My 7 day Switzerland itenary

"Advised to stay in Interlaken because more restaurants and hotels there..." Yes, there are more hotels and restaurants there ALL the time. Is that why you're going to Grindelwald? for hotels and restaurants? Of course it isn't! You're going to see the Swiss Alps. Do yourself and big favor and stay in one of the hotels and dine at one of the restaurants IN the Swiss Alps. You're only there for 2 nights so it's not like you're going to need 15 different restaurants from which to choose.

Right on. You are not going for the hotels and Grindelwald has some good restaurants (including pizza at Unkle Tom's Huette) so that is not an issue. And they also have some great mountains. Hotel Alpenblick has some good views with a breakfast to match. Easy on-and-off the city bus via a free-fare card from the hotel gets you to anywhere in town. I could go on but you need to go there.

Visit Interlaken next time. During the summer, even. That is the best time for that area imo.

Titlis and Pilatus are both cool and beautiful. The Titlis trip is a cogwheel train up and back with stops in a couple of tiny, barely inhabited Swiss towns on the way back down (or do they stop both directions?). At the top there is a 'space needle' type thing to see and walk around the outside of. Nice views all around :)

Pilatus is a bigger trip, and a little more expensive. They both have a boat portion from Luzern followed by a cogwheel train ascent. Pilatus however has two hotels, two restaurants, and a mountaintop promenade and walkway. Then a 50-person gondola ride down to Fraekmuentegg (an outdoor amusement park for the physically fit). From there a 4-person godola ride to Kriens (Kree-INS) and a 15 minute bus ride back Luzern. All covered under one ticket!

Pilatus is my favorite of the two ;)

Either way enjoy!

kenlee6, I am too lazy to look up the train routes, but if feasible, I'd consider doing the opposite, and going to Zermatt first, ending up in Luzern and going directly to Zurich airport from there. Anyway you go, it will take a lot more travel time out of your day to get to Zermatt and Grindelwald than it looks on the map.

Be warned that Jungfraujoch is a 1 1/2 hour train ride each way, from the bottom, so its pretty much a whole day itself. Not worth it if the weather isn't clear.

Mt Pilatus vs Titlis would depend on the weather, so decide when you get there. April is likely still cold with snow on the ground.

Hi cabalist

Will the Fraekmuentegg be open end of April/beginning of May?? I cant seem to check it on the website. Not stated

Skip Zermatt. If the weather is poor it's a wasted outing. Add the day to the Bernese Oberland because when the weather is relatively poor there is more to see and do there than in Zermatt.

Keep in mind that in April in the mountains there is still a very good chance of seeing snowfall.

Hi FastEddie

Please correct me if i am wrong. If the weather is bad, isn't it the same for Bernese Oberland as it is for Zermatt?? Since both are at the mountain area

Ditto for Zermatt, skip it. Unless you plan on climbing the Matterhorn, or at least to the Hirli, it is just a super busy super crowded corner of Switzerland.

Regarding Fraekmuentegg a couple of things and links. The cogwheel train is closed until early-/mid-May while the cable cars on the other side to all year long.

Current open facilities --> http://www.pilatus.ch/en/open-facilities/

List of train/cableways --> http://www.pilatus.ch/en/railway-cableways/

Timetables for transport (including operating dates) --> http://www.pilatus.ch/en/railway-cableways/timetable/

Opening times for Fraekmuentegg activities --> http://www.pilatus.ch/en/pilatus-active/summer/fun-action/pilatus-rope-park/opening-times-journey/

Same --> http://www.pilatus.ch/en/pilatus-active/summer/fun-action/summer-toboggan-run/

It looks like the cogwheel train will be closed, the cable cars will be open, and the summer schedule will be in force and open in Fraekmuentegg. Without the cogwheel train from Alpnachstad there is no reason for the boat ride from Luzern (which is a shame) so keep that in mind.

The Bernese Oberland and Zermatt do not really share weather.

It is true, I have been there when the bottom half of the country was covered by a storm but that is not always the case. I spend a lot of time in those mountains and you can see very localized weather in those areas due to altitude and and the peculiar way that mountains that high can sometimes keep a weather event confined in a single valley. Zermatt is at the end of a valley, the Mattertal, with a mountain so tall at their end that people on one side speak German and people on the other speak Italian ;)

Also, keep in mind that you will leave your car, or change trains, in Taesch, leaving you firmly entrenched in Zermatt.

Bon voyage!

Zermatt still has skiing well into the summer, so that would be the reason to visit in April. Otherwise, you can't really hike there until June at the earliest, and weather is usually more cloudy than not in the Alps during that time of year.

Ideally, you wouldn't be visiting in April, but if you must, Interlaken is not a bad choice. Trust me, I've been to Mürren and Wengen in April. Services for visitors are minimal to non-existant, there's not much walking you can do except along the trail down to Gimmewald (which smells like the fresh manure the farmers are busy spreading over the pastures), and fog and low cloud cover obscures the peaks quite often. I know people on this website are in love with the Berner Oberland, but most of their experiences were in the summer. It's simply not the same wonderland in April.

Hi Tom

Thanks for your honest opinion. Is Glindelwald the same as Mürren and Wengen in April like you said, minimal services for visitors ?? I think Grindelwald is one of the bigger mountain villages than others. So you mean in April Grindelwald will smell like manure because of the farmers planting??

The names of two separate municipalities can often confuse. Gimmelwald is a very small farming village a little downslope from Mürren. Even during the summer hiking season, it only has a few services for guests, and during the winter, it's pretty much snowed under. Grindelwald is the much larger town on the other side of the Jungfrau massif. I've stayed there in the winter on a holiday ski trip, but I've not seen it in the spring. I wouldn't know what's open or closed... I suspect, though, that many businesses will be on hiatus.

All of the pastures probably get the manure fertilizer treatment. When the snow pack starts to retreat from the ski pistes, that's usually when the farmers start spraying the manure. I don't know exactly when they start and finish, it probably depends on conditions year to year.

Duplicate post.