Suggestions for Berner Oberland area when it rains
 

I had planned a mostly hiking trip in the Berner Oberland area September 7-14. We are staying in Wengen. Now I see the weather forecast is showers pretty much every day! I am still hoping for the best, but I think I need to plan for alternate things to do if it is indeed rainy every day. We plan on getting the Swiss Travel Pass. We are already planning to do the Swiss Open Air Museum and the Schloss Oberhofen, but everything else is pretty much an outdoor activity. Please suggest some things to do if it is rainy. Thank you!

Hi lia835,

First of all, weather forecasts for mountain areas more than 3 days in the future are a total guess. I live in a mountain area, and forecasts even 12 hours in the future can be startlingly wrong.

Even if you do get some rain, hopefully it will be only scattered showers.

Anyway, one or two ideas --

Head to Thun, a lovely town on Lake Thun and explore its covered arcaded streets and the castle in town.

Head to Bern, again with arcaded streets and a pretty river through town, or maybe Fribourg if the travel time isn't too excessive.

Have fun as you plan!

s

Thank you for the reassurance Swanday2000! Your suggestions are very helpful. I googled photos of the towns you suggested and they are lovely!

I know you will have a wonderful time!

s

In addition to Bern and Thun, you might consider Trummelbach Falls.

Bring proper rain gear and hiking boots, and go hiking. There is no bad weather, there is only unsuitable clothing. (Unless there are thunderstorms announced, of course.)

Meteoschweiz, the official Swiss weather agency, has this forecast:

"...

I would train to Bern if you were to get really heavy rain.

You could always go to the casino in Interlaken and have lunch at the Hotel Victoria. Lots of shopping in Interlaken, too.

Honestly, I don't think any rain will be that bad at this time of year.

I would worry more about the Jungfrau Marathon. It attracts thousands of people. The trains will be packed.

Thin,aristocrat 🍾

Hi Lia
We are in Wengen at the moment and before we left Sydney Australia last Monday, the forecast was for rain everyday and quite cool weather. Well....it has been hot and sunny every day other than a brief downpour this afternoon for ½ hour whilst we were on the train. Make sure you pack some summer gear as we have had to buy some. Wengen is the best base to stay at and so far we have seen most of the attractions in the area. The most beautiful country in the world.. We have another 3 ½ weeks in Switzerland and I have to thank all the people that write on Fodors for making my research easy.

The weather in Wengen in September can change very quickly. You can have your windows open one night, and then the heat on the next night.

Bring shorts, bring a hoodie.

Thin,aristocrat 🐿

Luzern
 

Museum of Transport is good for a few hours in rainy weather.
And I second the suggestion of Bern, beautiful little city.

I spent a week in Wengen in June of 2016 that was plagued by frequent rain, but, like you, we had a Swiss Travel Pass and managed to find things to do at lower altitudes, most of which have been mentioned, above. Don't panic about the forecast--it will change, and there will be breaks in the weather. Just be flexible.

Thank you everyone for your wonderful and helpful replies! We will definitely pack so that we are prepared for all types of weather and then check webcams before forking over a lot of money to go higher up!

Once again: it's a fact that the Northern slopes of the alps (Bernese Oberland - Lake Lucerne - Appenzell - Allgaeu - Bavarian Alps - Salzburgerland) are more rainy and cloudy than inner alpine valleys like Valais, Aosta Valley, Valtellina, Val Venosta, Val Pusteria or Drautal.
It's often sunny around Crans-Montana or Lake Maggiore when it rains at Wengen.
I know that's of no help for you as it would be too time consuming to travel from a place out of the way like Wengen to Crans-Montana or Locarno.

Hi, I am the OP. We have returned from our trip and I just wanted to give a brief update. We had a wonderful time and the weather was almost perfect! It rained the first night we were in Wengen while we were sleeping. The forecast was mostly "partly cloudy" for the whole week except for a couple of sunny days at the end. We decided to wait to do Jungfraujoch on one of the sunny days, but wanted to do Schilthorn earlier in case the weather forecast changed. I did check the webcam that morning, and it looked ok, not terrible although there were some clouds. However by the time we got up there, it was all clouds at Brig and mostly clouds at the top. There was also snow on the ground. They had also closed the cliff walk past the tightrope at Brig. Turns out the other partly cloudy days were much better as I continued to check the webcams every morning and it was completely clear every single day. I was kicking myself for jumping the gun with visiting Schilthorn. Since we had the Swiss Travel Pass which covered the transport up to the top of Schilthorn, we managed to find time to go up there again on our last day in the late afternoon. What a difference! It was a much better experience without the huge crowds from the tour groups. We could see very far since it was so clear. There was no snow at all this time and we were wearing short sleeved shirts comfortably. Thank you for all of the reassurances. I felt much better having a list of things to do at lower altitudes if the forecast ended up being rain.

Glad to hear the weather gods treated you well and that you enjoyed your trip!

We're leaving for 3.5 weeks in Switzerland at the end of the month and I'm hemming and hawing about how much cold weather gear to pack. We usually visit in the dead of winter and know what to take, but visiting in October will be new for us.

Layers...probably...or maybe not...