alexballingall

Hey guys
Quick question. On our way through Western Europe, two friends and I (20 year old males ) will be stopping off in the Bernese Oberland/jungraou region of Switzerland. We will arrive In interlaken and spend one night there to do canyoning the next day then we have three more nights. My question is what would be the best village to spend three nights that we can do great hikes during the day then spend the nights drinking beer and having fondue etc with a great view. I'm sure you can't go wrong anywhere

Ingo

If you want some nightlife, Interlaken is probably your best bet. Getting to the hiking trails from there is no problem - short train ride. Of course you're closer to the trails and right *in* the mountains if you stay higher up, in Grindelwald e.g.

alexballingall

Ya to clarify we don't want nightlife just great views to relax after a good day of hiking. I'm stuck between lauterbrunnen, gimmelwald, grindlewald or murren

dulciusexasperis

There is no right answer alex. I would definitely NOT stay in Interlaken. Most travellers familiar with Switzerland consider it the height of tourist 'kitsch'.

But any of the villages you mention would be fine for hiking, local food and great views.

For a great overnight hike I could suggest staying in Grindelwald and hiking directly from there to Faulhorn. No cheating and using cable cars (for wimps). At Faulhorn you can stay the night in the Hotel Faulhorn. Europe's highest hotel for many years. http://www.myswitzerland.com/en-ca/m...-faulhorn.html

Here is their website: http://www.myswitzerland.com/en-ca/m...-faulhorn.html

I swear the mattress in our room (second down on left side in their gallery here: http://www.berghotel-faulhorn.ch/index_eng.html ) still had the original horse hair stuffing as it had when the donkeys carried it up the mountain in 1832.

Ingo

If you stay the first night in Interlaken anyway, why bother and move somewhere else for the rest of the time? You'll be on the hiking trails during the days anyway.

Forget Gimmelwald, it's tiny. Really nothing but a few houses. I'd say Grindelwald is the best compromise, if you really want to stay somewhere else than Interlaken.

Try finding a place that's in your budget and appeals to you. If you have some options, come back and ask for our opinions.

PalenQ

Grindewald and Lauterbrunnen attract lots of folks you age and have an apres-hiking scene - towns like Murren and Wengen are churchmouse quiet at night and Gimmelwald is well out in the middle of nowhere with nothing to do at night save star gazing.

Interlaken itself has its pluses and if you stay at a place like the famous or infamous Balmer's Aubuerge you'll have lots of party mates from all over the world.

http://www.balmers.com/ - and they also organize adventure things like canyoning that you want. Grindelwald is just a 20-minute train ride from Interlaken.

alexballingall

Ya I think you guys make some great points. It's probably between laterbrunnen and grindlewald then. What would you say has the best hikes? We are from British Columbia canada and often do camping trips to banff, lake o hara etc so we are quite interested in some awesome day hikes

PalenQ

Luaterbrunnen is in a deep canyon - only a few walks that are not nearly vertical - Grindelwald offers a panoply of great walks for all energies - you can easily walk to a glacier right from town and then there is the famous Mannlichen to Kleine Schiedegg Ridge Walk - the most popular walk in the whole area I believe - ridge that lets you see both the Lauterbrunnen Valley and Gindelwald Amphitheatre as well as front views of the awesome Jungfrau Massif. Take a long strenuous hike to Mannlichen or easily hop a cable car - fromKl Scheidegg you can take a train back to Grindelwald or do a longish downhill hike or from there hop the Jungfraujoch train.

PalenQ

https://www.google.com/search?q=mann...=1600&bih=1075

don't miss the famous Mannlichen to Kleine Scheidegg Ridge Hike or rather walk!