Is Bern a good base for seeing the Bernese Oberland?
 

We have set up that we'll be in Geneva for 3 days touring the Lake and probably Montreax and Lausanne.

But then I wanted to see Lucerne and towns like Grindenwald and Interlaken. Do you think Bern is a good base to see these cities and towns? If not, where else would you stay? If we stayed lets say in Interlaken it would take longer to get to Lucerne. What do you suggest? And what hotels do you recommend?

I stayed in Bern for three days and although it is a very pleasant small city; it is also a very boring small city. There are no majestic Alps visible from the city and just very little to do. For the BO I would stay in Wengen or Murren. I stayed in Wengen at the Hotel Bellevue which is owned by a very nice husband and wife. Buffet breakfast is great, the views from the guest room terraces are fantastic and the prices are modest. I would not stay anywhere else in the BO region. Here is their website:
http://www.bellevue-wengen.ch/e/
From Wengen you can take the cog trains and gondolas to all the mountain villages you mention and more.

Interlaken: This is a very nice city but I would never stay there as a base for the BO either. So close and yet so far from the great BO scenery. This town is more of a transportation hub (rail) for getting trains that climb much higher into the Alps.

Have a great trip whatever you decide.

Larry J

I would stay in either Interlaken or Lucerne - both much closer to the mountains and more to see in themselves. Bern is good for about 3 hours - then you'll spend a lot of time dribing to where you really want to be.

On one of our trips to Switzerland, we stayed in Interlaken. We stayed at the Hotel Carlton. It is a 3 star hotel that was very nice and within walking distance of the Interlaken-Ost railway station. We did day trips to Berne and the Jungfraujoch. We loved the Jungfrau area so much we returned two years later and stayed in Wengen.

We stayed in Montreux on one trip and visted Geneva, Lausanne, Gruyeres and Broc. We all still talk about our excursion to Gruyeres.

Have fun!

I liked Bern very much. Used it as a base to see the lakes of Neuchatel, Biel and Murten, toured the city of Bern itself and also day tripped to Grindelwald/Kleine Scheidegg. Spent five nights in Bern and don't regret it!

In your case I think Bern is too far from the Bernese Oberland. Depending on your available time I recommend to stay in Interlaken enroute to Lucerne (if only one or two nights) and do a day trip to the mountains - or, if you have three nights or more, go up to the mountains and stay in either Grindelwald, Wengen or Mürren.

Let us know where you will stay and we will come up with suggestions on hotels.

Ingo

It is a little far from Bern to the beste views, well over an hour's train ride.Bern to Wengen is closer to 2 hours with a couple of changes.

Bern is a small city and can be seen well in a full day.

If you want the mountains in full view there are closer places.

Wengen is one; Mürren is another. Lauterbrunnen is on the floor of the valley, but it is close to several transportation links that take you higher.

Grindelwald is the largest of the villages immediately south of Interlaken and it has many facilities for tourism.

I think any of the 4 would serve better as a base for up close and on the scene mounain viewing.

It's true, you can see all of Bern in a day. We stayed the day and overnighted at Hotel Goldener Schlussel (sp.?). It's a basic hotel near the clock tower.
Bern doesn't have too much to see really just the bear pit, the clock tower, some shopping. It's a very small city.
So I don't think it'll be so good as a base for your other trips.

The small, but popular, town of Brienz has views of the mountains, its lake, and is 90 minutes from Lucerne and an hour from Grindelwald by train. (You can also visit Bern and Thun and Ballenberg.) If you'd like to stay in a village to contrast with Geneva, you might want to consider it. It does receive a lot of daytrippers, but during the day, you'll be tripping on your own. J.

We visited Bern twice on day-trips and found it very interesting, but I think in the two days we saw almost everything. There is a nice public garden above the bear pits, and a decent art museum, particularly if you like the work of Paul Klee. We were fortunate in that during one of our days there they had a race with, it seemed, thousands of runners. That gave the town a festival appearance, with even a dixieland oom pah pah band.