As for the other sites near Interlaken, along the 2 lakes Thun and Brienz...any ideas about favorite sites in that area?>

I love taking the steamers on either lake bookending Interlaken - named because it lies between two lakes i would think.

Lake Thun is my favorite - especially if it's a nice clear day and the Jungfrau Massif is majestically dominating the vistas to the south.

Oberhofen is a dreamy lakeside town many folks get off at - to see the castle jutting out into the lake - to take lunch, stroll along the flower-ful quais, etc.

Thun is a great place to get off - a bigger city but one with a roaring river bisecting it and old wooden bridges - great shopping area.

Spiez is another favorite - the castle of your dreams towers over the lake from its high up on the rocks perch and vineyards lovingly swirl along it.

From Thun or Spiez you can take trains back to Interlaken in a few minutes.

But if it's a nice warm afternoon i take a picnic onboard and sit outside on the deck and get intoxicated on the ever so postcard-perfect scenery.

Lake Brienz is more fjord-like on its southern shore than Lake Thun and thus the views of high mountains are largely blocked off IME

Yet a boat ride there is great fun too - Giessenbach Falls, Brienz the wood-carvers town - the steam train up the Rothorn - the famous Ballenberg Museum - all can be incorporated in a boat ride from Interlaken-Ost (East) station.

<b>Palenque:</b> You have a poet's soul! I love your descriptions of places. You have described the Jungfrau "majestically dominating" from Lake Thun...the "dreamy" lakeside town of Oberhofen...the "roaring" river at Thun...and your vision of Spiez, in your own words: <i>"Spiez is another favorite - the castle of your dreams towers over the lake from its high up on the rocks perch and vineyards lovingly swirl along it."</i> Thanks for the lovely words and beautiful visions of the areas near Interlaken!

I don't think I"ve heard about the steam train up the Rothorn? What's the Rothorn? Maybe I can look it up in the lonely planet guidebook.

I looks like one of our challenges will be NOT to miss the last train/funicular/gondola/bus back to our hotels in Murren and Wengen! But we plan to get up early, enjoy outings, have dinner, see if there are any stars to be seen, and get to bed early.

I'm beginning to wonder if it will be possible to see the 8:00 pm showing in July of the outdoor pageant Tellfreilichtspiele in Interlaken...and still make it back to our hotel in Wengen. I thought I checked the train schedule and it seemed like it ran late enough...but I'll definitely have to check on that again.

I might need to post a separate question about Murren & Wengen since not everyone will see it here at the bottom of this post.

Thanks for painting a lovely picture with your words! I'm looking forward to the sites in and surrounding the Berner Oberland!

<b>Palenque:</b> I hope you don't mind that I quoted your beautifully written advice about activities near Interlaken, and I copied it onto my other question, about "10 Days in Murren and Wengen: How To Enjoy?" I placed your quotes there because your answer above is now all together with everyone else's answer to the question of what to do with 10 days in Murren & Wengen. I'm going to print that out and it will be a great help in planning my 10 days worth of activities in Murren and Wengen! Many thanks!

Melissa5 - of course not - and thanks for the kudos - i was a professional travel write for decades, now retired, so can't help rhapsodizing about such dreamy places - just hope i don't hype it too much and in this area that is nearly impossible!

The Brien Rothorn Bahn goes up from Brienz (opposite the boat dock) a mountain from whose summit there are rave vistas of Lake Brienz, the high Alps, etc.

I took the trian up and did a nice downhill hike back to Brienz.

But the problem with the Interlaken area is that there is TOO many sweet things to do - one reason i keep coming back!


Brienz Rothorn Bahn AG: Welcome to the Brienz Rothorn Bahn
The Brienz Rothorn Bahn takes you up the steep, 25 per cent gradient, and the 1678 metres over sea level in just about sixty unforgettable minutes. ...
www.brienz-rothorn-bahn.ch/en.html

Rothorn Bahn - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Brienz Rothorn Bahn (BRB) is an 800 mm (2 ft 7+1⁄2 in) gauge tourist rack railway in Switzerland, which climbs from Brienz, at the eastern end of Lake ...

