Murren 4 day Itinerary Feedback/Questions

I have only hiked some of these routes. Here are my thoughts:

Is the Blumental Trail from Allmendhubel to Mürren worth doing?

No, you are looking at much more difficult hikes than this. I don’t think it would add anything, unless perhaps if you did so it as a loop with the Northface trail.

to keep it a loop I believe this would require doing the Northface
Trail in the clockwise direction starting at Schilthornbahn.

Yes, exactly.

I have read that counterclockwise is better, but I am unclear on if
this is due to better views throughout the hike or simply that the
hike is easier with less elevation gain.

I (in my 60’s) always do it clockwise. The only reason I can see why people want to do it the other way is less elevation gain. Views are beautiful either way.

Does the Mountain View Trail offer differing enough views/terrain as
compared to the North Face to try to do both?

In my opinion, yes. I really like the Mountain View Trail. This website has great photos of this trail - fantastic Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau views. 

https://swissfamilyfun.com/murren-mountain-view-trail/

I considered hiking Mürren to Grutschalp to Allmendhubel (via the
Mountain View Trail), then continuing with the North Face Trail going
counterclockwise from Allmendhubel. Would this be too repetitive?

No, for me they are quite different from each other…but you probably have more hikes than time :-) Once you are there and get a sense of the area, you might decide to shuffle things around a bit.

Bryndli doesn't have to be a backtrack. There is a trail that leads down to Rotstockhutte from near Bryndli, so that you don't have to walk the same route back. The Wasenegg ridge is one of my favorite parts of that hike so I'd do Wasenegg Ridge to Bryndlii and then down to Rotstockhutte from that path instead of backtracking. An alternative you can do instead of Sprutz is to hike down to Chilchbalm from Rotstockhutte and then up to Gimmelwald. It will be a longer day, but Chilchbalm is lovely with multiple waterfalls that are better than Sprutz.

Blumental Trail from Allmendhubel to Mürren isn't worthwhile with the rest of your list.

I personally think the views are better going counterclockwise on the Northface. I've hiked it counterclockwise countless times and biked it clockwise last summer to confirm that my opinion stands, as more of the views end up at your back doing it clockwise.

You can definitely add Mountain View to Northface for a longer day. I wouldn't hike Murren to Grutschalp though, just take the train there. Alternatively, since the Northface is technically a lot of lower elevation versions of Birg/Grauseeli/Rotstockhutte, you could do Allmendhubel > Grutschalp > Suwald > Sulsseewli > Lobhornhutte > Lobhorner Ridge > Grutschalp or start and end at Grutschalp to make it shorter. This would give you unique views and from Grutschalp you can go down to Lauterbrunnen if you want to explore the valley.

Wasenegg doesn't have any sketchy areas unless you plan on hanging over the edge of the medal guard rails that keep any sketchy edges safe. Some reviewers just may be extremely afraid of heights. The ridge is quite wide in most parts. The more sketchy part is from Grauseeli down to the cut off to go over to the ridge as it's just loose scree. I recommend hiking poles.

Tanzbodeli/Obersteinberg will be a major stair climber in the woods for a good portion of it.

My husband & I spend our summers living & hiking in Murren, so I think your choice to concentrate on one area is a great idea, there is plenty to keep you occupied! Some of the iterations above are on our list of favorites. If you want to join in on a hike, feel free to send me a message :)

Wow thank you so much SwissNomad and wanderweg. This is so helpful and I really appreciate your responses! I am more excited than ever!

Now I am wondering if we would appreciate our last day being a combination of the Northface Trail/Mountain View Trail and just skip the Lauterbrunnen Valley walk. Or is this a very cool perspective to see the Valley from that we should not miss? I guess it might also be possible to at least see the Valley/Trümmelbach Falls when we descend to Stechelberg after the Tanzbodeli/Obersteinberg hike, but I'm not sure how exhausted we will be and may just want to head right back to Mürren for a celebratory drink! Thoughts?

I’d just play it by ear and see how you’re feeling. You’re going to get a lot of valley views just riding the cable cars up to Mürren so it’s impossible for you not to see it, even without hiking. If you still have the energy, then I’d do Northface/Mountain View or as I mentioned for unique views compared to what you will have already done - Grutschalp/Suwald/Lobhornhutte

Trummelbach is very crowded and a bit touristy in my opinion, so I wouldn’t prioritize it. It’s a great rainy day activity.

There are two ways to go up to Mürren, if you choose to take the bus and then go up via Stechelberg (Schilthornbahn) you will drive the length of the valley. It is not the same was walking it, the hiking path is on the other side of the valley, but it still allows you to quickly see it all.

