Jungfrau or Zermatt?
 

We are planning for a 4 day layover in Switzerland. Which should we do Bernese Oberland or Zermatt? We have 2 children (13 and 10)to consider, any suggestions? Also places to stay at either location?

You can do both. Stay in Interlaken or Lauterbrennan for the Jungfrau--we were at Hotel Weisses Kruez in Interlaken (you can access information on the Interlaken home page). Several people on the forum have recommended Lauterbrennan and hopefully they will answer you. Zermatt is fun and the view of the Matterhorn is very nice. We didn't stay there, just spent the day. I loved Interlaken & the trip up the Jungfrau.

I also support the previous post that you should be there both!

We stayed two nights in Wengen with our three children and all had a wonderful time. I suggest you park your car (or take the train) in the Lauterbrunnen Valley and take one of the trains up the steep sides of the valley to either Wengen or Murren, both car-free towns. From either one you can do more train trips further up the mountains and/or lots of hiking. If strenuous hikes aren't for you, take the train up (or partway up) and hike down, or just hike around and then train back down. You'll see stupendous scenery all around you! <BR> <BR>If you have lots of money, you can take the train up the Jungfraujoch (sp?). If you do this, wear all your layers, including jackets. <BR> <BR>I haven't been to Zermatt--hope to remedy that on my next trip to Switzerland!

Easy and sure answer ... the Jungrau region is by far the most enjoyable. <BR> <BR>Suggest, though, that you do not stay in Interlaken. If you want mountains, as I assume from your question, go into the mountain interior. (Interlaken is not in the mountains, it's about 10 miles from them.) Wengen is a good choice, Muerren even better. <BR> <BR>The Jungfrau trip is good, but very expensive for a family of four, and not, we think, the best trip. Our vote for that would go to the Schilthorn. <BR> <BR>You'll find much helpful information on planning your trip at the following (and the pages linked from them): <BR> <BR>www.twenj.com/bovisit.htm <BR>www.twenj.com/swmountaintrips.htm <BR>www.twenj.com/swissdest2.htm#Zermatt <BR> <BR>Ed <BR>

I have spent a couple of weeks in the Lauterbrunnen valley and enjoyed it so much that we are going back again this year. In terms of activity, Grindelwald has more going on, but it is also what I woudl call "touristy". Murren is a very pleasent place, as others have said, that is perched on the west side of the valley, about 1,500 feet above the floor. <BR>Lauterbrunnen is essentially a one street village that is full of apartments, hotels, and a youth hostel. <BR>You see many young men and women on the streets clustered around the stores. <BR>I stay there because we found a great apartment with free parking at the door. <BR>It is easy to go somewhere else from Lauterbrunn, which we do every day when we are there. <BR>The Jungfraujoch ride is expensive!! I took it once, but the cost makes me consider other options before doing it again. The Schilthorn ride is not cheap, either. From Stechelberg, the undiscounted price is 86.60 CHF, about $53 at today's exchange rate. You can save a little bit by going early and taking advantage of the "Good Morning" fare. The first car goes up before 8 AM. <BR>You will I am sure hear about various passes. In 4 days, you would have to take the most expensive rides every day and ride all day to amortize the cost of a pass. There is the Berner Oberland Regional Pass, but I figured that you would have to take the Schynige Platte trip, the Grindelwald to First Gondola, the Schilthorn trip, and the Jungfraujoch trip in 3 days to break even. (You get 3 days of "free" travel on a 7 day pass, but the last stage of the Schilthorn trip and the last stage of the Jungfrau trip are never free; the best you can do is a 50% reduction on an already steeply priced ticket. The costs seemed to rise as steeply as the landscape.) <BR>I think you would also like Zermatt. <BR>Part of the difficulty you face is in getting there and back from the Interlaken area. To reach Zermatt from Interlaken by car, you would journey to Kandersteg. There, you drive onto the train ferry through the Lotschenberg Tunnel to Goppenstein on the Rhone Valley side of the range. From Goppenstein you drive down the mountain side to the Rhone itself. Turn left in the direction of Brig and Visp. <BR>At Visp you turn south toward Stalden and Taesch. Unless you are a VIP, you park in the big lot at Taesch and take the train into Zermatt. <BR>There are several impressive, if somewhat expensive mountain rides in Zermatt. I like the train that chugs up the glacial ridge called the Gornergrat to the end station. There is a hotel and restaurant there, usually jammed with people, with a terrace where you can view Monte Rosa and the huge glaciers that flow from its flanks. <BR>The Matterhorn, Weisshorn, Rothorn, and a host of other peaks are visible on a clear day. These are the highest mountains in Switzerland and arguably the most impressive. (I know I can touch off an argument here.) But there are far more peaks over 4,000 meters in elevation around Zermatt than there are around Grindelwald. <BR> <BR>The Dom, which is the highest peak entirely in Switzerland is 4,545 meters, nearly 15,000 feet, and the peaks of Monte Rosa are over 15,000 above sea level, making both of them considerably higher than the Finsteraarhorn which at 4273.9 meters is the highest peak of the Berner Oberland. (The Jungfrau is 4158 meters.) <BR> <BR>I don't have any suggestions for places to stay. Hotels in that region are not cheap, so paying well over $100 a night for 4 people is the norm. Good luck in your planning.

Excellent info. from the above. Grindlewald is lovely - we've been twice, once with the children last year (boy 10 and girl 13) they loved every minute of every trip up every mountain -Jungfrau and Schilthorn included. Daniel wants to return and do it all again! Have fun - enjoy!