vibhav

Reposting this thread as I had the wrong tag earlier and kept wondering why I only got two responses ...

Fodorites,

Having extensively read trip reports and planning threads of a lot of the fodorites, I think I have some kind of a sembelance of an itinerary ... Need your help to fine tune, comment and critique this itinerary... I am adding in my Czech days just for reference.. Will set up a different thread for the details for that portion.

We are two adults with our 5 year old son. So looked for relatively easy and 2-3 hour hikes and activities in BO... Also, I am an avid photographer and we are making this trip especially for our 10th anniversary... So looking to spend some leisure time in BO and do not want to hurry through it too much ...

Here is the itinerary with the overnight city listed in (parentheses) followed by the activity planned for the day

21-Jun, Monday, (Prague) Prague City
22-Jun, Tuesday, (Prague) Prague City
22-Jun, Wednesday, (Prague) Prague City
23-Jun, Thursday, (Prague) Prague City
24-Jun, Friday,(Cesky Krumlov) Train/Bus to Cesky in AM
25-Jun, Saturday,(Cesky Krumlov) Canoeing and Cesky Town

26-Jun,Sunday, (Murren)
Shuttle Bus to Linz, then train to Zurich and onto Lauterbrunnen. Reach Murren by 10 PM
--27-Jun, Monday, (Murren)
AM - Cable Car to Schilthorn;
PM - Walk to Gimmelwald and hike to Kilchbalm; Take cable car down to Stechelberg,
Dinner in Lauterbrunnen
--28-Jun,Tuesday, (Murren)
AM - Almendhubel and Hike Back
PM - Grustchalp to Murren walk via Winteregg
--29-Jun, Wednesday, (Murren)
AM - Bike ride through Gimmelwald, and Stechelberg to Lauterbrunnen, Trummelbach falls
PM: Explore Lauterbrunnen; headover to Wengen
--30-Jun, Thursday, (Wengen)
AM - Trip to Jungfrau
PM - Cable car upto Mannlichen, Hike to Kleine Scheidegg, Explore Wengen town during dinner time
--1-Jul, Friday,(Wengen)
AM - Train to Grindelwald, Gondola to First and hike to Bachalpsee
PM - Explore Grindelwald
-- 2-Jul,Saturday,(Wengen)
Flex Day for additional BO or Day trip to Interlaken, Thun and paddle boat on the Thun lake
--3-Jul,Sunday, (Zermatt)
Train to Zermatt; Cable car to Rothorn
--4-Jul, Monday, (Chur)
Sunrise with Matterhorn
Glacier Express to Chur;
--5-Jul, Tuesday (Zurich)
Bernina Express to Bernina Ospizio and back to Chur
Train back to Zurich
--6-Jul,Wednesday, Fly back from Zurich

So fodorites, please fire away ...
Here are some of our concerns and questions

- Staying at both Murren and Wengen? Is that a good idea? We could not decide so decided to stay on both sides of the valley so that we have no regrets... I know that 90% of the Fodorite reports that I have read stayed in Wengen... Are there any Murren fans or better still anyone stayed in both and can compare them for us?

- Any other easy hikes with great rewards?

- We are mising a Chocolate and A Cheese Tour. Can anyone suggest which one and where we can squeeze one in in this vicinity?

- Are there any other kid friendly activities in this area that I missed out on in my research?

- ANy feedback on the Aare Gorge near Meringinen? We have seen the Vintgar gorge in Slovenia and I have seen the Liechtenstein Gorge in Austria ... Both of which were gorgeous with the AUstrian gorge being so classic and amazing ... Not sure how the Aare gorge compares?

- We are staying only one night in Zermatt because I have to, have to see the Matterhorn. I know my chances are slim of seeing it free of clouds, but I do not want to short change BO to increase a day in Zermatt. What say?

- Glacier Express? Reading the posts, I realize that it is overhyped. But it is pretty and worth doing still, right? I have been trying to squeeze in the Bernina Express from Chur to Bernina Ospizio and back to Chur. Is the last day squeeze going to become too much along with Glacier express prior day?.

