7-day Itinerary in and around Brienz, Switzerland
 

Hello again,

As part of our 12 day stay in Switzerland, my wife and I will be based in Brienz for 7 full days. Unlike the rest of our European trip, we have no clear itinerary for what we plan to see in and around this wonderful part of Switzerland.

The only two clear plans we have are to have day trips to Lucerne and Bern.

Other than that, we are unsure of what to see and in what order. We have been told to not miss any of the following:

Kleine Scheidegg
Interlaken
Thun
Lauterbrunnen
Wengen
Murren
Jungfrau Region (including Piz Gloria)
Schilthorn
Grindelwald

However, I have no idea where to start. How many of the above can be seen on the same day. What each of the places entail etc etc.

Could someone please give us an overview of each of the places and some sort of itinerary we could follow during our 7-day stay in Brienz?

Also, at some point we would love to see a typical swiss scene of cattle (complete with bell of course) but don't know the best place to see that.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you in advance and best regards, Steve

When is your visit? You're very close to Ballenberg, so make sure you give that some time (and you will find cattle with bells there).
http://www.ballenberg.ch/en/Welcome
http://ballenberg.ch/en/Info/Portrait/Film

Hi steve_Australia,

Of course, taking a look at a map will help you to sort out the dilemma -- I use Google maps an awsul lot. But to get you started, these things are co-located:

Kleine Scheidegg/Wengen/Grindelwald/Lauterbrunnen/Jungfraujoch
Mürren/Schilthorn
Interlaken/Thun

You can confirm the travel options using the Swiss rail site at

www.rail.ch

Even though KS, Wengen, Grindelwald, Lauterbrunnen, and the Jungfraujoch are located close together, that doesn't mean you have to see them all in one day. You may want to see Lauterbrunnen and Grindelwald one day as you ascend the Jungfraujoch, then spend another day in Wengen.

Do you have any plans to hit any nice Alpine trails? That's another thing that draws a lot of folks --

s

Hi FoFoBT,

Thanks for that suggestion. I had seen Ballenberg on the map but had no idea it was an open-air museum. Will be make time to get there.

Hi Swandav,

Listing co-located places of interest is exactly what I needed. We have a Swiss Pass so should be able to jump on any form of transport.

As far as Alpine trails go, we would love to take some walks through scenic areas. We are not seasoned trekkers by any stretch, but do enjoy 90 minute walks several times a week at home - and with the added bonus of Swiss scenery we could stretch that to 2 hours or more.

Have you any suggestions that would suit our walking distance?

Regards,

Steve

Hi again,

I normally ski when in the Jungfrau region, so I don't know the hikes well. But there have been tons of things posted here about them -- maybe you could find them if you did a search like "Jungfrau walks" or some such.

I've heard lots of things about the walk from the First station to the Bachalpsee (First station is the cable car from Grindelwald).

Here is a site that may help you find something:

http://www.wanderland.ch/en/routen.cfm

I'm sure you'll get a lot more responses as well!

Oh, and please note that the Swiss Pass will give you free transport as far as Wengen or Mürren; from there up to the Jungfraujoch or the Schilhorn, it gives you a discount (I believe it is 25%).

Have fun!

s

You can scratch several places from your list with one excursion since all of them are in the Jungfrau region (except Thun): Take the train via Lauterbrunnen to Wengen, walk through the village, take the cable car up to Männlichen and walk from there to Kleine Scheidegg (about 2 hours if you don't rush it). From there take the cog-train up to Jungfraujoch. After walking around a bit back by train to Kleine Scheidegg but take the train from there to Grindelwald. Back via Interlaken to Brienz.

Another nice excursion is this: Train to Lauterbrunnen, gondola to Grütschalp, walk along the tram line to Mürren (more strenuous is the hike via Allmendhubel to Mürren, but also more rewarding IMO). From Mürren take the cable car down to Stechelberg, bus to Trümmelbach waterfalls, visit the falls, bus back to Lauterbrunnen.

Interlaken itself is not really a sight that is 'not to miss'. I'd do cruises on the lakes of Brienz and Thun, get off at either Spiez or Oberhofen and see the respective castle there (Lake Thun). On Lake Brienz break up the cruise at Giessbach, see the waterfall and the fancy old hotel (small funicular).

I second the idea to hike from First to lake Bachalpsee. About 2:30 h round trip.

Ballenberg is excellent for a day with not so nice weather. Make sure you go up into the mountains on sunny days.

Hi Ingo,

Thank you very much for all your ideas. During my research I was starting to think that maybe Brienz was a bit far out and that we may be should have stayed around Murren. But from your excursion descriptions it sounds like we are still able to cover a reasonable number of places commuting from Brienz.

Thanks again to everyone who continue to help us by sharing their experiences - and keep 'em coming.

Regards,

Steve

Re Lucerne, apart from wandering around the old town, we can recommend taking the round trip to Pilatus. Goes like this - 90 minutes boat trip around the lake, cog railway to Pilatus, cable car and gondala followed by a short bus ride into Lucerne again. We got a discount with our Swiss rail pass and I think it cost us about 50 Swiss francs each. Two hotels on top of Pilatus for drinks and meals.
While we were wandering around Lucerne, we came across an interesting museum which (I think) commemorates a Swiss-French war. It's near the Lion Monument and is worth a visit - with our Swiss rail pass entry was free.
Do make sure you go to Lauterbrunnen - absolutely beautiful.

If your going to be in Switzerland in the September-early October timeframe, you should go to a moo-ving of the cows! (google "Alpabfahrt").

I went to the one in Kerns in 2011, it was GREAT!!!! Loved it!!!

The cows are moved from the summer pastures up in the mountains to the winter barns/pastures in the valley, paraded through the town/village. They are all decked out in their big, old cow bells, flowers and flags! Music, bands, yodeling groups fill the streets before, during and after! Lots of food and drink! It was a super, super day! I was in Interlaken at the time so it was less than a 1 hour drive. Started at 11am until about 3pm. A must see!!!

Very highly recommended!

Hi Marg - thanks for your suggestion. I was in Lucerne many, many years ago but really only remember the Lion Monument and Chapel Bridge, so the Pilatus trip sounds great! We, too have Swiss Passes so that works out nicely for us.

Hello Joanny. Unfortunately we won't be in Switzerland that late. We are there during May. Like a lot of travellers we tend to take trips mainly during spring and a little summer before the crowds. Although, the Moving of the Cows sounds a lot of fun (and although I haven't admitted it to many, I really want to hear some yodelling while I'm there. LOL).

On a related point, we have heard so much about the Christmas Markets in Europe (Germany etc), so I think another year we will have to try to take a trip in the Autumn / Winter.

Regards,

Steve