3 Days in Lauterbrunnen region - Help!

which of those things most rings the chimes of the celebrating young lady? Do that first.

I'm old school, I'd do what feels best on the day. If you do it all, great, if not have a great time doing what you do do.

Other than the Jungfraujoch train which rapidly fills with people from all over the world and benefits from reservations, none of the others do. See what the weather is and if good and the young lady wants to go up the Jungfrau then hop to it ASAP as the weather usually changes after noon and the earlier bird catches the worm - less crowds.

If you stay in Wengen you are one step up on those coming up from the valley, from interlaken and those across the valley.

It is a fun place around there no matter what you do..

Wengen for sure.

You can buy Super Sparpreis Europa tickets for 193.70 EUR now for the entire family from Munich to Wengen for your travel date at https://int.bahn.de/en

Buy a 3-day Berner Oberland Regional Pass, 240 CHF for the adults, 168 CHF for the 18 yo, and 30 CHF for the 11 yo, beginning 6/15. https://www.berneseoberlandpass.ch/

Go to Jungfraujoch first opportunity in the morning that the weather is good. Cost is 99 CHF r/t for the 3 adults, but the 11 yo is free, with the BORP. You can then take the cable car from Eigergletcher to Grindelwald and then to First for the afternoon, or to Kleine Scheidegg and hike to Maennlichen.

Other day and morning do water fall trip and Schilthornbahn. Schilthorn still costs above Muerren, but you get half fare with the BORP.

Last day, after morning activities, take the train to Luzern then transfer to train to Zurich. The train to Luzern is very scenic and it is covered by the BORP. You could leave Wengen as late as 6:12 pm and still make it to Luzern in daylight. Then a train to Zurich. You will have to pay full fare for that, but it is only 27 CHF pp for 3 adults and half price for the 11 yo.

Are you planning on staying in Zurich city, or an airport hotel? You can change to the airport train at Zurich HB for a bit more money, or a new ticket next day if staying in the city.

Can you take a day from Munich and add it to the BO? You really only have 2 days, as the last day is always disjointed with having to check out of hotel, etc. and I think you’re going to want 3 full days. Unless you’re doing a bunch of important day trips from Munich, I don’t see it justifying 5 days.

Regardless, if you can only spare 2 days, try this (weather dependent).

Stay in Wengen. 1st full day ride the cable car up to Mannlichen and walk to Kleine Scheidegg (optional detour up to the Royal Walk has very good views). From KS, walk or train up to Eigergletcher and take the Eiger Express down to Grindelwald and go up to First. Or if Jungfraujoch is more important to you, do that instead. Return to Wengen for dinner.

2nd full day - Wengen > Murren > Schilthorn > Birg > Murren (optional up to Allmendhubel for some easy/moderate hiking options or just for good views and lunch with a view) > Gimmelwald (optional dinner) > Return to Wengen

Departure day - Check out and store your luggage in Lauterbrunnen to explore The Valley by walking or ebike (Rent at Imboden in town) and explore the falls.

If you had extra time I’d recommend a boat cruise on Lake Thun or Lake Brienz, doing Schynigge Platte or Brienzer Rothorn.

Thank you all for the recommendations! The links Sam will be very useful, that was my next step this week, to start looking at, and booking the trains that we could.

We can't move days from the Munich part, that was the main part of the trip as the 18 year old wants to experience the culture there the most as she currently is interested in moving to Germany down the road (after university). We also have friends joining us in Munich that live abroad.

We currently have a hotel booked near the airport in Zurich, but that is fully cancellable as well. Our flight out is at like 2 pm so we just assumed stay near the airport as the rest of the group gets some anxiety when having to rush for tight schedules on travel day. We considered staying in Wengen one more night and going to Zurich right away in the morning, but don't want to be too stressed.

if you stay your last night in Luzern (beautiful in its own right, and the train ride there from Interlaken Ost through Meiringen (Reichenbach Falls of Sherlock Holmes infamy), up and over the Brünig Pass and past the end of Lake Lucerne is very beautiful in its own right), then you are just 1:15 from Zurich Airport which has a station right at the airport.

Thank you Nigel, I will definitely look into that. I have seen lots of Luzern recommendations and we won't do much in Zurich anyways so we mine as well get as much scenery as we can!

I’d personally spend your last night in Wengen to get every ounce of that additional day. You’d just need to leave Wengen by around 8 am to get to the airport 3 hours early, which is more than enough time. We spend our summers in Murren every year which takes slightly longer to get to the airport than Wengen does and we regularly have made flights around 1 pm without a problem.