All help will be much appreciated!!

I realize that this is very long post and I have asked many many questions ... I have so many more, LOL!!

abbydog

Hi! This itinerary is pretty overwhelming, but I can comment on the Glacier Express -- loved it! Mainly because the historic and social commentary on the headphones they provide was so interesting -- lots of information on what we saw out the window. Also enjoyed the food.

vibhav

Thanks abbydog ... May I ask, why do you find the itinerary overwhelming? Is it becasue the itinerary itself is too packed and overwhelming? Or is it because I have too much detail listed there to read through and the formatting does not allow me to highlight things?

Ingo

Ok, good you reposted this with tag "Switzerland".

First off, I think four full days in Prague exploring the city is a bit too long. I hope you have an excursion to somewhere outside the city borders planned for at least one day.

Are you sure about the arrival in Mürren 10 pm? The latest connection from Linz that I saw was 10.51 am from Linz, arrival 8.21 pm in Mürren.

Mürren or Wengen ... I personally think it is a win-win situation but favour Wengen as it is a bit larger, offers more diversity and IMO the better views (subjective, of course) and also evening sun (I love to relax on the balcony after the day's activities, or in the spa).

27 June: The hike to Kilchbalm could be a bit too long for the pm, especially if you want to add the detour to Lauterbrunnen afterward. And what's the point about dinner there?

28 June: Why do you hike back from Allmendhubel to Mürren? Why not hiking from Allmendhubel directly to Grütschalp? It's easy, scenic, many blooming wildflowers along the way.

29 June: forget the bike ride down to Stechelberg - really steep downhill. Not recommended for kids. Exploring Lauterbrunnen? That's done in about 10 minutes.

30 June: I did it the other way around: cable car to Männlichen, hike to Kleine Scheidegg, up to Jungfraujoch. That's the logical order I'd say. With your plan, how do you want to get down to Wengen? Again with the cog-train like from Jungfraujoch? That means riding the same train a couple of times that day.

5 July: Go as far as Alp Grüm, get off the train there - the best views. Thus take a regional train as the Express trains don't stop there. Also, for the ride to Zürich don't go through Chur, change in Pontresina to the train for Scuol and catch the train through the Vereina tunnel, via Klosters to Landquart where you catch the train to Zürich. Different route, different scenery, doesn't take much longer.

Buy chocolate at the stores - no need for a tour IMO. Lindt are the sweetest, Cailler IMO is the best of the famous brands. Cheese - the same, buy in the grocery. Local Alp cheese is always a good choice, classics are Gruyere (surchoix prefered), Emmentaler (milder), Hobelkäse (maybe your hotel will have some).

Zermatt is a detour, yes. But even without seeing the Matterhorn I'd try to do it. The Glacier Express is ok, quite long to sit on the train and the kids will probably be bored out of their mind. On the other hand ... you can say "I did it" later.

abbydog

Sorry about calling the itinerary overwhelming! I meant it was for me to read, not for you to do. Just couldn't digest it all but the Glacier Express caught my eye. Also, re: the last comment about the kids being bored out of their minds on the train, could be true! I guess it depends on the kids....

mish42

Hello: We travelled to the B.O area with 2 kids aged 5 & 7 a few years ago. Just a few comments; First you have to be flexible in your plans because the weather doesn't always cooperate. We had a good amount of rain in early July! After one rainy day, when we heard the next day was to be clear, we planned our trip to Jungfraujoch to catch the clear day. good thing we did. Only real clear day while we were there! Also, if your child needs a break, my husband took the kids to the public swimming pool in Murren and they had fun. Also, there is this great big outdoor type museum/park place called Ballenberg near Brienz. A little ways from Murren or Wengen, but if you have bad weather, it may be clear at lower elevation and you could visit this place. Pretty interesting even for adults. I can't explain, but research it. Lots of demonstrations of Swiss handicrafts in examples of all kinds of Swiss housing. Lastly, there was a "kids" walk that starts at the top of the funicular ride in Murren and goes back down to the town. Very easy, but nice views and little stops for kids. Hope some of this helps. Just all the cable car rides, trains, cog wheels, etc. are lots of fun for kids!

