel did you stay in Wengen?
PalenQ, Sue, et al, thanks for your opinions/suggestions.
What would you suggest for mobile SIM card? Thinking of buying. Lycamobiile SIM at airport.

I sincerely hope that you are conducting some independent research into what options suit YOUR needs and interests! A few Fodorites are known for their repeated and ardent endorsement of very specific options that THEY think best, and while I would agree that their choices have merit, I would suggest that they are not necessarily best for everyone or under every circumstance.

Good luck with your plans!

Hi MJJoe,

I've stayed at the Hotel Alpenrose in Wengen two times and loved it there. It's a lovely 3-star hotel that's been in the same family for about 100 years -- the husband was the chef, and the wife managed the front desk. The last time I was there, the daughters were attending a hospitality school, so I guess they plan to continue the tradition. The hotel has a binder showing the history of the hotel. It's just charming.

Hotel Alpenrose Wengen Berner Oberland Schweiz - Willkommen in Wengen

I also think that staying in Wengen will be closer to what you might imagine Switzerland is like -- it's all mountains and valleys and beautiful scenery. If you had less time, I would say you can find that in Luzern, but since you have three nights, you can get to and enjoy Wengen easily.

Have fun as you plan!

s

You have a short trip with plans that depend very strongly on good weather. It might be worth building in one or two options for uncooperative weather.

HI, I can suggest a hotel in Wengen, the Schonegg Hotel and KJA is right I've mentioned it several times as it is the only place I've stayed there. Right in town, about 1 blk form lift up to Mannlichen. Get view of Jungfrau and Monch. Typical Swiss rooms/wood paneling, very good meals with full or half fare. Might not be the fanciest, but very nice, well run, convenient.

SIM card, might be worth a separate thread for this....mention where you fly into.....I got mine in Amsterdam, from Vodaphone, and used some APP i put into my phone...I usually use Verizon which was quite expensive for calls from Euope to US, got Sim card over internet/before I left, Amazon I think, and activated in Amsterdam, made calls daily to US with no charge from 5 countries........Holland, Germany, France, Switzerland........... Paid $4. I think for Sim card over Internet. a little complicated/ send separate thread to get more info

Thank you! this hotel looks nice!.

Flying into ZRH. We also use Verizon in USA now which is very expensive to use in EU. We want to use maps and need to connect to whatsApp to communicate with family. We bought Lycamobile sim cards during our Spain trip, swapped sim in our phones & used.. Before that we had Sprint, which didn't allow sim card swap then, so we bought some cheap phones with sim card in London (Vodaphone, I think) to use in UK, France and Italy.

HI, OK I have an apple I phone and used the Vodaphone Sim card, flew into Amsterdam out of Zurich. i have forgotten the App that I downloaded into my phone that somehow facilitated the free calls to the US. Seems to me that you can use the SIM all over Europe now. Again if you have more questions on this run a separate thread stating SIM Cards Europe and I got many responses that helped.

Also it might have been Ebay where I got my SIM card over Internet, but you can buy in ZRH I am sure.