My wife and I are planning our first trip to Switzerland and would like to spend most of our time in Gimmelwald. We would like to see most of the local sights. Possibly spend a night or two in Murren. We want to go in mid September of 2009. We have tried relaxing "beach" vacations but have realized we get bored quick. Neither one of us have ever been to Europe. So I guess I am looking for basic suggestions at this point in the planning. Finding our options and figuring out where and how long we want to go.
Thanks
J

Hi jlm43,

I don't really think that Gimmelwald would be a perfect spot for your first trip to Europe -- it's really just a few buildings put together along a mountain. There are some villages that are more complete (some shopping and dining options) while still having awesome views and hiking and adventure options. Wengen is one such village, and Mürren (which you mention already) is another.

Also, you don't need to switch bases from Gimmelwald and Mürren as they are only about 20-30 minutes apart. It would be a better use of time to use one as a base and day-trip to the other.

How many nights will you have in Switzerland in total? Will you be flying into/out of Zürich?

Here is a site where you can begin to get information on this area:

www.myjungfrau.ch

The Swiss rail site is here:

www.rail.ch
(remember to use the European format for the date and time)

Let us know as your plans progress, and we may be able to help you more!

s

Hi jlm43,

Just a bit of advice, travel in Switzerland by public transportation (trains, etc.) is easy and the best way to go in my opinion. We used a Swiss Pass for our travel in Switzerland.

Here's a link to the different passes for travel in Switzerland:

http://www.swisstravelsystem.ch/en/c...ts/swiss-pass/

While we haven't been to Gimmelwald, we have stayed in Wengen in the Berner Oberland and loved it there.

www.wengen.com


A couple of our favorite places (along with Wengen) are:

Luzern
www.luzern.org/en/welcome.cfm

Zermatt (and the Matterhorn)
www.zermatt.ch

We loved the Gornergrat mountain train trip from here.
www.gornergrat.ch/home

Hope this helps get you started.

Paul

Paul, may I ask where in Wengen you stayed? I am currently trying to decide between the Caprice hotel and the Baeusite.

Hi azh111,

We stayed at the Hotel Eiger, which is no longer a hotel. It is now an apartment/condo.
Sorry I couldn't be of help.

Paul

All these tips are helping me out quite a bit. I think we may try a couple of villages in the valley. Maybe one night in Lauterbrunnen. thanks and please keep them coming.

I wholeheartedly agree with Swandav - if you get bored on a beach, you'll be bored to tears in Gimmelwald. I suggest you stay elsewhere and visit Gimmelwald for a few hours.

If you stay in Murren, you can just walk down the hill to Gimmelwald. If you stay in Lauterbrunnen, you can take the bus or walk to Stechelberg (sp), then take the cable car to Gimmelwald and walk or take another cable car to Murren, then back down to Lauterbrunnen via train and the new cable car, making a loop. Or vice versa.

You might also get restless in Murren, as it's a small, quiet alpine village, but personally, it's one of my favorites.

You really can't go wrong staying in Grindelwald, Wengen, Lauterbrunnen or Murren. You can get from one village to the other easily, so it's quite possible to base yourself in one village and visit the other villages as day trips. A train pass of some sort really comes in handy if you plan to do this.

While I also would be bored with a beach only vacation, I was not bored with our trip to the B.O. area of Switzerland for about 3-4 days because I like to hike and the trails provide a variety of scenery combined with fun rail and gondola rides.

Agree with those above that you only need one base in the area though some of the loop trips on rail etc. will take you all day. There are many posts on this board that explain why different people prefer each of the villages. Gimmelwald is the smallest/sleepiest in the area, so might not suit you.

I do not know the weather in the area in September. We were there in late May/early June and experienced a full day of cold snow and the rest glorious warm sunshine. Just be prepared for the changeable weather of high altitude mountains.

I would suggest Wengen or Lauterbrunnen for your base. Wengen is a car free and high up while Lauterbrunnen is in the valley. It's all connected with trains and cable cars. For me the BO is the most beautiful part of Europe. If the weather is good it is stunning and affords many opportunities for some gorgeous walks and hikes. 3 or 4 days is more than enough time howeer. Consisder adding on to your trip to Switzerland with a city like Bern or Lucerne.

I should probably clarify. We get bored from staying "on" the beach all day. We lived on Maui for 2 years and never got bored going to the beach. We snorkeled 90% of the time at the beach. We love being outside, hiking and seeing new sights. We took a 2 week vacation in Mexico. There was not much to do or see at the resort and that is where we got bored. The reason I was looking at Gimmelwald was because it is quiet. During the day, we will be out and about most of the time. We would like to stay in a B&B type of place. Not a hostel or a motel. Any recommendations? I think Murren and Gimmelwald are still our first choices.

What time frame would be recommended? We are open from late August to late September.

