Ideas for a rainy visit to Bern, Berner Oberland, and Luzern?

It rarely rains all day. In Gimmelwald especially, stay alert and get ready to head out if and when the skies clear!
From Bern, Murten would be a pleasant 1/2 day trip.
And there is plenty to do in Luzern for the full day you have there.

I was in Switzerland, including these locations, in late May/early June. Rain was predicted every day, but in 14 days, we only experienced a hard rain once (late in the afternoon), and a drizzly rain once (early afternoon). I think weather predictions are a bit dicey because of the mountains. Take a rain jacket and umbrella, and hope for the best!

Take a scenic train ride from Lucerne toward Montreux……we had a rainy Sunday and thoroughly enjoyed looking at that gorgeous countryside from the end car, almost all windows, of our train…….you could also go to Interlaken, take the boat ride to Hotel Geissbach, have lunch and then return to Interlaken……a great day

Yeah what everyone else said. Weather moves through the mountains quickly and sporadically. Just be ready for rain, and do what you're going to do anyway.

I just spent a month and a half bicycle touring in Europe, a surprising number of those days riding a bicycle in hard rains in the mountains. Once you get over the fact that your sneakers are soaked (open up the laces and pull out the insoles, put them somewhere warm, and they will dry out), my family found it quite beautiful in the wet in the mountains. All of the colorful nearby stuff lights up against the gray, and you notice all of the charming little things around you when your gaze is not pinned to the horizon.

When you're in the mountains, you can use the lifts and cog trains extensively if you get a pass. It's a great way to zip around from place to place during the moments when the weather is not ideal.

hoping for reassurance that we can brave the weather and still enjoy some scenery

Yes! Absolutely! At this point it looks like Wednesday will be your wettest day, so you planned things perfectly to be in Bern that day :)

Bern has covered colonnades all throughout the old town, so walking around there will be fine, and you can still go into the various museums, Bern Münster, etc.

The boats all have some indoor seating and sometimes even overhead cover for the outdoor seats as well.

Along the Lake of Thun there is Oberhofen Castle or the St. Beatus caves and waterfall that you can stop off and enjoy

Waterfalls look great on rainy days, Lake of Brienz has Giessbach Falls

Currently it looks like Friday will have the nicer weather. Go as early as you can to Gimmelwald to take advantage of that, and definitely keep checking the forecast, as it can easily change - hopefully for the better. Either way, you will still be able to see and do many wonderful things! Enjoy!

We spent three weeks in Switzerland starting August 25th and our forecast indicated rain in the forecast for the next ten days. We waterproofed suitcases, backpacks and packed raincoats and umbrellas before we left. When our trip ended on September 14th, we had never opened an umbrella or used a raincoat, even though rain was always in the forecast. Maybe carrying umbrellas was an insurance policy, but it seemed to work! We just went ahead with our plans and hopefully you can too. Have a wonderful trip!

It has been better here this week (Lauterbrunnen), than expected according to the forecast, so don’t be too worried. If it’s cloudy but not raining like today, you can still do almost anything. If it is raining lightly like it did Saturday, there are lower elevation walks. Have a list of ideas and make a decision based on the weather when you wake up. Some ideas near Gimmelwald:
- The Sagiweg in Gimmelwald (well-signed lovely loop)
- Walking from Mürren to Grütschalp or vice versa
- Walking through the Lauterbrunnen Valley from Stechelberg to Lauterbrunnen (we like this even in light rain)
- Trummelbach Falls

Wear a rain jacket and a wide brimmed hat and good footwear.

Download the app MeteoSwiss for the most accurate forecast.

Great ideas - thanks so much!!

What you need to do is look at a good weather forecast, eg from meteoblue or meteoswiss, and look at the hour by hour forecast for the actual location you are in.
A general forecast that puts just one symbol representing a whole day in an area the size of Canton Bern is useless. It is perfectly normal for the weather to be completely different in places as close as Lauterbrunnen and Grindelwald.

Also usefull is the weather radar. I have the meteoblue app on my phone, and there I can see when it starts raining how long it is expected to last. We haved used that a few times while walking. If it starts raining and it looks like it will only last half an hour or so we just take shelter somewhere. There are little barns all over the landscape...