We are going to Brienz in a week and was wanting to know what people think of this town.

Rhonda: Brienz is a lovely little place on end the Lake of Brienz. On the other end, you'll find Interlaken which is far more touristy. Brienz is a favourite place for Swiss to go. It's quite genuine (famous for wood carving) and a good base for all kind of hiking tours. You can also take a trip on the Lakes of Brienz and Thun (lovely as well), visit the Openair-Museum Ballenberg (with houses from all areas of Switzerland), go up the Brienzer Rothorn, visit the famous places in the Bernese Oberland such as Mürren, Wengen, Grindelwald, etc. The Tourist Board of Brienz-Meiringen-Hasliberg has a own and informative site in English with a lot of good info at: <BR>www.alpenregion.ch/index_e.html <BR>Have a nice stay! <BR>

Not really much of a town. <BR> <BR>Fine lake. Many interesting wood carving shops. Good excursion to the top of the Brienzerrothorn ... take the steam train if you can. The adjacent Ballenberg Outdoor Museum is of interest. Across the lake one boat stop is Giessbach Falls. Excellent lunch or dinner at the historic hotel there. <BR> <BR>For the area, the real attraction is just down the lake south of Interlaken at the Jungfrau region. That's certainly where we spend virtually all of our time, including sleeping. A day trip to Brienz once per visit is more than enough for us.

I agree with Ed that the Jungfrau region is compelling, but Brienz has its own special charm. It's a place to relax and get away from some of the more heavily touristed areas. Nights are quiet - you can hear Giessbach Falls across the lake. We have made it a point to stay there for one or two nights on each of our trips to Switzerland. The lake is very relaxing to view, and it's a town which we use to get some of the everyday chores done.

I have not spent much time in Brienz other than take a boat ride from the Interlaken Ost station over to Brienz and a couple of other short stops to Brienz. <BR> <BR>I do know that taking Jungfrau area excursions should be a snap from a home base in Brienz. <BR> <BR> Brienz is a quite little place that can make it possible for a person to avoid the tourists hordes and still have close access to the fabulous Jungfrau area and Berner Oberland. <BR> <BR>Ed mentioned a nice excursion to the Rothorn and to the nearby Ballenberg museum from Brienz also. <BR> <BR>If you enjoy peace and quite and the close accessibility of the Jungfrau region, and also other Berner Oberland hot spots, yeah, Brienz will work just fine.

Rhonda, here is a web link that you might find useful if you use the Swiss rail system and also Brienz as a homebase. <BR> <BR>http://www.sbb.ch/index_e.htm <BR> <BR>Play around with the timetables and see what yah come with with.

Thank you all for your input. We will be staying in Brienz and are really looking forward to a relaxing weekend.