vibhav

Ingo ... Appreciate the detailed feedback

For Prague, That was a typo by me ... On the first day Monday, 21 Jun, we are reaching Prague late in the evening, not before 10 PM .. So we will have 3 full days in Prague .. Do you think that is too much also? For a smaller town. Countryside trip, we will be in Cesky Krumlov for 2 nights and almost 2 days ... Anything else you would recommend? I will be posting a separate thread for Czech once I do my research ..

For the reaching at Muerren, I agree that I see the connections reaching us there at 8: 51 Pm ... But some of the connections are allowing only 6 minutes of changeover that also need a change of platform .. Like the one in Interlaken ... So we were not sure if we will be able to make those type of connections in time with luggage and a kid ... So we were just allocating more time to catch subsequent train in case we have to

We are not able to decide on Muerren vs Wengen either, so we are leaning towards splitting our time so that we are not left with the regrets that we liked the one that we chose not to stay in ... With 7 nights to split and not a large distance to travel when changing accommodations, we are contemplating splitting our time ...

27 June: The hike to Kilchbalm, if it is long like you say, we can just plan for dinner in Muerren ... Had just put the Lauterbrunnen dinner as a placeholder, not anything concrete set in stone for us

28 June: So I do not know which hike to do back from Almendhubel ... if as you say, the hike back to Grustchalp is the nicer and easier one, we will just plan on doing that

29 June: Ok, yeah it seems like a lot of folks are recommending against the bike ride down to Stechelberg ... So we will drop that ,...We want to do atleast one half day of biking ... easy leisure biking ... Will Lauterbrunnen to Stechelberg be a good bike route ? Any other suggestions for easy bike routes from either Wengen or Muerren or LAuterbrunnen? We will try to get a trailer for my son that can be hitched behind my bike, that is how we do bike tours in the US ...
And for LAuterbrunnen, it is not even worth for a stroll in the evening before and after dinner? Since we are not staying there and a lot of people do, we thought that might be good for an evening stroll

30 June: Yeah, we have seen that most people do the hike from Mannlichen to Kleine Scheidegg and then the trip to Jungfraujoch ... We were just thinking of doing the trip up to the summit first as everyone mentioned to do it as early in the AM as possible ... and then as we have the leisure of time, we thought we will do the hike later ... I am an avid photographer and if that hike is as pretty as everyone raves, hurrying through that hike to get to the summit as early as possible, will not be something I will be happy with ... That is why I was thinking of separating the two ...

5 July: Thanks a lot for the suggestion of Alp Grum and it having the best views ... Will definitely do that .. Is that before Bernina Ospizio ... I did not see Alp Grum listed as a stop on the regional trains route for any and every route unless I put it as a Via Point ...So I will have to look specifically for a regional train that stops at Alp Grum? Maybe I am looking at it wrong ... Also at Alp Grum or for Bernina, once we get off at the station how far does one go to get good views, what are the points of key attractions there? We will have all our luggage there so will have to figure out how to get to the views with the luggage

For the route you suggested through Scuol, Landquart and then onto Zurich, will that involve changing trains at all these stations ... That will be our final day so we will have all our luggage with us ..> so not sure how much we will be able to change trains ... Would love to hop trains and go through a different scenery if it was not for the luggage ...

Thanks for the chocolate and cheese suggestions ... We will definitely be looking to shop locally ... Looking for a casual tour only for my son’s curiosity ... We might just pop into a couple of working farms and request to see them at work ...

