Chamonix and Murren in May

Hi Lucy,
My family of 5 adults are about to embark on our 2nd RS Alpine My Way tour and both Murren and Chamonix are on the agenda! We also did this same tour last year with our adult children. We loved it so very much that we could not pass up another opportunity to go to the most spectacular region on earth :)
Have you considered doing the Alps My Way tour ? It also covers Salzburg Austria, the Alpe di Suisi region in Italy, Bavaria in Germany and then onto the Lauterbrunnen Valley in Switzerland (Murren, Wengen, etc.) and then onto Chamonix. The entire RS tour is 12 days. We've added a few to both the beginning and ending points.

The travel from destination to destination is all done for us in a very comfortable bus driven by competent professional drivers. The My Way aspect allows you to mingle with others at your own comfort level. Anyway, I promise I don't work for RS! haha! I just love the Alps tour they offer and can't imagine a better way to see this part of the world!
~ Mitzi

It is doable... You can fly into Lyon and take a train or bus to Annency and then Chamonix (I used Flix bus but there are other ways). Directly from Chamonix you go to Vallorcine on the French Swiss border, then to Martigny-Visp-Spiez-Interlaken Ost-Lauterbrunnen. the SBB.ch website has details. According to them it takes about 5 hours from Chamonix to Murren. Or you can take a bus to Geneva and the train from Geneva to Lauterbrunnen. It takes about the same total time.

Weather: It poured when I was last in Chamonix for a few days last May, the whole time. Mountains can be like that. In the high country there will still be snow probably. Swiss mountains too. Just be prepared with a warm underlayer, a hat, gloves, and a good rain jacket.

We had an excellent time in May 2023 in Wengen: 11 days of nearly perfect weather! The higher elevation hikes/lifts may be closed (notably Männlichen) but the lush waterfalls and extra-snowy peaks made up for it. Do hike the entire valley from Stechelberg to Lauterbrunnen. It is beautiful any time of year but particularly appealing in spring.

May can be anything weather wise. In fact, every month can be anything weather wise. The only thing to watch out for is that in early May a lot may still be closed.

Today the Männlichen cable car started operating again, so we went up and had a nice lunch up there. There is still a lot of snow at higher altitudes, so some trails are still closed, and those that are open are often a bit muddy. We walked down to Holenstein (the half way station of the Gondola from Grindelwald) and had a nice walk. Saw lots of Marmottes, and there are already a lot of flowers out.
Down in the valley of course all the meadows are a riot of wildflowers right now.

So yes, May can be nice. But it is also a bit on the cold side at the moment.

The route from Chamonix to Mürren would indeed take you via Vallorcine and Martigny. That is quite an nice scenic ride, so even though it is going to take its time and involve a few transfers I would still do that. The transfers are all doable, and www.sbb.ch can sell you the whole ticket.

You can also easily get to Annecy from Geneva, so that is maybe an airport to fly in to as well.

Thank you everyone for your input. Perhaps waiting until the end of May or beginning of June would be a better choice, weather wise. Do you all agree that Annency and Chamonix is worth the add on to the trip? How many days would you say spend in these two places?

The RS tour does sound a little appealing...I'll have to consider!