The valley walk is nice - you see the farms, fields, cows and of course the waterfalls and they are all very scenic, but the closer you get to Lauterbrunnen the more crowded it becomes. Much of the way you are walking on farm roads (as opposed to a trail). I usually start at the Stechelberg end of the valley, taking the bus to the last stop. I always enjoy the beginning of the walk but get slowly more annoyed the closer I get to Lauterbrunnen because 1) the trail ends and the walk continues on farm roads and I prefer trail over roads, and, more importantly, 2) it becomes crowded! You are experienced hikers - many people who come are not. The easier the hike/walk is to do the more crowded it will be.

Ways to get around this - go early or later in the day. Perhaps you could add the walk at the end of your Day 1, if you are returning to Mürren in time for that.

I have only been to Trümmelbach Falls once. It was during the pandemic when tourists were still not allowed to come - so basically there was no one there. I enjoyed it, but I can see that as soon as you add the usual amount of people the experience would not be the same - can you tell I don’t really like crowds? :-) It is just more difficult to see things in a narrow space when there are a lot of people, so I try to choose early/late times of the day or simply do other activities to avoid this.

I totally get the FOMO feeling that comes with planning. I have that every time I want to go somewhere and I have lived here for over eight years now. It never goes away. Lots of times I have a few options all planned out and then on the morning of I make my final decision and go with that….well, okay, I have even changed my mind on the train as I begin my journey to the mountains.

The good news is that it is all so beautiful that you will not be disappointed!

Thank you again Swissnomad and wanderweg. Your suggestions and informations are super helpful! I too prefer lower crowds always! I think with all this in mind this is where I’ve landed for my 3 hiking days (until I go down another rabbit hole and decide to change it)
1- birg to grauseeli to wasenegg to bryndli spire to rotstock hut to chilchbalm to Gimmelwald.
2- Gimmelwald to tanzbodeli to obersteinberg (maybe a detour to Oberhornsee if we’re feeling wild) to stechelberg.
3- grutschalp to allmendhubel via the Mountain View trail to north face counterclockwise (maybe detour at sprutz) and then either continue from speilbodenalp by finishing the northface or taking the Blumental trail from there back to Mürren (if this is even an option).

I should have mentioned my last day I will be ending the day by heading to Zurich but don’t mind getting in late, I’d rather maximize my time here. After the hike and freshening up I’m thinking descend to Lauterbrunnen and store our luggage, see staubbach falls at least, then maybe walk or bus to Trümmelbach (I saw it closes at 6 in July), then probably bus back to lauterbrunnen and continue on to Zurich!

Your Blumental plan isn’t possible from Spielboden and not necessary. If you take the correct route on the Northface, some of the most beautiful parts are in between Spielboden and Mürren. Blumental is meant as a short hike down to Mürren from Allmendhubel.

Oberhornsee would have to be feeling really energized after those 2 days. To give yourself the option, make sure you start out very early, as it’s realistically an 10-11 hr hiking plan. Your day 1 would be close to 10 as well with the lunch stop.

On my day 2 descent hike from Birg is it worth going all the way to the Bryndli Spire?

Totally worth it. At Bryndli you get the best 360 views. Your route is very similar to the one we did, and we did the Wasenegg ridge that wanderweg recommended and it too is thrilling. From Bryndli we went to Sprutz waterfall and Spielbodenalp instead of Rotstockhutte.

1- birg to grauseeli to wasenegg to bryndli spire to rotstock hut to chilchbalm to Gimmelwald.

You probably have your favourite hiking app, just want to make sure it is working well for you. I drew this route in mine and it is quite a serious hike:

17 km (10.6 mi), 572 m (1,877 ft) ascent, and 1,822 m (5,978 ft) descent.

Or have I misunderstood your description somehow?

Apps that are excellent here in Switzerland are:

Swisstopo - this one is awesome and completely free. Lots of styles of map to choose from. Under ‘hiking’ you will see all of the yellow lines = lower elevation hiking trails (Wanderweg) and the red lines (mountain hiking trails) and blue are alpine trails. There are lots of hiking trails everywhere! It can be really helpful to see this before you go out, especially when you are creating your own route, just to help keep you on track.

To see tall of the hiking trails really well choose “hiking” and then as a background “base map” and zoom in on an area.

Switzerlandmobility - also has a free version. There is a lot less information than on Swisstopo, but it has all you need to know for hiking and many of the popular routes throughout the country are marked with photos and info.

Both of these apps are kept up to date with trail closures, so it is another good reason to check one of them before hiking.

It's 1,275 ft up/5,350 ft down & 10.7 miles on my route: https://www.komoot.com/tour/2948689470

It's around 6.5 hours of hiking, but as I mentioned I'd allow 10 hours for lunch, rest, waterfall swimming, photos, etc.

If you get tired after Rotstockhutte you can do the return direct to Murren to cut off the extra decent down into Chilchbalm.