History - Route - Locomotives and Rolling Stock - Timetable
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brienz_Rothorn_Bahn.

Cheers!

Melissa5--I am planning a similar trip in the Fall, so how fortunate that I stumbled upon this string. However, I cannot seem to find the names of the hotels you decided on. I'm seeking similar criteria (quiet, mid-priced) Would you mind sharing? I'll also check out the others mentioned throughout.
Thanks in advance,
--vvanderlust

vvanderlust: I selected the Hotel Berghaus for Wengen, run by Martina Fontana & family. It's quiet, mid-priced and family-run. They have a good restaurant and I hear they do great things with fish and other foods...we love fish. Anyway I chose it based on tripadvisor guest reviews, plus comments from people here on the forums (including some people I recognize since they advised me on other trips so I know they have a style similar to mine...Also Hotel Berghaus is in a couple of my guidebooks...I'm thinking its in fodors and Rick Steves guidebooks but don't have them handy right now.

I also selected the Hotel Bellevue in Murren...NOT the Hotel Bellevue in Wengen! Confusing I know. We are staying at the Hotel Bellevue in Murren. It's in Rick Steves guidebook and I think it might be in the fodors guidebook as well... On the tripadvisor forums it is called Hotel Bellevue-Crystal, in Murren...that is their old name apparently. Ruth & Othmar Suter run the Hotel Bellevue in Murren.

We like small villages so we re spending 5 nights in Murren and 6 nights in Wengen as bases to enjoy and explore the Berner Oberland region.

There aren't any quiet mid-priced hotels for Luzern I'm afraid! Therefore I decided to book only 3 nights in Luzern, long enough to enjoy the lakes...and I selected the Romantik HOtel Wilden-Mann, and emailed them, and they were helpful in trying to figure out which room would be most cool and quiet on summer nights. It looks like a lovely atmospheric hotel, but Luzern in general can be noisy at night...that is what i keep hearing.

We decided to spend 1 night at the Radisson Blu at Zurich airport at the end of our trip. I got a decent price for Zurich with a AAA discount, and it's sure convenient being at the airport...you don't even need a taxi because the train is there too!

I read a lot of hotel reviews on tripadvisor, and comments on fodors as well...I look for people mentioning quiet or noisy rooms...comfortable beds...friendly owners or staff... And always keep in mind on tripadvisor, don't assume the #1 hotel must be the best. It doesn't work that way. There are always some phony reviews. So I only read the reviews written by experienced travelers with a high number of contributions next to their name...you can even click on their name and find out what kind of contributions they have made...are they picky, are they complainers, are they hard to please, or are they experienced travelers who have similar tastes to you...or are they phony reviews written by a hotel's competitors, or written by the hotels's staff or owners? (They eventually get found out...tripadvisor keeps track of that.) all that helps you evaluate the reviews. I also emailed the guest reviewers on tripadvisor...to ask more questions about the hotels...That's a feature fodors doesn't have.

Palenque, ah yes, a retired travel writer, I thought you must either be a writer or a poet. It's getting to the point where when I want to know something, I'm thinking, now, where is Palenque? I need info, but I want it Palenque-style, full of wonderful visual images, enthusiasm, and lovely words! And even links to web-sites! How great is that?

You are too kind!

You will be in Murren and Wengen about 9 days it seems so lots of times for day trips - esp if the weather turns foul - the Meiringen area makes also for a swell day trip - what with the Glacier Gorge and Reichenbach Falls (where Prof Moriarity and Holmes tangled to the death) - take a boat to Brienz and a train to Meiringen - a great day out or just train straight away to Meiringen - a cute small regional town known as the birthplace of meringue! How sweet is that?

