We are planning on visiting in mid September 2025 and are looking at one of the following towns to stay 1) Interlaken 2) Lauterbrunnen 3) Wengen. Our plan is to use this as a base and visit the nearby sites plus Bern and Luzern by train. Any suggestions on place to stay and whether the plan is realistic or not, are welcome.
Thanks.
Rule out Interlaken. It is a transportation hub. Don’t go all the way to the BO and cut yourself short.
Lauterbrunnen is down in the valley. It’s busy with lots of cars and buses.
Wengen is my choice. A short train ride up into the mountains, with incredible views of both the valley and mountains. No cars in the village, which is lovely. Easy access to Jungfraujoch. You can go up and over the mountains to Grindelwald via train and/or gondola. We spent 5 nights in Wengen and went ALL over the region. You’ll love it.
Keep your plans flexible and go where the weather dictates. In late June, we had some rain 5 days of 6. We went where the weather agreed with what we wanted to do. Be prepared for rain in September.
Do you plan to go to anywhere outside the valleys of Lauterbrunnen and Grindelwald? Consider transit times for attractions in the neighboring valleys. You mentioned Bern and Lucerne. Consider Oeschinensee, Blausee, Giessbach Falls, Aareschlucht and for sure a boat ride. Interlaken gets a bad rap as a cold transit hub. While not on the mountain side, you will see the mountains and easy access to restaurants as it is flat. Ultimately it is what you think is right. The comments in this forum have stated large crowds in Lauterbrunnen. I would stay in any of the three cities you mentioned and let the specific accommodation and price steer me.
We stayed in Mürren in September 2024 and had a wonderful time exploring the Jungfrau Region. Have you discovered the Aplins in the Alps YouTube videos and website? They have a lot of helpful information about how to make the most of your time in that beautiful part of Switzerland. Their travel guide for this region was really informative and helpful to us, especially when we had to change plans because of weather.
We loved peaceful and gorgeous Mürren and taking the funicular north to Allmendhubel. There’s a whimsical playground there, a flower trail, and a nice restaurant where you can enjoy a dessert and coffee and have gorgeous views of the Eiger, Monch, and Jungfrau . We also walked down the path from Mürren to Gimmelwald after reading about how much Rick loved that small farming town. I would definitely recommend Cafe Liv and the InSport Cafe in Murren if you visit there for a day.
If we were to go back again, we would stay across the valley in Wengen simply because you can jump off to more places from there, whereas we had to go down to the valley from Murren, across and up again for some of our adventures. No regrets about that, as it was all so beautiful and relaxing. We knew that the forecast would be changing over the course of our week there, so we had one very full day traveling from Mürren to Grindelwald First on the sunniest day. By the time we were all done I think we covered 15 different modes of transportation, there and back! But it was all beautiful, funiculars and cable cars, sailing over cows with cow bells ringing, and magnificent vistas everywhere we looked.
Our trip began on Lake Brienz in the tiny town of Iseltwald. So we chose the Berrner Oberland pass for 10 days to cover those nights and our week in Mürren, and our travel day through Bern (where the pass ended) to Basel and on to France. That pass has changed for 2025, but at the time it gave us unlimited travel on boats and all sorts of other wonderful modes of transport in the region.
Random bit of knowledge to pass on, should you be afflicted with blisters: A kind Swiss pharmacist told us about Compeed blister plasters that were new to me, and super helpful. I’ll be taking them on all future trips!
Have a great trip!
Laurie
Thank you for your suggestions. I am leaning towards Wengen but it will depend upon availability and price. We are planning on getting seven day half price train passess, do I need any other train passes?
I would recommend you check out Hotel Edelweiss in Wengen. Our stay there was terrific. Family owned, excellent service, immaculately clean, and a great breakfast. One evening, Daniel, the owner hosted a complimentary wine/cheese event and he gave us some history on the area. They offer a 4 course evening meal for 35 CHF per person, which was very good, and IMO a great value by Swiss standards. If you want to take advantage of this, you can just tell the staff that morning; no need to book ahead for your entire stay. During our September visit, the Alpine Cow Parade occurred in Lauterbrunnen; it was a fun, unique experience. Enjoy your trip!
Thanks for the information Travelbug79, I will check out the hotel in Wengen.
We stayed in Murren in 2023 and did a day trip to Bern. Easily done via train and it was delightful. Did Rick Steves walking tour of the old city and enjoyed seeing locals floating down the river. We also visited the bears.
