Itinerary ideas

Hubby and I have been to Lauterbrunnen 3 times and love it. We like the central location and ease to get to the trains when we want a day off from hiking. 2 years ago we discovered Hotel Geissbach and the Geissbach Falls……take the train to Interlaken, then the boat on Lake Brienz to Geissbach Falls…….delightful ride. Get out at the Hotel Geissbach at the bank, ride the funicular up to the hotel and have lunch…..gorgeous old hotel with beautiful grounds that closes in the winter. Sit by a window that gives you a good view of the falls……tour the hotel and grounds and then take the hike back to Interlaken beside the lake. There is a bus that you can ride back to the Interlaken train station and then back home. WE also love Lucerne and enjoying Mount Pilatus. Have a lunch at Hotel Balances right on the river overlooking the Chapel Bridge and just enjoy walking its streets. We also bought 2 Swiss Passes and took a day off from hiking to ride its route from Lauterbrunnen to Montreux, where you can also take a walk around the lake there and have a nice lunch. Hope this helps!

Thank-you so much Jane. I am putting your suggestions into my Switzerland vacation file. We are almost neighbors. We are in Waynesville!

BTW, we have friends that took this advice just 6 months ago on a free day in Wengen and said that the Hotel Geissbach was just as charming as we said it would be….they loved our suggestion and esp the lunch there and the boat ride there. We had always wanted to ride one of the 3 special trains in Switzerland dedicated to the scenery……Golden Pass, Bernina Express or Glacier Express……so when we had a rainy day we took off on the Golden Pass……it best suited where we were……..the lovely place you catch the bus to after walking back from Geissbach is called Iseltwald……..google it and you will see that house out on the point of land that is an incredible view!

Ideas outside the valley you are staying in
Axalp Woodcarver's (Schnitzlerweg) it is a short hike - near Geissbach Falls
Brienzbahn
Mieringen - Aare river gorge (Aareschlucht) start at Aareschlucht West and return via Aareschlucht Ost

So many things to do in the area! If you are planning on the BO exclusively, then definitely consider the BO travel pass and look at the validity map, it will have some good ideas. We stayed in Thun for 4 nights and then Murren for 5 nights in August of 2018. Activities to check out around Lake Thun: St. Beatus Caves, Niederhorn, Oberhofen Castle, Niesen, Spiez Castle and town, the town of Thun and castle. Lake Brienz, near Meiringen the Aareschlucht. Also Bern, we did a tour of the clock tower, had lunch, my husband got a haircut (ha), and we watched the people floating down the river. Also if you are staying in Murren, we received a visitors card which gave us free entry into the Alpines Sportzentrum Mürren where there was a sauna and pool to use, we took advantage of that on a rainy afternoon. Have a wonderful trip!

So many great suggestions. I am now considering remaining in the BO area for our entire trip. We will be hiking and will most likely need a few days off from vigorous hikes. We have a very early flight out of Zurich so we need to stay by the airport the night before departure. Is it worth spending a night in Lucerne to see the city? We will not have a lot of luggage to tote around. That would be 9 nights in the BO area. Or should we just stay put and have 10 nights in the BO area?