Last summer, the weather in the BO was a bit iffy one day, so we took a daytrip to these two places:

http://www.aareschlucht.ch/english/aareschlucht_e.htm

http://www.myswitzerland.com/en/dest...ls-brienz.html

There is a schlucht in the Grindelwald area, but much of it has been closed due to -- well, the trail needs repair. This Aaerschlucht is on a much bigger scale, very well maintained. Whenever I traverse one of these gorges in Switzerland, I always say to myself, "they'd never build one of these in the U.S." The experience is awesome, walking right over the river carved by the glacial waters. We walked the trail round-trip, but some folks take it one way and take the little train the other way. TIP: In the link I gave, be sure to click on the views east and west - gives you a great perspective of the area.

The Giessbach Falls and Hotel is easy to combine with the schulcht trip. We had a car, but you can get there by the ferry on Lake Brienz. From the parking lot, a short trail takes you to the falls, and they're quite stunning! And the hotel is one of these turn-of-the-century charmers, recently refurbished. In my dreams I'll stay here someday... The views from the hotel patio area are breathtaking!!

Hi Melissa, I wanted to comment on the William Tell program. I was staying in Lauterbrunnen last September and my husband and I went to see the show. We bought tickets at the local tourist office where the woman neglected to mention the transportation "challenge" on the return trip. To get to the program, we took a train from Lauterbrunnen to a small town near Interlaken and then took a bus to the town the show was in. When the show ended, we took the bus back to the train station and awaited the train. One was supposed to be arriving in around 30 minutes. Let me tell you the station was outside and deserted save me, my husband and two other people we presumed were locals. The train never came. As I heard a bus across the street after 40 minutes which caused me to go back & look at the train schedule. I saw the time for the train to L.brunnen with an asterisk indicating that it was not a train, but rather a bus for the last transport of the night. I had checked at the bus stop prior to going to the train station and saw no mention of a bus to L.brunnen. Long story short, we ended up having to go across the street to a hotel restaurant and ask the man to call us a taxi. That expensive lesson learned cost us about $60-$70. The other two people at the train station turned out to be English and they were in the same boat! They had to go back to Grindelwald so I can't imagine how much their cabfare was! Anyway, be sure to check this!!

Also - make sure to buy a program in English that describes the action scene by scene. I think you'll find the show much more enjoyable that way.

Wilderswil i believe would be the station Butterflewgirl is talking about - it is only about a mile from Matten, a district of Interlaken where the Tell Playhouse is located - at the foot of a big forested hill.

If you have time coming it is really a neat walk - on paths thru farmers fields with the Jungfrau peaks all in view as a sweet backdrop

You come into Matten and its typical chalet-style houses.

But not reading the schedule carefully and not realizing the last train is really a bus has happened to me before and if it were not the last conveyance of the day it would not have been such a problem.

If time is getting late for the last train after the show i'd take a cab from the Tell Playhouse to Wilderswil and not Interlaken-Ost - it is probably quicker to Wilderswill and the train from Interlaken-Ost will stop at Wilderswill a few minutes after leaving Interlaken - if buying tickets it should be a few francs cheaper to Wilderswill than Interlaken-Ost to boot.

Melissa - getting back to what you could do with so many days in the Jungfrau Region - another nice place IMO is the Meiringen area (pardon if i repeat myself from the other thread - forgot what i wrote there) - Meiringen is a nice regional town that you can take a train to from Brienz (reachable by boat or train from Interlaken-Ost) - in a tiny church in the town center is a Sherlock Holmes Museum - Conan Doyle set the fatal tangle between Prof Moriarity and Sherlock Holmes on a belvedere overlooking the middle of the roaring Reichenbach Water Falls just outside of town.

You can easily walk to the base of the falls - impressive in their own right and either trek up on paths along the roaring cascade or hop on an old funicular that takes you up as well to the belevedere and to the top.

Also near Meiringen (which gave its name to a local delicacy - meringue candy) is the Glacier Chute in nearby Innerkirchen - reachable by a tram from Meiringen - you walk thru an incredibly narrow gorge chiseled out i guess by glacial waters long ago - walk thru on catwalks over the gurgling water - a unique experience.

So in the Meiringen area there is lots to see and do and another viable day trip from any Jungfrau base!