2 week itinerary advice & bicycle tour recommendations?

Don't think you need Zermatt after being in the Berner Oberland. As RS says, " Zermatt is a one-trick pony" type of place. Would you consider instead a few days in Lucerne, from which you can use the train to go straight to the airport? Safe travels!

@Pat
Thank you! Yeah I had my qualms about Zermatt after Rick Steves' perspective on it, but people seem to fawn over it... fear of missing out, you know? But yeah, it makes more sense to make my way back up to Zurich but perhaps Lucerne could be a nice change! Thanks for the suggestion!

I don’t care what Rick says. I would not miss Zermatt

Rick has revised his opinion of Zermatt since making that flippant “one trick pony” comment. In his new (2020) Swiss Alps program he goes to Zermatt and actually sees the Matterhorn out in full glory. And he is charmed by yodelers and goats. So it plays a major role in his show.

https://www.ricksteves.com/watch-read-listen/video/tv-show/swiss-alps

I don’t say that Zermatt is a “must see” for anyone, but it is a worthy destination for hiking. And the Matterhorn, should you be fortunate enough to see it while you are there, is one beautiful mountain. We had a great, up-close view from our apartment balcony in Winkelmatten, at the far end of the village. The peak didn’t come out from behind the shroud of clouds until day 2 of our 3-day stay, but then wow.

Your itinerary is heavy on the Berner Oberland—-8 nights there, divided among 3 different towns very close to one another. And 2 of those towns, Interlaken and Grindelwald, are more like small cities, with traffic and lots of people, hotels, and shops. Then also 2 nights in Zurich, neither of which is necessary unless your flight home departs fairly early in the morning. For a hiker who doesn’t want to spend much time in cities, this is not the best use of your 2 weeks.

And where do you intend to do some cycling? Are you looking for guided cycle tours? There are multi-day tours offered by numerous companies—-VBT, Tripsite, DuVine to name a few that offer one-week cycle tours in and near Switzerland. The Inn River cycle path from St. Moritz to Innsbruck is a popular 5-or 6-day ride that one can do either guided or unguided (but it may be hard to find a guided tour that isn’t already full at this point). Note that most of the cycling in the Berner Oberland itself is mountain biking.

And where will you kayak? River or lake?

Without knowing more about your kayaking and cycling plans, I can suggest a general plan for a hiking-focused visit: head straight to Zermatt from Zurich airport, an easy train journey of little more than 3 hours. Spend 3 nights. Then to the Berner Oberland for x nights, then maybe a good cycling base for 2-3 nights, ending with a night in Luzern before your flight home, unless that flight is an early morning one. This reduces the total number of hotels you need from 6 to 3 or 4.

@ Lola. Sorry my itinerary was fuzzy on the details! Thank you for the questions.

I'm in Zurich just for the last night (September 8) because my flight leaves very early. I will make a point to visit Luzern on the last day, and make use of train station lockers to store my stuff for the day. August 27 is an overnight flight day that leaves North America in the evening, so I arrive August 28 at 8:00 AM.

The itinerary is heavy on the Jungfrau region because where I'm from, there are no mountains or landscapes like the ones in that region. If I want to see something inaccessible in my home, I want to double down on being around them. I was among mountains in British Columbia for only 2 days out of a 17 day trip, and I kept thinking about the mountain experiences but couldn't break away from the itinerary. This time I'm going solo and I'm going to binge on mountains.

I'm afraid I don't have more details on my hiking and bicycling plans, still discovering hence asking for early feedback here. I am not a seasoned hiker, hence my looking for "light hikes". Since making this post I've found some resources that list out the "easy hikes" (Komoot app) – hope that helps someone here. My personal expectation of a bicycling tour is riding on level terrain, not mountain biking. But if that is what is most available in that region, I'll look elsewhere or skip it all together. Not a problem.

I am surprised I ought to say exactly which lake I want to kayak on! I have no idea. I am not a seasoned kayaker either, so I don't have a discerning palette for what bodies of water I want to be kayaking on – relatively still waters I guess? I figured any body of water would be still if I woke up early enough to beat the crowds. Hey, I wouldn't be posting here if I wasn't a total newbie! Here to learn.

I appreciate all the suggestions and I will look into them!

OK, that helps me to help you.

