Zurich to Interlaken area - best drive?
 

We will be driving from Zurich to Lauterbrunnen in the Interlaken area. I see on the maps that there are a few ways to go.
Does anybody know if one way is more sceninc than another? Is is mostly just highway or mountain roads? Anything worth stopping to see? We don't want to make it a full day trip, but an hour or two delay would be ok. Any ideas or thoughts would be great. Thanks in advance.

Dbacks,

IMO the best route is the obvious one on the highway from Zurich to Bern, then direction Spiez/Interlaken. The drive is scenic from Thun onwards.

Should take 2.5-3 hours.

The old town in Bern is definitely worth a stop or if you want to avoid driving into a large town the lakefront in Thun is quite pretty.

Hope this helps,
Andre

The above route is not really scenic until you go from Thun along lake Thun to Interlaken. A far more scenic route goes via Lucerne and then up and over the Brunig Pass and then down to Lake Brienz and along it to Interlaken. From Luzern to Brunig Pass you pass a string of idyllic Alpine lakes. It isn't freeway most of the way as is the other, more main route and does involve some twisting mountain roads. I've never driven this route but it parallels the route of the Brunig Pass railway which I've taken several times.

I have driven/ridden in car over the Brunig pass 3 times, twice down it and once up it. The driver is going to see the road and not much else.
The route is slower but in some respects it is more scenic.
When you make your way to the bottom of the Brunig Pass on the floor of the valley, you can see some spectacular sights.
That whole valley between Innertkirchen and Interlaken, particularly between Meiringen and Brienz is beautiful.

For speed, take the Bern - Thun - Spiez route. For scenery, go through Luzern and down the Brunig Pass.
You can take the short drive up to Thun later.

The route via Bern is not a mountain road on any of it, not even leading into Lauterbrunnen. The road from Wilderwil is narrow in places, but hardly a mountain road. I have driven it many times and regard it as relatively routine.

I've driven various routes between Zurich and Interlaken, and my favorite is to drive down to Lucerne, then eastward along the shore of Lake Lucerne following the shore all the way to Altdorf. From Altdorf, go south toward Wessen, but then turn west toward Meiningen and go through the Susten Pass to Meiningen, then to Brienz and along the north shore of the Brienzersee to Interlaken. This route is absolutely the best for scenery, but it will require roughly 4 hours of driving along some twisty bits. The reward is some of the most spectacular scenery you will ever see in Switzerland. As an added plus, there are lots of interesting villages along the way where you can stop to shop, stroll, grab a lunch, or whatever. Good luck.

Please pardon my typos in my preceding reply. I meant to type "Meiringen" not Meiningen. Sorry for the error.

Stop in Meiringen for some meringue, supposedly named after the town!

The Susten Pass is spectacular; so are the Furka and Grimsel Passes.
The Sherlock Holmes Museum in Meiringen is very small, but faithfully done, with descriptions in several languages. Meiringen was supposedly Holmes last hotel stop before he was thrown into the Reichenbach Falls by Moriarty. Of course in the Adventure of the Empty House, Holmes came back to track down his enemies.

The Falls of the Reichenbach are outside of town, very near a hospital, but unless you see them in the late spring when the stream is full of snow melt, they are not very impressive.

Trummelbach Falls are a little larger most of the time. They are near Lauterbrunnen, a few K deeper into the valley.

Note that the Sustenpass (as Grimsel and Furka) is closed in winter, usually from late October to early May.