Does this sound feasible? 4 day itinerary (staying in Wengen)

Definitely factor weather into your planning. You may go and it could be fantastic the entire time. Or, you may go and it rains/snows the entire time. Or, more likely, it’ll be a mix of both good and bad weather.

I personally wouldn’t venture to Lucerne if I was staying in Wengen due to travel time and all the great things there are do to in and around the Lauterbrunnen Valley. But that’s just me. Others here may tell you to go.

Even if you’re not into hiking (maybe this is a good place to get into it) there are just so many great walks/scenery around Wengen it’s worth savoring your stay there and not overdoing it.

We have been to this area twice......first time we stayed in Interlaken and Lauterbrunnen, the second time we stayed in Wengen. We LOVED the Wengen area.....so easy to get to all of the mountains and trails to walk from there and it was delightful. We also loved Luzern and Mt. Pilatus and would say that it was much more enjoyable for us than the Interlaken area. Interlaken is SO TOURISTY......it was a nice walk through town and we enjoyed a dessert overlooking the open fields there where all of the hang gliders come in but would say that Luzern is much more charming and quaint. We did rent a motorcycle in Interlaken and drove to the lakes area around there....was definitely a highlight to get away from Interlaken and see the beautiful farms, etc. If not for the motorcycle ride I would say skip Interlaken. We had iffy weather while there on our second trip.....paid to go to the Jungfrau twice....the first day it was covered in clouds and the second day clear as a bell....hated to pay twice but so worth seeing it cloudless.....and you have no control over that!

Definitely factor weather into your planning. You may go and it could
be fantastic the entire time. Or, you may go and it rains/snows the
entire time. Or, more likely, it’ll be a mix of both good and bad
weather.

I personally wouldn’t venture to Lucerne if I was staying in Wengen
due to travel time and all the great things there are do to in and
around the Lauterbrunnen Valley. But that’s just me. Others here may
tell you to go.

I had no intention on doing Lucerne, but my son really wants to do a "scenic train ride", so I thought this would fit the bill and was the easiest to do (least travel) from Wengen?

*

nterlaken is SO TOURISTY......it was a nice walk through town and we
enjoyed a dessert overlooking the open fields there where all of the
hang gliders come in but would say that Luzern is much more charming
and quaint. We did rent a motorcycle in Interlaken and drove to the
lakes area around there....was definitely a highlight to get away from
Interlaken and see the beautiful farms, etc. If not for the motorcycle
ride I would say skip Interlaken.

*Really, I just included Interlaken because I think we go through it on our way to the Lakes? And figured it might be worth a stroll through...but not to spend the day there or anything.

Dad and I did the Golden Pass train from Interlaken to Montreux for a day trip. It was great- very scenic. In Montreux, we walked to the lake and took the boat to Chillon. Then we took a bus part way back towards the train station and walked along the lake. I wanted to get a picture of the Freddie Mercury stature for my son. The path along Lake Geneva was a great stroll- lots of interesting art. then we had a crepe for a snack and caught a train back around 5PM. It made for a very nice day.
At Shilthorn, we really had fun at the James bond exhibit and had a nice lunch at the cafe there.

You may want to have some plan B's. Schilthorn or Jungfraujoch could be foggy/cloudy with no real views. You won't know until its time to go. There are webcams at the base of the cable cars that show you the conditions up top. Travel up and down is super expensive. So, keep that in mind.

Trummelbach Falls is an alternative in Lauterbrunnen. There are also leisurely walks from Mannlichen to Kleine Sheidegg with fantastic views of the Eiger North Face. You can take the cable car up to Mannlichen from Wengen and train down to Lauterbrunnen.

I know you state you are up and out early, but my experience is the weather doesn't tell time. Many days it takes hours for the sky to clear and the sun to shine. I believe the only decent zipline in the area is at First via Grindelwald. I'm not absolutely sure. Enjoy your trip.

Have you looked at the cost of these rides and activities?

Assuming younwill have three Swiss Passes and a free Family Card for the 13-year-old, you will stillmpay a lot to go up the Jungfrau. A regular ticket from Wengen tomthe top and down to Grindelwald is 183 CHF; the Swiss Pass discount of 25% will bring this down a bit but you are still looking at around 400 CHF for the three adults. That is a lot for a ride through a tunnel on a packed train, in my view.

The activities at the First gondola will provide much more bang for your buck. The gondola itself is covered with your Swiss Pass, and you can buy packages to include the four activities, First Flyer (zipline), First Glider also zipline, with an eagle carrying 4 people), Trotti-bikes and mountain scooter.

https://www.jungfrau.ch/en-gb/grindelwaldfirst/adventure-package/

The Schilthorn will no longer be fully covered on the Swiss Pass in 2020, but you will get a 50% discount, and the younger teen is free.

Have you looked at the cost of these rides and activities?

Assuming younwill have three Swiss Passes and a free Family Card for
the 13-year-old, you will stillmpay a lot to go up the Jungfrau. A

the 13 year old will actually still be 12 at the time of the trip. Then there is my 16 year old, and myself. I don't know if that makes a difference. I haven't ventured into the passes yet so IDK which passes we'll have.