I figured the time in Interlaken is for kayaking, but I didn’t mean exactly which lake for the kayaking; just wondered whether you meant river kayaking or lake kayaking. There is some serious whitewater kayaking on the river between Interlaken and Lauterbrunnen, or pleasant flat water kayaking on the two lakes right by Interlaken. This website shows photos of the options on Lake Thun and Lake Brienz:

https://www.interlaken.ch/en/experiences/lakes-waterfalls/water-activities/kayaking

Of those, I personally would much prefer the Lake Brienz options with the High Tide Kayak company. They offer true sea kayaks which are a pleasure to paddle. The “sit-on-tops” shown in the Lake Thun photo are heavy, clunky, and not good for much but sitting on (in my view). And the kayak trip on Lake Brienz to Giessbach looks wonderful ( I have always wanted to visit that waterfall). There are more photos in this blog:
https://www.travelhackergirl.com/kayaking-interlaken-to-giessbach-falls-kayak-rental-with-hightide-kayak-school/

I think this could be a nice experience to include, and a good reason to spend a night or two in Interlaken. The rest of your time is best spent as you have planned, actually “in” the mountains, in places like Grindelwald and Wengen.

I find the views looking up at the mountains from the town of Grindelwald to be lovely. I hope you have found a hotel where you can enjoy that view even from your room. Grindelwald offers good access to a number of easy hikes, including the walk to the beautiful Bachalpsee from the top of the First gondola:

https://swissfamilyfun.com/grindelwald-first-bachseealp/

That is a short hike ( maybe 2 hours at most), so if it is a nice day you could add the 7 km “Marmot trail” from the top of the First gondola over to Grosse Scheidegg:

https://jungfrauregion.swiss/en/summer/tracks/marmot-nature-trail-first-grosse-scheidegg-no-17/

Then a Postbus from the Grosse Scheidegg restaurant back to Grindelwald.

Another beautiful hiking area you can access from Grindelwald would be Schynige Platte, which you reach by train from Wilderswil, a short distance from Grindelwald. This is between Interlaken and Grindelwald, so you can also do this from Interlaken). A steep cogwheel train takes you up from Wilderswil to Schynige Platte, where you will find a hotel and restaurant, a nice alpine botanical garden and a choice of several short hikes with beautiful views over Lake Brienz on one side and the Grindelwald Valley on the other. This blog has a nice overview of the walks:

https://fullsuitcase.com/schynige-platte-hikes/

Or right from Grindelwald, you can ride the Pfingstegg lift and follow the trail above the glacier canyon to a mountain hut (Baregg) with more great views. This is an easy walk on a nearly level trail, but it does go along a cliff edge—-not so close as to be at all dangerous, but if you are troubled by heights and steep drop offs (as I I am) this might not be so easy. Still, it is worth going up there, even if you choose not to walk all the way to the hut.

https://swissfamilyfun.com/pfingstegg-baregg/

I keep coming back to that “Swiss Family fun” blog because they do a great job of describing easy hikes, with photos. Note that there is a link to more such hikes in the Jungfrau region on that page.

Finally, there is the famous Männlichen to Kleine Scheidegg hike, which you can do from Grindelwald or from Wengen. But since you actually plan more time at Wengen than Grindelwald, you will probably want to save this hike to do from that side. The ride on the cablecar up to Männlichen is pretty thrilling.

Wow. This is all great advice. Thank you for taking the time to share all of this. This has taken my overwhelmed feeling to a more focused set of options.

It sounds like the best beginner hikes are the ones near cables cars or alternate forms of transportation in case the hike up proves to be too much for me. This is good to know. Sounds so obvious now that I think about it.

I'm not at the level of serious whitewater kayaking. In fact, you just taught me the term "flatwater kayaking". I had a very limited view of what kayaking could be before!

As a beginner it can be overwhelming and appreciate your help filling in the gaps!

“Flatwater” kayaking isn’t a real term; most people (including me) call it “sea kayaking” even on lakes. I just used it to distinguish from whitewater kayaking on rivers, through rapids. And then there is “surf kayaking” on waves. It’s all good, but require different levels of skill, and different equipment. I am sure you will enjoy the kayaking on Lake Brienz—-maybe the guided trip to the Giessbach waterfall. Paddling a sea kayak such as the ones they use is easy to learn, and quite safe even for beginners. But it is good to have some help and instruction the first time you try it, as the good kayaks ( the ones where you sit low, in a cockpit, not on top) may seem a bit tippy at first.