Switzerland - Hiking in Bernese Oberland
 

My daughter and I will be going to Switzerland on September 13 for 14 days in the mountains.

Itinerary:
Interlaken - 1-night. As we arrive late we are taking first train from Zurich that is possible and staying to get a good nights rest.

Murren - 3 nights
Gimmelwald - 1 night Sleep in the Straw
Lauterbrunnen - 3 nights
Grindelwald - 3 nights
Bern - 1 night
Paris - 3 nights

Would love to hear from everyone with their favorite easy hikes, restaurants that they liked, favorite stories, anything where I could gleen some more information for my trip.

I guess you know what you want to do, but you do realize, I suppose that 11 or those nights are within less than a half hour of each other. I personally wouldn't want to keep packing up and moving. I'd opt for a nice apartment in one place for the bulk of those days -- Grindelwald has a ton of them, and I suppose the others do as well. "Sleep in the straw" sounds like fun!

You say easy hikes, so I don't know how easy you mean. We like to hike, but are not keen on difficult climbs, so we love taking a lift to the top of a mountain (lots of them where you're going) and then hiking down.

Don't miss the waterfalls in the valley near Lauterbrunnen.

One of the easiest, flat level hikes but spectacular is the one from Mannlichen to the base of the train up to the Jungfrau.

Do a search here as there have been some wonderful discussions of hikes in that area here. I downloaded a list once and did a number of them.

It might seem better to just plop at one hotel, but I've been through this area and want to experience life in each of those villages.

Thanks for your comments, Patrick.

Fair enough. And I do understand. Particularly since you've been to the area before.

Just how good a hiker are you? I can recommend some that will exercise the legs of a good hiker.

I really don't see the need to move around the area to different locations because they are all fairly close.

Lauterbrunnen is about a 25 minute train ride from Grindelwald.

Gimmelwald should be fun - itching around in the straw. Hope some moron does not bring his dog to sniff on you while you sleep!

Why Bern?

You can get to Paris on the TGV just as easily from Lausanne and it is a more beautiful location on the lake.

My favorite story? Don't have just one.
But from two weeks ago, it was the loud crack of an avalanche of snow, ice and mud that came roaring down a couloir we had crossed. The slurry of ice and snow must have cascaded 2,000 feet or more down the slopes as it roared to the runout zone on the valley floor. We got to watch almost the whole thing.

My biggest shock was on the Jungfraujoch track out to the hikers' shelter on the Mönch. It was hot in the sun, even if I was walking on snow. Then I walked out out from behind the protecting ridge into the teeth of the wind. Talk about going from sweating to shivering in about 180 seconds! I could not get my PolarFleece and windproof shell on quickly enough.

There's a great, easy, pretty flat hike from the top of Manlichen over to Kleine Scheidegg which takes a little over an hour. It's got superb views of the 3 mountain peaks. Plus, at the end in Kleine Scheidegg, they've got a great outdoor cooking area with really good bratwurst and strudel...yummy!

There's a ton of walks through the entire area, many of which have been mentioned on this board. Just do a search for something like hiking in Grindelwald, and you'll get lots of good info. Also, grindelwald.ch has all the hikes listed as well, with their elevation changes, times, etc. Very helpful.

Your trip sounds terrific. Beautiful places, all. I'm leaving Friday for that area. Can't wait!

Happy travels!

Pick Murren or Lauterbrunnen, but not both.

Why not make Bern a day trip from your Berner Oberland base?

Unless you just have to stay in Bern.

I usually daytrip to Bern.

I know I have mentioned this hike or walk, I call it a walk, but the walk from Allmenhubel to Grutschalp is fun and fairly easy to do.

The views of the Jungfrau are great. If you enjoy taking good scenic photos, you'll love this walk because there are many places along that trail where you can get pics of the Jungfrau with pines in the foreground!

Again, do Bern on a daytrip!! Takes about an hour to get there from Lauterbrunnen so be sure to leave early.

The Berner Oberland is hiking nirvana.

I raided my Switzerland trip reports to find some hikes in the areas you'll be visiting. We usually visit in the off season, hence the snow closures, etc.

1) We took the train from Wengen to Wengernalp then walked back to Wengen via Wixi, Bigernalp, Mittlenalp and Allmend. This connects with a nature trail above Wengen and if you go this route your walk will end near the Mannlichen Luftseilbahn (cable car to Mannlichen).

This is a nice walk with great views of the Eiger, Jungfrau and Monch.

There were some steep downhill portions near Wengen but it was moderate for the most part. The walk took us a little over 3 hours including a lunch stop.