HI jlm43,

We stayed 4 nights in Wengen and could have stayed longer. We were there in mid October and loved it, so I'd go with late September. Just my opinion and preference. While it was mildly busy during the day (I assumed it was because Wengen is on the way to/from the Jungfraujoch), it was very quiet in the evening and morning. If you "love being outside", there's probably no better place to be than the BO. I would also look into spending a couple of nights in Luzern.

Paul

If you want a B&B and not a hostel, then consider Chalet Fontana in Mürren.

The whole area offers fantastic hiking opportunities, and Mürren makes a great base. It is "almost" as quiet as Gimmelwald.

I want to thank everyone for there posts. As of now, my wife and I are planning on spending our nights in Murren. We will be going sometime in mid September. We will probably hold of on airfare and accomodations for now. When the time gets closer we will confirm a date. Now I just need to stop looking at pictures on the internet and go take my own. This is my first time using this site and everyone here has helped me out quite a bit.
Thanks again
Jared

Excellent choice. I will repeat my recommendtion for Chalet Fontana. The owner, a charming Englishwoman, runs a B&B upstairs and rents out the ground floor as an apartment. It is well situated right in the center of Mürren.

We have enjoyed nice dinners at several of the hotels around Mürren, but we've never stayed anywhere but Chalet Fontana. Not fancy, but comfortable and affordable.

And you will get some fantastic photographs all around the region. Hve fun.

Swiss Passes cover you in full to Murren and Gimmelwald from Interlaken - including the two fabulous thrilling aerial cable ways that swoosh you up a few thousand feet from the valley floor to the top - about the only such aerial cableways covered in full by a Swiss Pass (most are 50% off) because they actually go to a city - thus a Swiss Pass can be valuable just getting up and down - for lots of Swiss trains and passes- swisstravelsystem.com - also covers scenic trains and lake boats with links - www.ricksteves.com and http://www.budgeteuropetravel.com/id3.html

Swiss passes are sold in Switzerland - prices at sbb.ch but currently they are significantly higher than the same pass sold in the U.S. - and have been for a few years - at least the last time i checked a few weeks ago. Consecutive-day passes are the best deal per day - but the flexipass, good for a maximum of one month gives you a certain number of 100% travel days and then in between 50% off everything - trains, boats, all gondolas, etc.

There are great excursions to take from any Berner Oberland base - like down to Interlaken and hop lake boats on Lake Thun (fantastic if clear and the glacier-girdled Jungfrau Massif is out in all its glory - get off at a lake shore town like Spiez and take the train back to Interlaken

Or Lake Brienz - go down to Interlaken and hop the boats on Lake Brienz - a fjord-like lake on its southern side and steam over to Brienz - hop a postal bus to the famous Ballenberg Open-Air Museum, where old farm edifices have been relocated in a sweet meadow setting overlooking the lake below - very popular place and then bus to Meiringen (Sherlock Holmes Museum - Reichenbach Falls where Dr Moriarity tangled to the death with Sherlock and then quickly train back to Interlaken-Wengen-Murren, etc. All transport 100% covered by a Swiss Pass and since the pass gets you in free to over 400 Swiss Museums if it's a 100% covered travel day the pass will cover the about $20 museum entrance fee as well.

So much to do in the Berner Oberland - so little time!

I live at the beach, so my tolerance for doing nothing is very high, but I got bored in Murren in a couple of days, mainly because the high rocky, glacial peaks are much more static to look at than the lakes and valleys of Switzerland. I booked for 4 days and decamped for Spiez on the third.

I did enjoy eating at the Chinese restaurant in Murren (I got REALLY bored with Swiss food, except for rosti with eggs, which I could probably eat forever).

http://www.ballenberg.ch/en/Welcome

Ballenberg Open-Air Museum overlooking Lake Brienz

Another unique loop from any BOB base, like Wengen or Murren or Grindelwald is to head over to Grindelwald and hop the Grindelwald Bus - that climbs a narrow path to the eastern lip of the Grindelwald amphitheater - at Grosse Scheidegg from where it descends through the Rosenlaui valley of huge boulders and huge pine trees to Schwarzwarderalp (sp?) - known for its especially cute cows and then down via Reichenbach Falls to Meiringen.

This bus ride is awesome by any means. From Meiringen you can go to Brienz and Ballenberg and then hop a lake boat back to Interlaken Ost for trains back into the mountains where you started from.

All covered by a Swiss Pass except the Grindelwald Bus - one of the few in the country not covered - but not extremely expensive either.

also in the Meiringen area is the famous Glacier Gorge that you walk thru on catwalks - a narrow high gorge with a river running thru it - catwalks built over the river - there is an inter-urban type train running to a station near its entrance from Meiringen (Swiss Passes valid for train and i think for gorge entry fee).

Aare Gorge Innertkirchen Nature Tiscover
Already glaciers used to dig deep incisions into the valley. In the many thousands of years ... Contact - skip. Aareschlucht 3862 Innertkirchen, Switzerland ...
http://www.tiscover.ch/ch/guide/5ch,...../intern.html