Switzerland at the end of April

Switzerland in April is better than no Switzerland. 😊 Of course there is plenty to do to keep you busy for 3 days. You can for sure go to Murren and Wengen. The last picture I saw on the Wengen Facebook page was all green grass. People live there so the roads/walking paths will be clear. Trains and cable cars still run. Trümmelbach Falls opens the beginning of April. The Schilthorn will be closed for maintenance April 25-29 though. I would not waste time going to Zermatt.

I’m sure others can think of even more things.

Don’t be discouraged. It will be a great trip. My original trip was supposed to be for April of 2020. So, some people do plan to go in April. 😊

There was a cold snap at the end of last week, with some snow, but otherwise spring is early and it has been a lean snow year, so by the end of this month you are likely to see green pastures without too much mud! Wengen and Mürren will definitely be enjoyable - I would perhaps aim towards Wengen which is 400 metres lower and a bit larger, so more open restaurants & shops. Also, don't rule out Jungfraujoch: expensive, but unforgettable on a clear day.

The only reason I would consider Zermatt is if you want to go skiing, as the season there goes until 1 May. No need otherwise!

Thank you both! Yes, the webcams actually look quite nice now, when I checked before there was more snow; sounds like it snowed in France and Germany too. I'm more excited now.

We are coming from Como and then going to Stuttgart. We will probably miss the Schilthorn but perhaps we can go up another. I think we will be happy to enjoy the mountain views from the towns but we'll see. Of course it all depends on the weather, but being there more days increases our chances of having a good day.

Thanks for the advice on Zermatt. We will be doing a lot of driving so adding another 5 hours isn't preferred unless it's a must see. I used to ski a lot but those days are over. My daughter is pregnant (that's why we have to go now.), so we won't be doing a lot of strenuous activities.

You are driving? From Lake Como to Lauterbrunnen, be aware that the shortest route via Sustenpass will still be closed for the winter, so you will have to go almost all the way to Luzern, then south over the easy Brünigpass. The other way, via Simplon pass and Lötschberg tunnel, is a bit more fun thanks to the scenery over Simplon pass and the novelty of a car-carrying train, but it takes longer and the drive is not as easy.

Another idea: Looks like the boats run twice a day at that time of year—12:10 and 14:1--from Interlaken West to Thun if you want to take a cruise to see all the castles on Lake Thun. We did that this past Sept and enjoyed the ride on the boat. Relaxing with nice scenery. And no walking!! We also enjoyed the castle at Thun.

Would you consider staying in Lauterbrunnen the whole time instead of Interlaken? It's much more charming. Of course, many here on the Forum would have you ascend higher and choose between Murren or Wengen, which actually puts up up in the Alps. I've stayed in Murren twice, and am ready to go back. It's charming.
Safe travels!

oh, I see you are driving.

You should keep an eye out for the advance warning boards along the highways giving the status of the passes. Even at road speed they are easy to read - simple because they list the passes and then a red or green board for each. It can save wasted driving..

You will need to have a Swiss Vignette (CHF40) before crossing the border on the Autobahn or using any green signed highways.

Thank you for the driving tips! Yes, I figured the passes would be closed, and my wife doesn't like winding roads, but if any are open it would be tempting. I'll see what it's like real-time. I am a little worried about the Gotthard tunnel traffic jams that occasionally happen and would like to have other options.

I was actually hoping to go the western route. I have also thought that if it was a really clear day I could go over to Zermatt and then up through the Lötschberg tunnel but it would be a long day.

(I haven't figured out quotes yet, even when I put in the appropriate code and it showed in the preview it didn't display right after posting.)

I didn't realize there were boats on Lake Thun, as the boat to Giessbach on Lake Brienz isn't running yet. That sounds like a great idea, I thought about going to see the castle and a boat would be a lot more interesting than driving, my wife loves boats.

I originally was going to stay up in Murren, but most places were closed then and I thought it would be easier to get to other places from a central location in the valley. Also, since we have a car it's easier to stay somewhere we can drive to.

I made the mistake of showing my wife and daughter the Grandhotel Giessbach, and they wanted to stay there which is a little farther, but I thought the weather would be nicer there as well. But what I have done now is changed my reservation for two nights there and two nights in Lauterbrunnen. I don't like to waste time changing hotels but that's what they voted for, and each places is close to different things.

This is the website you can use for info. on the boats:

https://www.bls.ch/de/freizeit-und-ferien/schiff#time.from:06.04.2022,time.to:04.08.2022

It states the Spring season starts on April 9 for both Lake Thun and Brienz. You can also look up the boat schedules on the SBB website or app. You can use advanced search to get just the boat routes.

Craig, we will be in Lauterbrunnen and Lucerne at end of April as well, and have same concerns regarding weather. I am trying to manage expectations and plan for some bad weather activities. My husband and I were in Gimmelwald over 20 years ago and didn’t take the Jungfraujoch because we were just out of college and broke! Praying for just one good day to do that… if not, guess I’ll just have to go back again!

Let me know if you stumble upon anything that looks like great options if weather is poor. But I do agree with Carrie… Switzerland in April is better than no Switzerland! Safe Travels!

