Switzerland Early October

IMO Interlaken was not charming, it was a railroad hub. Frankly, I would base in Wengen, it only takes a short amount of time (maybe 11 minutes) to take the cog train down to Lauterbrunnen and the views are incredible.

Lauterbrunnen is the jumping off point for all the things you mentioned. Yes wengen would be good too. Lauterbrunnen saves you the 25 minute train ride into the valley from interlaken every time you want to do something there.

Will staying in Interlaken make much of a difference in the ease of
our travel time to those destinations?

No. It will be roughly the same (to Grindelwlad) or worse (Wengen, Mürren) as far as ease and amount of travel time.

Of course arrival and departure will take a bit longer, but that is preferable to going in and out of the valleys each day to the areas you want to visit.

You will probably be able to do more on Oct. 6th than you have planned so far. Cycling the valley and exploring the village would take about half a day. You will find out as you go, but you could easily do that and explore one of the three other villages on your list.

Hi Susan and Greg. I will start by saying I absolutely love the lauterbrunnen valley, but at the same time, I want to help you set your expectations so you are not disappointed. Saying there are 72 waterfalls is a bit over the top. I'm sure someone counted that many at some point, but some are a trickle and not accessible. Not trying to be a downer, as I said, I love that valley, but don't think you're gonna go and be able to count 72 waterfalls. The other thing is, the waterfalls are fed by snow melt and glacier runoff, which means the size varies by time of year. The later in the year, the less the snow melt and glacier run off. It also might mean fewer waterfalls. Have a wonderful time.It's really beautiful. You will love it, but I just did not want you going there with high expectations and be disappointed.

This is the first time I have seen someone suggest that visitors might be disappointed by the Lauterbrunnen Valley. I have taken many guests there over the years, and every one of them has come away full of praise—often awe—after exploring the valley and its surrounding villages.

I suppose if someone expected to find 72 thunderous waterfalls all in full flow, they might be disappointed. But it only takes a cursory look at the geography of the valley to realise that couldn't possibly be the case.

The Lauterbrunnen Valley is only about 4–5 miles (6–8 km) long and, for much of its length, less than a mile (about 1 km) wide. All of that water has to drain through the valley floor via the White Lütschine river. If all 72 waterfalls were in full torrent, the landscape would look very different—and we'd probably be talking about Lauterbrunnen Lake rather than Lauterbrunnen Valley. :-)

Swiss Nomad. The OP said they plan to do a bicycle tour of the 72 waterfalls in October,, hence my comment trying to help them set realistic expectations, as there is no way they will see 72 waterfalls. That is marketing hype. You basically said the same thing I said. I don't know how I could have been any more clear that the Lauterbrunnen valley is beautiful and I absolutely love it. Please reread my post.

I did read your post carefully Wanderlust. I just didn’t agree with it. You don’t know what this October will look like. A lot of rain can make for stunning waterfalls at that time of year.

One of the favourite photos I have of the valley was taken October 9, 2020. I took it from the (open) train window on the way up to Wengen. The river, church and Staubbach Falls line up beautifully. The trees are starting to change colour, there is new snow at higher elevations in the background, the sunlight is illuminating Staubbach Falls and I can see six other waterfalls of various sizes also all illuminated by the sunlight hitting them.

As you know a photo like that captures only a fraction of the valley, which is not straight, but curved, so you cannot see it all at once. Who knows just how many of these beautiful waterfalls a person would have seen cycling through the valley that day.

To assume that the reference the OP made to cycling the 72 waterfalls area means they expect 72 gushing waterfalls is a bit of a stretch to my thinking, the geography of the area does not support it.

I also agree Wengen is a better base. In October (when we visited) we found it to be magical.

I’ll be there in early Oct myself & am staying in Lauterbrunnen. I read all the posts about how it’s better to stay in Wengen or Murren to really experience being in the mountains & initially I booked a hotel in Wengen but changed my mind & decided to stay in Lauterbrunnen. I decided I didn’t want to be dependent on transportation to get to the valley floor, also I think there’s more chance of snow in higher elevations. We aren’t in our hotels all day anyway, so the convenience factor was more important to me than a view out a window which I won’t see at night anyway. So staying in Lauterbrunnen isn’t wrong by any means.