I plan to spend 4-5 nights in the Berner Oberland and an trying to decide where to stay and whether to divide time between 2 destinations. In a car moving hotels doesn't bother me; I'd rather try out new views etc. I am considering taking the train, which I've never done before in traveling.

I thought that Wengen was a short trip from Grindelwald, but when I checked the Swiss Railway site, it indicated that the trip was more than 1 1/2 hours! While in Wengen/Grindelwald I want to hike from both destinations, go up the Jungfrau, visit Murren.

Since I also want to visit Ballenberg and see Thun, should I stay 1 night in Brienz, rather than "commuting" from the mountains?

I do not want to stay in Interlaken.

The Swiss rail system is excellent. You can choose to stay almost anywhere in the Oberland and still be in easy striking distance for any day trip you want. I am planning a similar trip and will do it all by rail. The Half Fare Card (for 99 SF) gets you 1/2 off all trains, lifts, etc. in Switzerland, including the Jungfraujoch. However, travel by train works best if you are packing light. If not, then you're better off with a car.

Wengen-Grindlewald is about a 40 minute ride, but may take longer at certain times if there is a quirky connection at Mannlichen or Kliene Scheidegg.

Every town in the area would make a scenic home base. Wengen and Murren are relatively small cliff-hanging traffic-free resorts and would make great choices. Lauterbrunnen is on the valley floor and is a good jumping off point to explore either side of the valley. Gimmelwald (my choice) is a rustic traffic-free hamlet with about 100 year-round residents. The place has more cows than people. If you want hardcore Switzerland, that's the place to go. The Mountain Hostel in Gimmelwald is only 20 SF a night! Gimmelwald, Murren, and Wenger are all great starting points for excellent hikes.

I would avoid sleeping in both Grindlewald and Interlaken. They are super-tourisy and expensive.

http://www.gimmelwald.com/
http://www.gimmelwald.com/pics/gimme...elwaldview.jpg

I'd pick one destination. My choice would be Grindlewald, even though some in here have tried to steer you away from Grindlewald.

Yes, Grindlewald can be touristy. Those bigger hotels that cater to those big shiny tour busses roll in there and the street becomes a little crowded at times.

That being said, Grindlewald is an absolute great place to launch some great hikes and walking excursions.

Maybe it's me, but as pretty as Wengen and Murren are, both Cliffside villages thin out in the evening faster than a movie audience at a Michael Moore movie.

Still, Wengen and Murren both offer terrific overnight stays, but my choice would be Grindlewald due to the great access to some great hiking.

Should you decide to pop over to Murren, Gimmelwald, Wengen, the lakeside villages of Beatenberg, Thun or even Kandersteg, it can be done easily based out of Grindlewald.

Thanks for your advice. If I decide to use Murren or Wengen as a base, what are the travel times to places like Grindelwald, Thun, etc?

When I checked the sbb.ch rail site it indicated 1 1/2 hours from Grindelwald to Wengen. On Frommers, someone said I would take a cablecar between Wengen and Grindelwald.

I do not have the SBB timetable in front of me, but I have made that journey several times. 1 hour and a half sounds about right though. Allow yourself some time in the day to take that journey.

I use a first class Swiss pass, so my favorite route is to take the Wengerbahn down to Lauterbrunnen. From Lauterbrunnen, take that train in the direction of Interlaken, but I get off at Zweischillen to catch the train over to Grindlewald.

Trick is to get away no later than 9 AM. Get started earlier.

Getting over to Thun is the same route, except you change trains at Interlaken Ost or East.

You can take the boat over to Thun you know. That way you see many of the other lakeside villages.

The old town of Thun is a good day trip and the Thun castle is over there also. Great place to stop and do lunch.

With the train ride and all, your looking at 2 hours tops. With the boatride, maybe 3-4 hours.

Check timetables on the boats out of Thun though. If I remember correctly, trains into Grindelwald roll until about 11M or so.

I think the last train to Grindlewald is about 11 PM.

But trust me though, when you do all that village hopping, (which I highly suggest you do to get a good feel of the area), you'll will be back in your hotel by early evening.

Stillhouse -

There seems to be some confusion here, so let me see if I can confuse you even more (ha, ha).

The cablecar you're thinking of is the Mannlichen Luftseilbahn. You can take it from Wengen up to Mannlichen, which takes about 10 minutes, then take the gondola to the Grindelwald-Grund station, which takes about 30 minutes - this is the longest gondola cableway in Europe - then you can take a train (or just walk) to Grindelwald.

