familytravel01

- Mon, Jun 26th
Flight from US lands in morning Zurich. Leave directly for Wengen.

- Tue, Jun 27th
Early morning Jungfrau excursion.
Will we have time for anything else?

- Wed, Jun 28th
Mannlichen to Kleine Scheidegg hike, and then
Ballenberg Open Air Museum
Will we have time for anything else?

- If Jungfrau doesn’t look good for Tue, Jun 27th, will do hike to KS and Ballenberg on Tue, Jun 27th and do Jungfrau on Wed, Jun 28th.

- If Jungfrau doesn’t look good even on Wed, Jun 28th, will do ‘Mürren and the Schilthorn’ on Wed, Jun 28th
In this option, will we have time for anything else?

-Thu, Jun 29th
Check-out of apartment. Any suggestions to leave luggage (2 carry on bags with wheels)
Trümmelbach Falls - Train from Wengen to Lauterbrunnen. Take bus to TF.
Anything else we can do till 3 PM. Want to leave for Lucerne around 3 PM.
Leave for Lucerne.

- Fri, Jun 30th
Mount Titlis in the morning
Swiss Transport Museum in the afternoon.

- Sat, Jul 1st
Mount Rigi
Any suggestions for evening?

- Sun, Jul 2nd
Leave early morning for Zurich airport from Lucerne.

neckervd

June 27th: you may walk from Kleine Scheidegg to Maennlichen in the afternoon.

June 28th: Ballenberg may take a whole day. If not, add either the Aar Gorge walk,
or a gondola ride from Meiringen to Planplatten (panorama similar to that from Titlis),
or a boat ride from Brienz via Giessbach (stop over if you have time) to Interlaken.

June 29th: there are luggage lockers at Lauterbrunnen railway station. Trains to Lucerne run every hr until 19.33.

kleeblatt

June 28: I would add the Kleine Scheidegg to Maennlichen hike on your way down to Jungfraujoch, weather permitting.

Ballenberg is a long day.

June 30: Mount Titlis and Engleberg has enough to keep you busy the whole day. Don't rush it. I'd leave the Transport Museum for a rainy day.

Above all, be flexible. Have fun.

Dianedancer

So you really only have two days in the BO. I have to add my alltime favorite: Schynige Platte. Found it much more fun and interesting than the Schilthorn which is basically just a cable car trip. You can really walk around for miles at Schynige Platte if you like, up there in its mountains with brilliant vistas. Flower should be out too.
I recommend you check it out. Good for a 1/2 day sojourn.

kleeblatt

I also recommend Schynige Platte.

mokka4

Saturday, July 1st mid-afternoon/evening--- suggest nearby town of Zug IF you haven't already explored Lucerne-the town walls with four towers that can be climbed, the iconic Lion of Lucerne carving and both the Chapel and Spreuer Bridges...!

bakerstreet

Last summer we (two couples with teen daughters) went to the BO and wanted to maximize our time in the Alps so after a lot of research we figured out this demanding yet delightful itinerary. We had to do it out of Luzern so there was a 2-hour train ride each way at the start of the day and the end of the day YOU don't have to do; your day should be easier. I'm copying and pasting a post I put in someone else's string last year after our trip:



I'm back and we did it -- it was so incredible I posted the details in case anyone else is ever in Luzern and has only a day to devote to the Berner Oberland area and wants some tips on seeing as much as possible in a short time. I'm copying below that post in case anyone comes across this one and wants to know the outcome. So:

"Magical day seeing Berner Oberland area from Lucerne base"

I'm posting this because we had one -- ONE -- day to experience the Berner Oberland area and hit the highlights (including going to the Jungfraujoch) and we had to do it while based in Luzern, and it all worked beautifully for us so I'm sharing what we did in case it's helpful to anyone else.

I knew I wanted to do the hike PalenQ and others raved about -- the 90-minute walk from Mannlichen to Kleine Scheidegg and I knew we wanted to try to go to the Jungfraujoch; we had to figure out a route and fit it all in while going out of and back into Luzern on the same day. It worked. Here's what we did:

We (two families of three each, with our 17- and 18-year old daughters) took the 6:05 a.m. train from Luzern to Interlaken Ost, arriving around 8 a.m. Then we took a series of trains up the mountains, going via the Lauterbrunnen route, to Kleine Scheidegg where we got on the Jungfraubahn to the Top of Europe, arriving there around 10:30 a.m. (We stopped in the mountain tunnel one time, not two). We had plenty of time up top, went outside to see the lovely views and take photos, sampled champagne and hot chocolate at the Top of Europe, and then took either the 12:30 or 1 p.m. train out (I think they left every half-hour). We then made our way by train to Wengen. While our train was stopped for a few minutes in Kleine Scheidegg on the way to Wengen, we dashed to the outdoor bar and quickly ordered sandwiches, chips and drinks to go so we could have a picnic on our hike. We got back on the train with the bags of food and continued to Wengen, where we got off and took a gondola up to Mannlichen. I think the gondola ride took about 10 minutes and it was fun. At Mannlichen we began the 90-minute glorious walk to Kleine Scheidegg and enjoyed the spectacular scenery and easy downhill (mostly) stroll amid the spectacular scenery, wildflowers, snow-capped mountains and beautiful skies. We were lucky in that the trail, which had been closed just the week before, was open. That day was Friday, June 24 and we were some of the only people on the trail going our way. We passed maybe 10 other people going the opposite way, which was uphill most of the way and I was glad we were going downhill. I turned around a few times to see the view from the other direction, and I preferred the view going in our direction -- it was simply magnificent. We stopped partway down and enjoyed our picnic and the incomparable views.

When we arrived at Kleine Scheidegg again (our third time there that day, but necessary to do the hike in the direction we wanted), we boarded the train back down to Interlaken Ost but took the OTHER route, on the Grindelwald side, so we could see the other side. At one small train stop we got off of the train to hike down to the next station and see cows along the way -- that downhill hike was much, much steeper than we realized it would be, and the footing was more dangerous. It was also tough on aging backs. I probably would not do that again, but it was an interesting experience. At the next station we enjoyed a glass of wine at the local establishment while we waited for the next train down the mountain, and then arrived at Interlaken Ost in time to have a quick dinner in Interlaken before boarding the last train out to Luzern at 8 p.m., finally arriving back at our hotel in Luzern at 10:30 p.m.

It wasn't easy to figure out in advance what the best train pass/ticket situation would be, so I'll give the information we learned, again in case it helps anyone.

The night before we went to the Berner Oberland area, we went to the train station in Luzern to buy the train tickets. Because of brilliant help poster mokka4 had provided, I was able to suggest to the train ticket seller to look at the option of our buying half-fare cards, and that proved to be the key. We also did all travel by second class, and did not buy any seat reservations. The cost for my family of 3, including the half-fare card, for the entire day of travel (including the train to the Jungfraujoch), was somewhere around $850; just under $300 each. And because we bought the half-fare card, any other train travel was half-price (such as our trip to Zurich). The gondola in Wengen was something like $12 per person.

Note: you need passports for each half-fare card you buy. The people don't all have to be present in the train station ticket office when buying the half-fare cards, but the passports do. And you need to have the half-fare card on you when you are traveling on the train. You can buy a half-price ticket at the vending machines in the station without showing the half-fare card, so when you're on the train and the ticket collector comes along asking for your ticket, he (and they were always "he") will usually want to see your half-fare card as well.

If you're headed to that area and want to see the Berner Oberland but don't have multiple days, know you can see quite a lot in just one!

mokka4

Glad you were able to experience SO much in just one day! (And thanks for the shout-out!)