Lauterbrunnen or Wengen or Murrent or Grindelwald

Lauterbrunnen will be your cheapest option as far as transport goes as it's on the valley floor. All of the villages you listed have COOP grocery stores. Grindlewald would probably be 2nd cheapest - its convenient for first, but I think overall given your itinerary Lauterbrunnen will be your best choice.

Hi--We stayed in Grindelwald in late May 2008 for a week. We didn't have a car either, but the trains are great and allow you to go almost anywhere pretty quickly. First was covered in snow and we walked through a tunnel of 4 feet of snow to reach the frozen "lake". Great views though. It's time consuming going up and down to Murren and Wengen, and I would agree that we would probably stay in Lauderbrunnen when we return (soon, we hope!) due to the proximity to everything you want to do. Consider buying the Jungfraubahnen Pass which gave us unlimited bus, cog train, regular train and lift access. Schilthorn doesn't get a discount with anything. 50% off the Jungfraujoch. Have fun!

I stayed in Lauterbrunen and thought it was vg. Decide next morning Based on wether forecastwhere to go. U cannot really go wrong the valley is absoluty gorgeous. Enjoy.

The most logical choice would be Lauterbrunnen, as it's the transportation hub for that area and easy to get to both sides of the valley. If you were to stay in either of the communities on either side of the valley (Mürren or Wengen), it would take more time and cost to get to the other side. Wengen is closer to the Jungfraujoch while Mürren is closer to the Schilthorn. Grindelwald will be the worst choice in terms of ease & cost of transportation.

We stayed in Lauterbrunnen, and it was convenient as people on our tour chose different activities on different sides of the valley. You can walk up the valley easily and enjoy all the sights before taking trains or gondolas up to more views and activities.

You won't have a car so "assuming" you'll have a Swiss Travel Pass??? The STP gets you all the way to Grindelwald, Murren, Wengen, Lauterbrunnen with no additional costs.

When visiting this area I jump to either Wengen or Murren(preferred) because there's no traffic, no cars. How many times do you get to stay in an area without traffic?

Lauterbrunnen - logistically the center of your explorations
Wengen/Murren - either side of Lauterbrunnen WITHOUT car traffic
Grindelwald - nice but also TOUR BUS central

I have spent time in both Murren and Wengen. We visited Lauterbrunnen and Grindelwald. Grindelwald is out of the way on the other side of the mountain from the others so I would scratch it out. Lauterbrunnen is in the valley so not as good a view from above in either Murren or Wengen. I would spend the extra money and stay up on the mountain and admire the view everytime you turn around.

We've stayed in Murren twice. Second time we went way out of our way just to be able to stay in Murren again. We like Murren much more than any of the other villages. Being up in, and enveloped by, the Alps is an incredible experience. Every where you look you cannot believe what you're seeing. I don't want to go that far and stay on the valley floor. I agree with csu, any added cost (it's not much) is well worth it for what you get and for how far you've come to be in the Alps.

Out of four trips to the area, we've stayed in Lauterbrunnen three times and would again. The ease-of-access for transportation to the other locations in the BO is excellent, which I think you've already figured out. There is a decent grocery and a couple fo good restaurants.

A Berner-Oberland Regional Pass will probably make sense for you. It always pencils out for us to the tune of 150% of face value or so. With it you can ride all of the lifts and trains (even as far as Bern) as well as the boats on the lake and you will get a significant discount on the legs to the Schilthorn and Jungfraujoch.

We stayed in Lauterbrunnen with a RS tour. When we returned, we stayed in Wengen because we enjoyed that town so much, and the views were incredible. The famous mountain/valley photo is what we saw each morning from our balcony in Wengen. We didn't intend to go to the Schilthorn, so everything we wanted to do was close. You might like the nice walks around the edge of Wengen, too, if you're not wanting to hike.

Wondering if you mean Gimmelwald in the original question.....