Hikes in the Berner Oberland - Questions

I guess no one knows. Thanks anyway!

I hate to break the bad news, but many of these hikes will be impassable in May. The reason the lifts are closed is because there's not enough snow to ski, but too much snow and mud to hike. Your only hiking options are usually at much lower elevations, but...

... the farmers also use this time after the snow pack retreats to fertilize the pastures. I was foolish enough to visit in May one year, and I was rewarded for my poor planning by seeing and smelling how they keep the grasses so green and lush. Liquified manure sprayed through a powerhose. Consider yourself warned.

Someone suggested to me in another topic to go to KS and hike from
there towards Mannlichen as much as I like, and then go back.

That most likely will not be possible. I tried to do that on a previous trip same time of year when the lift wasn't operating from Wengen. The trail head at KS was chained off with large warning signs not to proceed.

That really sucks. What are some lower hikes I can do during this time? I'm seriously considering canceling my hotel reservation and going to an entirely different place.

It frustrates me how hard it is to find information about the summer opening time for specific lifts and trails. I've been at it all day and have completely failed to find any useful information about any hike at all. Do I have to be there if I want to find out? No thanks, I'll travel somewhere else that allows me to make a plan instead of risking wasting 4 days of my trip.

Thanks guys.

Openings year to year depend on the conditions on the ground, which are dictated by the spring weather. If you're trying to plan high Alpine hiking without the benefit of a short-term weather forecast, I wouldn't book anything earlier than mid-June at the absolute earliest. Even during the hiking season, you can lose days to bad weather, so to maximize your chances, you need to budget several days and have back-up activities planned if the Alpine weather gods look upon you with disfavor.

Yeah. It's totally on me for finalizing my schedule without doing more research. But even if I had known this in advance I might not have done it because mid June/July would mean way more crowds in the other cities I'll visit and more heat in Italy (the 2nd half of my trip). And even then I could end up having such bad luck in Switzerland that even in July I could get 3 days of rain or fog. It sucks for the Alps, but traveling in May was a very deliberate choice.

I'll keep searching for options of low hikes before giving up 100%. Do you have any idea of how low is it considered to be a safe assumption for no snow in May? It would be great if everything from the Blumental trail and below were open, but at 6000ft I highly doubt it. So what are the options?

Except for tiny pockets in shaded areas, the snow is usually gone from at least Mürren and a few hundred meters further up. But you can still expect plentiful mud and manure.

What else is on your itinerary? The Berner Oberland is just one small region of the Alps. Some other area might provide a better role of the dice for mid May, if not yet offering a guarantee.

I have London and Paris before the Berner Oberland. And after it: Venice, Florence, Cinque Terre and Rome. I have 3,5 days for the alps. Arrive on the 16th in a early train from Paris, leave on 20th to Venice early in the morning.

Is there another alpine region nearby that is better for May?

Some of the mountains around Garmisch-Partenkirchen may provide better conditions in May, mainly because the trails are at much lower elevation. The main skiing area (not Zugspitze, though) will likely be mostly snow free by the time of your trip. I couldn't comment on if the lifts would operate at that time, though.