Help with 7-day Itinerary?

Hi and welcome to the forums.

Day 6 is way too busy. As I understand it the Jungfraujoch is pretty much a whole day event. I would hold day 5 activities in reserve to use if the mountains are cloudy or foggy one day. If you have good weather spread your Berner Oberland activities over all 3 days there.

Get an early jump on the day. Get up early. Check the weather and webcams to see if you want to hit Jungfraujoch or perhaps the Schilthorn first thing, Mountain weather is volatile and rain and thunderstorms can move in later in the day.

Have a great trip!

Hi!
I fully agree with the comments above regarding your time in the Berner Oberland. The Golden Pass railway is less scenic that what you can enjoy there, so the day trip is only worth it in poor weather...and even then, in poor weather I'd rather go to Bern!

1 night in Venice is very, very little: have you been there before? If not, I would skip either Lugano (you'll see the lakes in Italy, and Lake Lugano is more expensive than Lakes Como or Garda) or Trieste (fascinating history, but not that many actual sights in my opinion) and add a night to Venice.

Maybe move the Mannlichen to Kleine-Scheidegg hike to the afternoon of day 4. The hike to Bachalpsee is only 2 hours and is said to be pretty easy. Afterwards, go back down to Grindelwald for lunch, then from there, go up to Mannlichen for the second hike, which is very easy and only 90 minutes. It takes nearly an hour to get to Grindelwald from your base in Wengen. As long as you're over there, this is a way to do both hikes.

Day 5: Going to Montreux for the day from your base in Wengen should be a whole day activity. The Golden Pass route to get there is long. Once there, stroll along the lakefront promenade to Chateau de Chillon and tour the castle, then ferry across the lake to Vevey and maybe take a little hike on a portion of the terraced wine trails. You can visit the Charlie Chaplain house and museum. I wouldn't try to fit a cruise on Lake Brienz into this day.

If Jungfrau is a priority for you, then I would check the weather up top daily in the a.m. and if you DON'T go, you can:

Day One-No Jungfrau--Grindelwald First Cliff Walk and Hike to Bachalpsee
Day Two-No Jungfrau--Mannlichen to Kleine-Scheidegg hike, Lauterbrunnen Valley
Day Three-No Jungfrau--Research hikes around Murren and see the other side of the valley.

The thing about Jungfrau and Schilthorn is the weather conditions up top. If it is a target for you, you have to be flexible.

In Italy, IMO, I would pick one lake area and add days to Venice.

Enjoy

I don’t view the Jungfraujoch as an all-day experience. But it is generally best to go as early in the day as you can, considering both crowds and weather. Bring a lunch as the food options up there are limited and very expensive.

Since you are starting each day in Wengen, you can easily combine the Männlichen walk with the Grindelwald First activities, including the easy walk to Bachalpsee, in the same day. Like this:

From Wengen, ride the cablecar up to Männlichen, and walk to Kleine Scheidegg. It takes us just over an hour, but many like to take longer, like 2 hours. From Kleine Scheidegg, you catch the train down to Grindelwald. It runs twice an hour, at 1 minute and 31 minutes past the hour ( re-check this to confirm on your actual date). You can time your walk to arrive at KS 5-10 minutes ahead of the departure. It would be good to have your tickets for the train in advance so you don’t have to queue for tix there. The ride down to the Grindelwald station takes 39 minutes.

By now it is probably lunchtime, so you can find lunch in Grindelwald as you walk through town to the First lift. Or stop in the grocery and buy food for a picnic on the gondola as you ride up. Either way, you will have most of the afternoon for your First Cliff Walk and then Bachalpsee.

I couldn’t get off the Jungfraujoch fast enough. 😊 It was way too crowded for me. So, it was definitely not an all day event for me.

I almost said those exact words myself, Carrie.

THANK YOU all, this is so helpful! I'm thinking of cutting Jungfraujoch completely now considering how crowded it gets and the price...didn't realize it was THAT expensive. Definitely adding another night in Venice and choosing one of the lakes. And I might swap Lugano for Bern :D