It takes awhile to get from Wengen to Grindelwald for a reason.

The train from Interlaken to Grindelwald and Lauterbrunnen is actually the same train, it just separates at Zweilutschinen. One end of the train heads to Grindelwald and the other heads to Lauterbrunnen.

Once in Lauterbrunnen, the train goes back to Interlaken, so you need to switch to the train heading to Wengen.

If you're trying to get from Wengen to Grindelwald, you must backtrack to Lauterbrunnen, and board a different train headed to Interlaken. You can either get off at Zweilutschinen, then wait for the train you just got off of, to continue down to Interlaken, turn around and come back up, OR you can stay on the train all the way to Interlaken, then ride it back up.

Once in Interlaken, hop off the train, check the sign on the car you're sitting on to make sure it's headed to Grindelwald. The train conductors switch the signs in Interlaken, so be sure to look.

If you have a Swiss Pass, you can do this for no charge. If you're paying as you go, you'll want to get off in
Zweilutschinen to avoid paying for the ride down to Interlaken.

You can also go from Grindelwald to Wengen (or vice versa) via Kleine Scheidegg, but this route is expensive. It's part of the Jungfrau Railway, so you're paying a premium from Grindelwald to Kleine Scheidegg and from Kleine Scheidegg to Wengen. It's faster, but not covered by the Swiss Pass (only get a 25% reduction).

For your purposes, you might want to stay in Lauterbrunnen. This will give you the easiest access to Wengen, Murren and Grindelwald.

Have fun!

>>>>There seems to be some confusion here, so let me see if I can confuse you even more (ha, ha).
<<<


What confusion? I've done the Wengen to Grindlewald or the opposite route many many times. From Grindlewald, I always took the train as if I was going to Interlaken, but got off that train in Zweischillen so I could connect back to Lauterbrunnen and then up to Wengen.

The route I told this person is pre paid with a first class Swiss pass. I did not tell them about the cables going from Wengen to Mannlichen and then with the cable back down to Grindlewald because with that route there was an additional charge.

I try to avoid connections to either Grindlewald or Wengen through Kleine Scheidegg, unless there is a hike involved because it is expensive.

The route I told him-her about is the best route. Not sure if it is the quickest route, but it is pre-paid with a Swiss pass.

But if this person plans to travel around from place to place, they need to leave early. Because even though all of these villages are fairly close to the neighboring villages, it can still be time consuming.

What are the advantages of a first class Swiss pass over second class?

To me there is more room on the trains with a first class Swiss pass.

A second class Swiss pass will do the same thing as a first class pass. Many prefer the second class, but one trip when I had problems finding seats, I decided to use the 1st class pass on future trips to this area. The next time I traveled to this area, I bought the first class pass just to avoid the big crowds.

A person can get by just fine with a second class Swiss pass, but I have always liked using the first class pass.

Both passes will get you pre-paid point to point routes . The first or second class Swiss pass will get you 25% off on the mountain cable cars and funiculars.

Thanks. I am doing such a trip at end of May/early June so I am thinking crowds and train space won't be a big issue then.

With a Swiss Pass or an Oberland Pass can you bypass ticket windows and just hop on the train? Although the 1/2 fare card seems best for my trip, I might be willing to pay a little extra to avoid some lines.

I used the Swiss half card on one trip and it worked pretty well. You still had to purchase a ticket at the window, but you got half price off.

It seems as though I also got half price off on the mountain cables and funiculars.

The Swiss Pass system covers some post bus routes free also. I have used the Swiss pass route pre-paid going to Saas Fee from Brig. Since there is no train route to Saas Fee, the Swiss pass system will get you there with no additional charges.

On other post bus routes, there might be a charge, but you will get 25% off with a Swiss 1st or 2nd class pass.

You can also travel on the lake steamers free or pre-paid with a Swiss rail pass.

With the first class pass, the top level of the boat always has many seats to soak up the sunshine and relax.

I don't know of a faster way to travel from Grindelwald to Wengen than 54 minutes. If anyone else knows a faster way, tell us.

Would you believe that there are 3 ways to ride from Grindelwald to Wengen?? There are.