And for the Glacier Express, yes we are getting torn whether to do it or not ... Seems overhyped from all the reviews but pretty none the less ... Reviews from everyone says Bernina is much better ... But getting to Chur from Zermatt is either on GE or the roundabout route through Zurich ... Since it is covered by Swisspass, we figured might as well do the GE ...

vibhav

Mish42 ... Yes, we are planning to be flexible in our plans for the weather ... Just putting placeholders in our itinerary for now so that we can keep track of the half day activities that we want to do ... Traveling with kids teaches you more flexibility than anything else can, as I am sure you have experienced yourself  ...

We are looking forward to the public swimming pool in Muerren as well ... How did you all enjoy staying in Muerren? Any regrets about not staying in Lauterbrunnen or Grindlewald or Wengen?

The Ballenberg outdoor museum we might squeeze in on our flex day down near Interlaken ...

The kids walk at top of the funicular ride in Muerren, is that the one to Almendhubel or is it another one that I am not aware of?

vibhav

Abbydog, I agree, I have put in quite a bit of detail as I wanted to be prepared and not leave it very open for everyone to have to re-create the wheel ... But it is definitely a lot to go through .. I appreciate everyone contributing like they are ... Taking your cue, I will probably post some specific questions in separate threads, leaving this one open for itinerary day by day feedback ..

And yes, for my son, the train ride is itself very fascinating, but I will have to be armed with smalls games and books to keep him occupied ...

Ingo

3 full days in Prague are ok, especially with your son who will slow down the sightseeing speed. Make sure you spend much time in the parks and gardens with your kid. More on Prague once you started a separate thread.

My concern about reaching Mürren is that if you miss the 10.51 train in Linz you won't get to Mürren that day at all.

As for Mürren vs. Wengen - I'd research accommodation in both. If you find the perfect place to stay in one of them then go with it. It is really a win-win situation. But splitting time and changing acc. makes no sense IMO.

27/28/29 June: The hikes will sure depend on how much more time you must calculate with your son compared to the 'normal' hikers. Also, it depends on the weather, of course. I think Lauterbrunnen is nothing special, just walking through is enough - it's basically a main street with houses lined up along this street. Coming from Stechelberg you'll walk through to get to the gondola for Grütschalp (to Mürren) anyway. The restaurants in Lauterbrunnen are ok, nothing fancy or memorable - you can have as good meals in Mürren, too.

Have you ever had a look at the panoramic maps or topography of the region? There are few relatively flat stretches that are good for biking. Yes, you can bike from Stechelberg to Lauterbrunnen (and back) but it's quite short, about a half hour if you're slow. For a real bike trip go down to the lakes around Interlaken.

30 June: But you do realise it makes no sense in that order? Why don't you do the hike from Kleine Scheidegg to Männlichen then, after coming down from Jungfraujoch, and take the cable car down to Wengen? Btw, during high season the hike can be awfully crowded. The trail is in parts quite narrow and with a kid that can be annoying (to let others pass). I am not sure this is a *must* in your case. Maybe you can spend that time somewhere else. For example, if you stick with your original plan you could just walk up to Männlichen top and back, then take the cable car down to Wengen again. Skip the hike. The views are best from Männlichen top anyway.

5 July: Well, having all your luggage with you is of course a problem. Didn't think of that. Did you check if you can send it forward to Zürich from Chur and pick it up that evening at the main station? Or that they deliver it to your hotel? I know the Swiss Railways offer that service but I am not sure if it works within one day.

If not, I would not want to drag it with me all day. Store it in Chur and go with the original route you planned. Pick it up in Chur after returning from Bernina excursion.

Alp Grüm is a stop on ALL regional trains. It is the next stop after Ospizio Bernina. You just get off the train and enjoy the views - there's a nice restaurant with terrace there, good for lunch. Go to www.rail.ch and enter "Alp Grüm" as TO from Chur.

I.