Denise, are you familiar with the st. beatus caves? I haven’t been yet, but always thought it would be a good option in bad weather.

https://www.beatushoehlen.swiss/en/

Thanks Carrie for the boat link. I didn't realize there were so many options.

On that boat page there is a link for a larger map (Ubersichtskarte) that shows some things to see, including the caves that Carrie mentioned, whether or not you take the boat. I figured we could still see the waterfalls in the Lauterbrunnen valley, as well as the Aareschlucht (Aare gorge) and Reichenbach Falls. There is also the Ballenberg open-air museum, but possibly weather dependent.

You could do a day trip to Bern. Closer to Lucerne there is the Engelberg cheese factory, and in Lucerne there is a well known transportation museum that you probably already know about.

And yes, I agree that being there in imperfect weather is still better than not going at all!

for the Reichenbach Falls, there are three ways up. There is an ancient rickety and fun funicular, there is a postbus which goes up beyond the usual lookout near the top of the funicular, and you can can walk up/down.

Thank you, I'll look into those options. We arrived in Lauterbrunnen today. We have been in Europe for a week and the weather has been great, but now it's supposed to rain every day we are here. It actually cleared up some when we got here though so we took a nice walk in the valley. The higher peaks were all shrouded in clouds though.

I just took the regular route from Lake Como. There was an hour delay before the Gotthard tunnel but it was still listed as the fastest route. But the GPS in my car, unlike Google Maps, took me on some side roads and I was able to bypass most of the traffic.

We saw Trümmelbach Falls today which was amazing. We've also taken a couple wonderful walks in the valley here and drove up to Grindelwald, but it's been raining almost all day and the latter half of yesterday so not much else to do. The Glacier Canyon in Grindelwald doesn't open until May. Haven't seen the mountains yet. So we went to the St Beatus caves today, which was pretty disappointing (except for the waterfalls in front), and then Bern. Almost all the restaurants were closed and everyone was hungry and tired and with the rain we didn't stay long. Driving through the towns on the north shore of Lake Thun was nice; there was one schloss we tried to see but it isn't open until May as well.

Thought about going to Zermatt tomorrow as it's supposed to be better weather there, but it's still risky and it's a very long drive so we probably won't. It's too rainy for a boat ride too. Planned on the Aare Gorge and Reichenbach Falls but after Trümmelbach they might be disappointing. So not sure what we'll do, maybe Lucerne. Wednesday is supposed to be sunny though so hopefully we can see something in the morning before we head out. I knew the Shilthorn was closed this week but I didn't realize the main lift to Gimmelwald/Mürren was closed too, but there is another way to get up there. So I plan to go up there sometime before we leave.

Craig, sorry about all the rain. ☹ Thun castle is open every day at 10. That was our favorite of the 5 castles.

https://www.thunerseeschloesser.ch/en/castle-thun

I’d still walk around Murren and Wengen, even in the rain. I’ll keep my fingers crossed that the weather improves.

I haven’t been yet, but the ballenberg open-air museum might be a good option. There should be some opportunities to get out of the rain. They open at 10; ticket office opens at 9.

https://www.ballenberg.ch/en/

Edited to add: I see you did mention this up above.

Thanks Carrie. The castle looks interesting, I’ll keep it as an option today, we should have gone to it yesterday instead of Bern. I hear there are a lot of nice towns on the north sides of the lakes. Not sure how the museum will be in the rain, but I’ll consider that too; it costs a bit more and not sure if my daughter will be interested though.

The Matterhorn was clear this morning but looked like it was starting to cloud up so I didn’t go. It was a little clearer here and I could see some of the mountains but it’s clouded up again now.

I found out about another small town in the mountains nearby, Sulwald, that is apparently untouched by tourism. I drove part way up, the road is one lane through a long tunnel so a little sketchy but there are some pullouts.

Just visited Gießbach Falls and had lunch at the Gießbach hotel. Highly recommended! The rain has stopped and we got some sun on Lake Brienz so we could finally see the turquoise color.

I'm glad that my suggestions to others of Gießbach has been confirmed. Glad you enjoyed it. Did you do any of the walks/hikes through the woods above the hotel?

Glad the sun finally came out. And thanks for the reality check on the weather. It’s a good reminder that I need to have some lower elevation activities planned if it dares rain during my June trip.

We only walked over one of the bridges over the falls, everyone was pretty tired.

Our last morning there was one of those perfect days, not a cloud in the sky. We took the lift from Lauterbrunnen up to Grütschalp and then the train over to Mürren; I'm actually glad the regular lift up to Gimmelwald/Mürren was shut down as the best views of the Eiger/Mönch/Jungfrau triumvirate are from that train or its stop at Winteregg. We didn't end up walking down to Gimmelwald though as we didn't have time. Supposedly there is a bus that runs every hour but we didn't see one.

That's the first I have heard of a Mürren/Gimmelwald bus. The path isn't tiny - the farmers APEs easily fit down with small trailers but I'd thought a bus would have been a bit tight. And what would it do when it got to the other end? I can't imagine a turning circle in Gimmelwald....

oh well, live and learn

The bus was only a temporary shuttle while the cable car was down for maintenance.