Please Help Prioritize Hike Choices in BO

The Via Ferrata does not fit into the category of easy hiking. We are very fit seniors, usually do hikes in the strenuous category, but this is more of a climb than a hike; you are on ledges and metal cables over a thousand feet above the valley floor, with a cable protecting you but nothing but air below your feet.

My husband did it and was exhausted afterward. Our 45-year old son, an experience rock climber and ultra-endurance athlete (he does multi day mountain bike races of 400 to 2700 miles) did it and had fun. But it is not for everyone.

Sorry— I understand “FOMO” but what is YOLO?

@Lola Thanks for sharing your experience
@Sasha YOLO...You Only Live Once

I would definitely recommend you stay in Wengen vs. Lauterbrunnen. There's an easy and beautiful walk from Murren to Gimmelwald, where you can wander their quaint little village.

My priorities would be Mannlichen to klein Scheidegg and North Face trail. That will give you two good hikes one on each side of the valley. Then if enough time my next priority would be First to Bachalpsee.

We've enjoyed staying in both Wengen and Lauterbrunnen. They are just different experiences as Lauterbrunnen is on the valley floor. For longer trips we prefer staying in Lauterbrunnen because it's more central, but Wengen is a bit more unique.

@TravelBug79 thanks!
@ Jill thank you for the information

I would choose Wengen over Lauterbrunnen. Staying in the carfree village with lovely views into the valley and out to the peaks is a special experience you will be glad you chose.

Will you have BernerOberland passes for these days? If so, you can have a lot of fun riding the lifts to your hiking or other activities. They are all free (apart from the Schilthorn which you have done, and the Jungfraujoch which I would not recommend).

Something like this:

for your Männlichen-Kleine Scheidegg hike, ride the cablecar up to Männlichen on the roof of the cabin (the Royal Ride).

https://www.maennlichen.ch/en/summer/experiences/royal-ride.html

Walk to Kleine Scheidegg, stopping at the restaurant on the left before you reach KS, and have an early lunch on the view terrace. Then continue past the Kleine Scheidegg busy area on the trail up to Eigergletscher. There is a restaurant here too, if you passed up on the earlier one. Here is their menu:

https://cdn.jungfrau.ch/Gastro/Karte-Restaurant-Eigergletscher.pdf

Ride the Eigergletscher Express down to Grindelwald Grund, and walk through town to the First lift. Ride up to the top and walk to Bachalpsee (I suggest you do this before the First flier to avoid backtracking). You might also want to do the Cliff Walk:

https://www.jungfrau.ch/en-gb/grindelwaldfirst/first-cliff-walk-by-tissot/

If you still haven’t had lunch, get off the lift at Bort and have lunch at the restaurant there before continuing to the top. The First Flier starts at the top and zips you down to Schreckfeld, where you board the lift again for the ride back down to Grindelwald.

Another opportunity at Grindelwald is to ride the Pfingstegg lift up to the summer luge and hike the trail along the cliff to the Bäregg mountain hut (yet another lunch opportunity). There are photos and a description of this hike on this blog:

https://swissfamilyfun.com/pfingstegg-baregg/

You won’t have time for both that and the First activities, however.

This will fill up one of your 2 full days. That leaves the other for Mürren and the North Face Trail (funicular to Allmendhubel included in the BO Pass if you do not wish to walk up). Also the Via Ferrata if you are still thinking of that. It ends at Gimmelwald and you can go straight down to Stechelberg from there with the cablecar. I always recommend taking this route down to Lauterbrunnen (instead of the train to Grutschalp and cablecar down from there). From the Gimmelwald station the cablecar swings out past the cliff edge into thin air, 1500 feet above the ground, and then slowly descends. At first you are at eye level with the paragliders. And if you choose to walk back to Lauterbrunnen for the train up to Wengen, you may experience one or more of them landing near you in the field as you pass.

@Lola thanks so much!
I was wondering if it was possible to do Mannlichen and First on the same day. So glad to hear that it works. Thanks again for the links and suggestions. Very helpful!

Just get an early start—-the cablecar starts running at 8:30. Staying in Wengengive you an advantage here. And make sure you don’t miss the last gondola down from Schreckfeld or wherever you end up on the First lift. It is a long walk down to Griendelwald! I believe the closing time is 6 pm but confirm that there.

EASIEST
---Lauterbrunnen Valley -- doing via ebike is nice and you can bike the entire valley roundtrip in 2 hours (the amount of the basic rental at Imboden)
---Mannlichen to Kleine Scheidegg -- great "bang for your buck" - it's very easy, but stunning views

MODERATE (not difficult, but more of a hike, not a walk like the ones above)
---Schynige Platte Oberberghorn Trail -- love this one and has the fun train ride as part of it
---Northface Hike counterclockwise from Allmendhubel -- beautiful. Wouldn't recommend the detour to Sprutz. It's nice but not worth the detour in your case.

WAY OVERCROWDED
---Grindelwald First/Bachalpsee

In your case, I'd stay in Wengen and if you arrive shortly after lunch then I'd do Mannlichen to Kleine Scheidegg on your arrival afternoon or store your luggage in Lauterbrunnen and do the ebikes in the valley before continuing up to Wengen. Then your other 2 full days I'd do Schynige Platte and Northface.

@Wanderweg. Thanks!
I was thinking of doing Lauterbrunnen Valley immediately upon arrival. Is there an hourly option for the ebike rental? I was planning on seeing Trummelbach falls while we tour the valley. Probably can't do that in the 2 hours??