The cheapest way is to ride the brown and tan BOB train from Grindelwald to Zweilütschinen and change for Lauterbrunnen. In Lauterbrunnen, change to the yellow and green Wengner Alpbahn that chugs up the mountain side.

The other way by rail is to take the Jungfraubahn up to Kleine Scheidegg and change for Wengen on the green and yellow train. This is a much more expensive, but much more scenic ride.

The third way is to get yourself down to Grindelwaldgrund, either walk or train.
Go to the long gondola that goes up to the crest of the Männlichen, which is a heck of a spectacular place, then take the cable car that dangles from a rope down to Wengen.

As for getting to the Ballenberg spot, it is a piece of cake from Lauterbrunnen. The scheduler will give you the details, but in essence you go from Lauterbrunnen to Interlaken Ost, change for Brienz. At Brienz, change to a bus. 13 minutes later get off at the Freilichmuseum Ballenberg. Nothing to it.

I think you will prefer the train.
Some of the roads are slow and you pay to park everywhere. And renting a car is not cheap in Europe, not with the sagging dollar, which is not going to rebound for at least 3 more years.

What makes you think you have to move hotels to try out views? What do you see from a hotel anyhow? I am never in one long enough to do much looking; I am out and gone elsewhere. So for me, it does not matter because I am somewhere else until I need a spot to rest up.
Then I am asleep.
You will not see much but valley walls from Brienz, except the lake.

Thun? No problem. Take any one of many trains from Interlaken Ost or West to Thun. Not much to see there anyhow.
Walk down to the castle, have a look, and then walk back. Not bad if you have the stamina to go uphill.

In case you are wondering how I know all this; I did it all last year, and the year before, and the year before.

Sunstar -

I wasn't referring to your post. I got confused reading this thread and I've travelled within the BO on some 10 trips. Just wanted to try my hand and helping the OP.

The Swiss Pass covers buses and boats as well. You can take a boat on Lake Brienz to the town of Brienz and then a bus to Ballenberg. The boat leaves across the street from Interlaken Ost.

The boat on Lake Thun leaves from Interlaken West. With limited time we got off at Spiez and took the train back to Interlaken.

We stayed in Interlaken at the Hotel du Lac, right across the street from Interlaken Ost. (At night the Brienz boat parked in front of our room.) This location turned out to be extremely convenient for sightseeing in the mountains and on the lakes.

no matter where you go in switzerland, you will be awed by the natural beauty. my wife and i have been to wengen, grendelwadls, jungfrau, interlaken, genevea. you can easily do both wengen and grendelwald.

be sure to check out "canyoning" if you are adventursome. you harness up with rapelling equipment and helmet and traverse a cascading river by sliding, jumping, swimming, diving, rapelling, and climbing. very exciting. our tour guide, hans, told us that the next task was a 'funny one', meaning 'fun'. the guides out of interlaken were great.

also, you can rent bikes and ride the train to the top of the mountain and ride down, stopping in wengen for a brew and burger overlooking the alps and a beautiful valley. half way down is an under-the-mountain waterfall. you go inside the mountain on walkways with the water rushing by within inches of where you are standing.

the rivers and lakes are a gorgeous green-blue, and icy cold. everything is picturesque and neat and clean.

i've talked myself into planning a trip to switzerland after we return from costa rica.

have fun

ttt

WENGEN! most beautiful views in all of Switzerland and I've been fortunate enough to travel all of it except Zermatt. The hotel Belvedere in Wengen is quaint and has great service.
I stayed in Grindelwald for 5 days on another trip and it has easy access, but if you get one of the hotels on the main street, it can get pretty noisy - if you choose this area, stay up on the mountain a bit.
I can't say enough good things about Wengen.

BlueMonkey -
It sounds like you know all the good things to do. Can you provide me with some more info on the canonying and biking or direct me to a place where I can find something more out?

Thanks.

Stillhouse,
Really the best place to stay in that area is Lauterbrunnen, it puts you right in the middle of all your options, easy access to everything and is least costly for hotels of any of the others places. Wengen and Murren are great but a little isolated to do daytrips from and they aren't exactly cheap, nor is Grindelwald. I would not stay in Interlaken under any circumstances unless you got trapped on a Globus tourbus. If you want the ultimate hike in that area you want to do Schynig Platte-First-Grindelwald trek, in which case Wilderswil for a night may not be a bad idea. If you stay anywhere on the lakes the town with most charm is Thun with its fairy tale castle. Have a great trip.