(I listed them as 13 & 17 as their birthdays are the following month so they'll be closer to 13 & 17 then 12 & 16. But if there are any discounts to be had for them, I will certainly take it!)

The cutoff age is 15.

So younger child will travel free on everything with the free Family Card you request with your Swiss Pass.

The 16-year old will not travel for free and will need his or her own Swiss Pass. There may be a Youth price but I don't recall; we have never used that.

I know the plans will depend on the weather....any suggestions for rainy day alternatives?

If I have to skip one of the mountains due to clouds/weather - Mt. Pilatus? Or is it still fun to do the boat ride and cog train, even without clear weather?

I think it would be OK to do the St. beatus caves on a rainy day?

Otherwise, does the timeline I have posted for each day seem doable for 10 hour days, ASSUMING clear weather, or is there anything I need to adjust? I haven't looked too much yet into how long it takes to get from point A to point B. I did try to select activities that didn't seem too difficult to get to.

Thanks for any input. I wonder if there is any country that is more difficult to plan for than Switzerland!?!

To me, the Jungfraujoch and Schilthorn are a tad redundant. I would pick one of them and do that on the morning that is most likely to be clear. As it seems you and yours are more into moderate hikes with alpine “rides”, you may want to consider heading over to Kandersteg. Beautiful lake, trails with an alpine slide. You can get over there for free with the Berner Oberland Pass.

If your in Grindelwald for First activities, you may also want to check out the Pfingstegg summer toboggan. It's in Grindelwald, just up the street on the other side of the road from the First gondola entrance. At Pfingstegg you take a short gondola up the mountain and then there is a summer toboggan run. My husband and I did this after we finished up at First and thought it was a lot of fun. IF you have the Berner Oberland pass the gondola and toboggan ride are included in the pass. There may be a discount with other passes, but I don't know.

We had a great time at First with the cliff walk, First Flyer (zipline), Trotti-bikes and mountain scooter. We're both over 60 and felt like kids again.

I hope we can return to the Berner Oberland someday. Enjoy.

To me, the Jungfraujoch and Schilthorn are a tad redundant. I would
pick one of them and do that on the morning that is most likely to be
clear. As it seems you and yours are more into moderate hikes with
alpine “rides”, you may want to consider heading over to Kandersteg.

If your in Grindelwald for First activities, you may also want to
check out the Pfingstegg summer toboggan. It's in Grindelwald, just up
the street on the other side of the road from the First gondola
entrance.

Ok, after further research, I think we will skip Jungraujoch, and instead spend time at Pfingstegg toboggan. If we do some Mt. First activities (say cliff walk and maybe zip line type thing), then toboggan at Pfingstegg, and then wander around Grindelwald a bit, is that a full day? Or can I squeeze more into that day, lol. Google says train from Wengen to Grindelwald is 1 hour.

I will bet your kids will want to do more than one of the mechanized activities from the First gondola. The package pricing means the more you book, the cheaper each one gets. If you pickmthe 3-activity package, you can descend down to Grindelwald by using the zip line, mountain scooters, and Trotting-bikes in succession. See the map at the bottom of the page I linked above. Book the 4-activity package and they (and you) can ride back up the gondola (no charge) and repeat the one activity that is their favorite, or do the Glider flight underneath the “eagle”

thanks for the tip, Lola, we will most def. do the package.

On day 2 after going up to the Schilthorn and the Birg cliff walk, you could visit Muerren (not much to see), then either take a very easy 30/40 minute walk down to Gimmelwald, or you could take the Almendhubel funicular up and walk down to Grütschalp (maybe an hour, 90 minutes). This is more of a hike, but still very easy, mostly gently downhill, with beautiful scenery and lots of cows. Then connect to wherever you want to go from there.
The best thing about Switzerland we thought was the lack of planning needed — with your travel pass, you can do whatever the weather or mood or energy level dictates. Just have a list of possibilities and go with the flow.

I forgot Trusmmelbach falls is on our must see list. which day do you thinki I could best fit that in, in my schedule above?

I forgot Trusmmelbach falls is on our must see list. which day do you thinki I could best fit that in, in my schedule above?

The day you head to Interlaken.

Interesting how we all see things differently!

My hubby and I just returned from our Europe trip, which included 4 nights in Wengen. We went up the Schilthorn on the OK day, then up the Jungfraujoch on the gorgeous day, which was the right way to do it for us.

We spent quite a bit of time at Piz Gloria going through the 007 museum (my husband's favorite Bond movie, OHMSS) and a bit of time in Murren on the way down. For us, it was about 5 hours or so total.
Jungfraujoch was, for us, completely different! Snow! hike on the glacier to the Monch hut (where else can you hike a couple of km to 12000 feet or so and have a beer at 10 in the morning?!), the ice caves (not a very long time, but interesting). We went up on the first train (beautiful day = lots of people) and were so glad we did. There were more snow activities that we watched, but didn't do (kids might love it).
We also stopped in Klein Scheidegg for lunch on the hotel patio, drinks, and an awesome view of the Eiger.
Wouldn't have missed either one, even with the price.