Third summer to Murren in a row...but...

I'm assuming you mean counterclockwise...not sure what the "back way" means, but the easiest way to do the North Face hike is counterclockwise starting up at Allmendhubel and hiking from there to Murren.

We enjoy doing the Lake Thun cruise with stops at Spiez, Oberhofen & Thun. In Spiez the homemade ice cream at the boat dock is amazing. We don't do anything inside the castle, just enjoy the grounds, the small church, etc. and then get back on the boat. At Oberhofen you can tour inside the castle, there is a stroller friendly path along the water around the gardens of the castle with shaded benches and lovely views. In Thun you can walk along the river and then up to the castle. I'd recommend a one way boat tour. Typically we train to Thun, do the activities in Thun in the morning and then boat in the afternoon to Oberhofen, Spiez and then Interlaken West to train back from there.

Not sure what you mean by "the easy one" hike in Kandersteg. I'm assuming you mean Oeschinensee. I personally don't really feel like the hike up there around the lake is a great option with a 5 month old. But you could hang out around the base of the lake if you want to deal with all the logistics. It would be a long day trip from Murren though. You have to train to Kandersteg, walk or bus to the cable car, take the cable car up, walk or e-taxi to the lake and then do it all in reverse.

Schynige Platte is nice. Walking the Lauterbrunnen Valley would be a good option with a baby.

St. Beatus caves was more impressive on the outside than the 1 km (each way) cave walk. Oeschinensee has a small shuttle bus as a backup. Consider Blausee to add to the day if walking around Oeschinensee is too much. Another option is boat ride from Interlaken where you can do Geissbach Falls and Brienzbahn. Add a short train trip to Aare Gorge (1-1.5 km).

Maureen first told me about Schweizmobil and it is an excellent source of obstacle-free paths. There is one out of Interlaken, 449, for example. Here are all of the obstacle-free routes https://schweizmobil.ch/en/hiking-in-switzerland/route-26/stage-1?f_categories=handicap in the country.

At Thun, it is very easy to walk along the Aare River out to the lake at Hünibach, but there it turns inland to complete what I call the castle walk to Oberhofen so gets a little more challenging with ups and downs, nothing hard but not flat.

I love the idea of Ballenberg, too. Such an amazing place! And the Valley walk from Stechelberg to Lauterbrunnen is excellent.

In Wengen, the walk called Staubachbänkli is flat and paved and about an hour roundtrip.

Laurel thanks so much for the Schweizmobil reference. New to me and their disabled routes are great. We must have that now and I am most grateful.

Da niente Nigel!

David, I have a couple of questions.

Will you be bringing a stroller, or will you or your wife carry the baby in a front pack? We always found the latter much simpler, so if you have a choice I recommend that. In fact, my two boys were never in a stroller. We did lots of hiking and Nordic skiing with them as babies, first “wearing” them in a front pack, then carrying them in a purpose-built backpack when they were old enough.

And what limitations does your wife’s broken toe pose? I have never had a broken pinkie toe (but did break another) so I don’t know how it feels. Does it limit what kind of shoe she can wear? Maybe only sandals? And what kind of path poses the most challenges——uphill, downhill, rugged terrain, slippery. I found walking downhill the hardest when my middle toe was broken, so I avoided that in particular.

Thank you all!

Re: castles -- we did do the Spiez castle last year and enjoyed it. Lots of interactive components, which is engaging for me. I was more curious about Thun, Oberhofen, and Hunegg Castles.

@Lola: My wife has to wear a post-op walking shoe on that foot. Hasn't been painful so far for her, but we haven't done much walking. I have a feeling uphill/flat, as long as terrain is stable will be fine, and that as you suggest, downhill/unstable will pose a greater problem. Also because it's not a boot, we want to avoid mud. Re: babies, we will be doing a front carrying pack, no stroller.

@Laurel: Thanks for posting about Switzerland Mobility. I do think Ballenberg, which we did two years ago, would be a good idea again.

@Dave A. - we actually haven't done any of those things. Are they all worth it with Murren as a base? I think you've convinced me to eliminate the St. Beatus caves. Are both those lakes swimmable? How touristy are they compared to Murren/Wengen? Overrun or not too bad?

@Maureen: So would you say Thun is worth the half day trip? Sounds that way! (Along with the other castles nearby)

@wanderweg: I think we were just remembering some parts as very narrow--following the restaurants en route to Schiltalp (I think that's what it's called) as you are leaving Allmendhubel. And so that's why we'd walk up from Murren towards Schiltalp (clockwise, I believe) towards Allmendhubel because even though it's uphill, it's mostly paved, no? You're right that the long walk around with the baby and wife's foot wouldn't be ideal. But maybe a short walk along the base of the lake -- or is it simply not worth it from Murren? I'll dm you, as well, as I know you're Murren-based.

Thanks, everyone, again!

Blausee is extremely extremely touristy. Oeschinensee is quite as well, but larger so doesn't feel quite as crazy. But still just a pain to get to on a day trip from Murren. We stayed up there for 5 nights a couple summers ago and enjoyed it, but wouldn't be interested in it as a day trip personally. Just too many logistics, especially with a 5 month old.

The true North Face hike definitely is not paved going clockwise. There is a paved portion at the very beginning from the Schilthornbahn in the village up to the veer off point where it becomes a traditional hiking path if you stay on the true North Face but you can stay on the road up to Gimmelen so it's not really the North Face hike but sort of an alternate route that would allow maybe 30 minutes of uphill paved road walking and then you could turn around and backtrack. Alternatively or in addition you can go up to the Allmendhubel and then walk down to Suppenalp and then veer down to Murren by Hotel Restaurant Sonnenberg and that path all the way down to Murren is definitely wide enough for a stroller, etc. It's compacted gravel. I personally think that option would be less strenuous with a little one and a gimp foot.

With a baby and some physical limitations, I'd probably do what I recommended above as well as Lauterbrunnen Valley, maybe Grutschalp or Winteregg to Murren on the train path (stroller friendly), Panoramaweg from Mannlichen to Kleine Scheidegg and a day down on Lake Thun. The lake promenade outside Oberhofen is lovely, shaded and has benches and multiple water access points. We always go swimming right there. I personally wouldn't bother with day trips to Oeschinensee or Blausee with a baby.

I thought of another suggestion. Gimmelwald to Chilchbalm, but just stop at the Grillplatz Feuerstelle or a little past there before it becomes a true hiking path back into Chilchbalm. It's wide compacted gravel all the way to that point and goes to the Sefinen River. I walked there last summer by myself and saw maybe 1 other person. It's very peaceful and you walk over top of the bottom portion of the Sprutz waterfall. It's mostly shaded and opens up to some lovely mountain views towards Chilchbalm.