Mass tourism in the Berner Oberland

We have been going to the area for years in the fall. 2021 was the anomaly (and glorious!). Later in September is better than earlier and we are usually there until mid-October when it is noticeably better.

The crowds are bad but only in places: lines for the Schilthornbahn and Grütschalp cable ways are bad, especially by late morning and into afternoon. On the trails, it’s fine. Männlichen to Kleine Scheidegg has people but it is not a conga line (like the Blue trail in the Cinque Terre). We hardly see anyone on the Grütschalp to Mürren trail, at least early in the day, nor on the Northface Trail.

Lauterbrunnen’s downtown street is crazy in afternoons and there is a constant stream to the waterfall. You’ve gotta watch traffic because too many people are driving. Mürren is pretty quiet outside of the train station and the cable way station during the day. Same with Wengen. The surge is from the train to the Männlichen cable way and you probably have a short wait for that cable way. Interlaken is thronged so go to Thun.

The huge tour groups, sometimes 40 or more people, make the platforms and trains uncomfortable but they don’t hit the hiking trails. Don’t rush, leave early, get out on the trails, pack your patience. It was like this in 2019 and before.

Oh, and make dinner reservations! It can be challenging otherwise. Smart travelers plan ahead a day or two as the best places do fill up.

I was in Brienz in mid-May, before the Rothorn Railway opened for the season. It was already very crowded. I went with my relatives in Switzerland and drove, and parking was almost impossible. I hear you. Don't forget what Laurel said--the tour groups don't hit the trails.

2021 you would have seen the BO at the ideal time when it felt relaxed and uncrowded. It’s insane now and frankly makes me a bit sad. We spend our summers living in Murren and the experience of 2010-2022 is gone. The last couple years have gone nuts. There are still places you can go to get away from crowds but it’s mostly only on the more medium to difficult hikes. If you want to experience beautiful Switzerland with less crowds, you’ll want to explore other areas less on the radar, such as Bettmeralp as an example.

September and early October are the best times to come. The weather is usually stable, and everything is still open, and the crowds have become a lot less. The cable cars are all operating till 20 October.

There have been crowds in places yes, But actually Wengen is quite nice once the crowds are gone. The reason is that several hotels are being renovated (and one is even closed at the moment) and as a result there are 40% less hotel beds, and thus less overnight tourists.

One tip: I've seen long queues at cable cars, but these are usually queues for the ticket office. These are people who came by car, parked their car and now have to queue up and buy a ticket. Since they have parked their car they cannot spontaneously change their plans.
I saw that today, and last weekend. Long queues at the cable car to Grütschalp, but the bus to Stechelberg left half empty... I would have hopped on that bus and gone via Stechelberg to Mürren.

If you have a pass, or buy your ticket using the SBB app you can just bypass the queue at the ticket office, and just walk to the turnstile and get on. And having a pass also means that you can spontaneously decide to do something else. And you can freely roam in the whole area.

So yes, by all means come. You'll have a good time.

We spent 3 nights in Wengen and 3 nights in Mürren from June 10-16. Crowds were not a problem except on the Grutschalp cable car. Even the easiest trails were not crowded then.

Yes these places are crowd, but as a Swiss I'd never go to these places for a holiday! There are many beautiful less expensive places off the tourist trail in the Alps and you have been here before, just do some research and go to the lesser known places.

For instance Burgdorf is every bit as beautiful as Bern, but largely untouched by foreign tourists and so on...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TXD83bzpFsc

That clip reminds me very much of Rapperswil, Switzerland!

My daughter and I spent four days in Mürren in early July this year. We were there to do easy half-day hikes and on most trails only saw a few people. Even the most popular trails like the north face Trail. Some of the cable cars were crowded, but we never waited in line that I can think of. And of course, the town was very quiet in the evenings. I wouldn’t hesitate to come back in high season, although having visited in July and seen the wildflowers, now I would like to go in September for more reliable sun.

If you see lines at a cable car station it is usually for the ticket office, not the entrance to the cable car itself. If you already have a ticket you can often bypass the line and go straight to the turnstile. Same if you have a pass.

Here is a tip: You can buy tickets for a particular cable car also at other places. And you can buy multiple segment trips on one ticket. I see people buying a ticket Wengen - Lauterbrunnen, and then again queue up in Lauterbrunnen to buy a ticket for Mürren. They could just have bought a Wengen - Mürren ticket already in Wengen. Or in stead of queueing up at the BLM ticket office, just go across the street to the railway station and buy your ticket there.

Every ticket office in the area can sell you tickets for any of the cable cars and mountain railways. So if you are staying in Interlaken and want to eg. go to the Männlichen, and you have a Swiss Travel Pass that gives you free travel till Wengen that does not stop you form buying the Wengen - Männlichen ticket already in Interlaken.

My wife and I went back in 2018, early October. The crowds were not bad at all, the streets were clean and of course the Swiss German people were wonderful. My son and I went back last October for an entire month and the number of people in Lauterbrunnen shocked me. Tour bus after tour bus full of people. The streets were not quite as clean as compared to 2018. Still the Swiss Germans I met were super friendly. I asked a young lady in the Lauterbrunnen tourist office about this, and she said it was a post covid thing and not expected to last but a couple of years. Later, I was talking to a tour bus driver, and he laughed and said it would never stop. I'm going back again for a month at the end of August, but I expect it to be crowded in Lauterbrunnen.