Ingo

Oops, I forgot: during the Bernina excursion you'll pass the station Morteratsch - only 100 m from the train station is a cheese making place - I loved it. They make cheese in the mornings and early afternoon. So, maybe for the trip back from Alp Grüm take also a regional train and get off there. Spend an hour and hop on the next train.

vibhav

Thanks a lot Ingo ... We are starting to wonder if doing the GE and then Bernina Express next day will be too much .. Staying one night in Zermatt, then one night in Chur then one night in Zurich, might be too much esp with a kid ... So we are thinking of leaving Bernina for another time, increase one day in BO and then go to Zermatt for one night ... On last day, take the GE to Chur and then regional train to Zurich ...

For Murren, yes we are stressed about the Linz 10:51 AM train as well .. We have triple confirmed with Shuttle LObo that they run on time and will plan to reach us Linz ttrain station by 10:15 AM allowing enough time ... Not sure what else we can do ...

For our bike ride, we are also contemplating Muerren to Grustchallp and then back ... We just want to do an easy leisure bike ride for 2-4 hours ...

Point noted for the KS to Mannlichen walk ... We will make changes in our itinerary accordingly ...

vibhav

Any other feedback on the itinerary ?? Are we missing anything from an easy hikes and easy activties to do ??


ANy feedback on the Aare Gorge near Meringinen? We have seen the Vintgar gorge in Slovenia and I have seen the Liechtenstein Gorge in Austria ... Both of which were gorgeous with the AUstrian gorge being so classic and amazing ... Not sure how the Aare gorge compares?

tipsygus

If you want a chocolate tour the Restaurant Schue in Interlaken offers a chocolate experience it last just under an hour and last year cost 14 swiss francs with a voucher for I think 8 or 10 francs to spend in their shop. You could always check their website.

mnag

Vibhav, just wanted to drop a quick thank you note for your post. I've just started researching our 5/6 day trip to the area and your post had a load of useful information in terms of things to do etc.

vibhav

Thanks tipsygus ... I looked into the Schue tour in the evenings .. It does look very interesting ..

mnag ... I am glad I could help while seeking help ... the forums posts are indeed very valuable to be able to generate an itinerary without having to ask the same questions again ...

mish42

vibhav:

For some reason I can't locate my notes about our trip, but the kids walk I referred to starts at the top of the funicular that goes from the middle of Murren town up a little bit. The walk is off to the left, past a little playground and winds down right back into Murren. A nice stroll with some views. We were happy staying in Murren mostly because we had a great room for our family of 4 with a balcony & magnificient views across to the big 3 mountains. It was sometimes a pain to have to go down to Lauterbrunnen and then up to Wengen to do some of the things, but I guess you'd have to do the same if you were on the other side and wanted to do stuff out of Murren. Murren definitely was a quiet town with not a lot of shops or activities. In Lauterbrunnen you can take a bus to some incredible glacier waterfall that has an elevator going up to the different levels and stairs around it. Again, can't remember the name, but pretty incredible and kids found it "awesome". We did hike/walk Mannlichen to KS in rainy/misty day so not much views. May be a lot for a kid to do that and Jungfraujoch on same day. But you know your kid best. Still trying to find my notes/book.

PalenQ

marking for later comment.

vibhav

Mish42.. thanks a lot for trying to dig up the notes ... I am finding some info on the funicular that rides up to Almendhubel and then you can walk down to Murren .. I think that is the same one with the kids playground ... We are planning to split our days - 3 in Murren and 5 in Wengen as we know that we want to stay in both the towns and be satisfied ... And 5 days will allow us to split up the Jungfrau trip from the Mannlichen - KS hike ... Thankns a lot for taking the time to reply ..

PalenQ .. Waiting eagerly.. whenever you get the time to respond, much appreciated!!

Ingo

Yes, of course it is an option to skip the Bernina excursion and do it on a later trip. Probably a good idea as the whole region there offers a lot and deserves more than just a day trip on the train. This would also give you better chances to actually *see* the Matterhorn.

I don't understand why you're so set on a bike ride for 2-4 hours. Play it by ear. Other things sure have priority IMO and since the weather certainly will not co-operate every day you'll have to skip one or the other activity anyway.

No idea about the Aare gorge. Not interested, never been. From what I have heard it is quite impressive, though.