2) From Grindelwald we walked to the Pfingstegg station, where we caught the gondola to the top. There are several hiking trails that originate from here, but most were closed due to snow, so we were only able to take a 30-minute walk along the edge, but this offered a nice view of Grindelwald.

3) From Wengen we took the cable car to Mannlichen. There’s an easy, scenic path from Mannlichen to Kleine Scheidegg, but it was closed due to avalanche danger, so we did the next best thing and took the lower path.

The lower path takes an hour longer than the upper path (two hours 15 minutes total) and it’s quite a bit more difficult. In September, the upper path (easy) should be open. Great walk.

4) We walked from Murren to Grutschalp, one-hour downhill (easy). Outside Grutschalp we decided to take an alpine path to the Allmendhubel. The first 40 minutes of this leg were pretty steep, but the following two hours were a mix of gradual and moderately steep hills. We took a break at the Sonneberg Pension restaurant, before walking down to Murren (30 minutes). This entire hike took about 3.5 hours and offered some nice views above Murren.

5) We walked from Murren down to Gimmelwald (30 minutes), where we caught the cable car to Stechelberg. We then walked from Stechelberg to Lauterbrunnen, an easy one-hour stroll on a paved path.

6) From Murren you can take a funicular to the Allmendhubel, which makes a good starting point for the relatively gentle and incredibly scenic North Face Trail. The funicular was closed for maintenance at the time of our visit, so we had no choice but to hike up from Murren. The first hour was uphill, but then the trail leveled off for the balance of the hike (2 hour 30 minutes round trip). This is one of my favorite hikes.

7) From Murren we took the train to Grutschalp, where we hiked the lower trail to Isenfluh. The first half of the 2 hour and 30 minute hike was fairly gentle, with a few steep areas. Once in Isenfluh we hiked the steep downhill trail to the Zweilutschinen train station.

8) From Lauterbrunnen we walked to Wilderswil along the Lutschine. The first hour was level and paved in some areas and took us right past the Zweilutschinen train station.
The second hour was a mixed bag – the trail took us over hills and into the village of Gsteigwiler. The last 20 minutes led us through forest.

We then continueed walking on to Interlaken (45 minutes). We followed a path that led us through a huge field and under a freeway, ending up at the Interlaken West station where we caught a train to Interlaken Ost, then headed back to Wengen.

Places we like to eat:

Wengen:

Hotel Silberhorn restaurant - good rosti and cheese fondue, friendly staff. Coin-operated Internet access in the hotel lobby.

Lauterbrunnen:

Hotel Schutzen - good Swiss and Italian meals, reasonable drink prices, decadent ice cream concoctions.

Grindelwald:

Pizza Mercato in the Hotel Spinne - excellent pizza.

Murren:

Hotel Alpenruh & Schilthorn Taverne (located in the Schilthorn cable station) - both restaurants have similar menus, but the Schilthorn Taverne is slightly cheaper. Guests of the Hotel Alpenruh can charge meals to their rooms from either restaurant. Good salads, soup, Swiss specialties and great desserts.

Hotel Alpina - good rosti and wonderful applestrudel with warm vanilla sauce.

Eiger Guesthouse - good bratwurst with onion sauce and rosti. Bar with Internet station.

Hotel Jungfrau restaurant - very good pork escalope and rosti - excellent service.

Melnq8: Thanks for the wonderful hiking notes. Will definitely be walking them. Have walked the Mannlichen to Kleine Schidegg to Wengen route in 2003, but plan on doing this again. It is level and not scary. I have a fear of narrow cliffs that have drop off spots.

Appreciate your details - seems like I can handle them.

Brookwood: I need to travel to Bern to get to Paris on the 8:00 TGV or I will be arriving late at night if I don't get the early train out of Bern.

This little book was a big help in my planning:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/AS...724482-1694301

You only need one home base for the Berner Oberland. My favorite is Gimmelwald. I stayed at Walter's Hotel Mittaghorn and it was great (creaky, rustic, but homey and friendly).

Eurogals -

I don't recall any narrow cliffs or drop offs on the hikes I listed. The first hike I mentioned does connect to a trail that goes over the Trummelbach Falls, then back down to Lauterbrunnen. You definitely DON'T want to take that one - I'm not generally bothered by heights or drop offs, but that baby freaked me out. It's easy enough to avoid though, just head back towards Wengen and don't take the trail to Upper and Lower Preech. The trails are well marked, so you shouldn't have any problems.

Have a good trip!