Please sign in to post.

Travel guidance please for five days in the Berner Oberland Region!

Good morning,
My family (2 adults and 3 girls ages 12, 15 and 17) will be spending five days in Switzerland following an extended family Viking River Cruise. I am trying to figure out our itinerary and which Swiss Rail Pass to get and I am very confused. Here's what I have planned to date:

  1. We arrive in Basel on a Sunday in June and head directly to Muerren by train/cable car
  2. We are staying in Muerren from Sunday evening to Thursday as a base for our exploring the Berner Oberland region
  3. We depart for Geneva on Thursday and have one night there before heading home to the states on Friday.

So here are my questions:
1. Which hikes and train rides would you recommend we do for our three full days in Muerren? We are fairly healthy so a mix of easy and strenuous is fine.
2. Which Swiss Pass (if any) should we purchase? I am so lost in the many options out there.
Thank you so much for your help!

Posted by
1450 posts

There are many hikes of all difficulty levels to do in the area. The TI and train stations in that area will have free maps, but here is one to look at in the meantime.

The Swiss Travel Pass or Half-Fare Card are probably your best bets. In your situation I would opt for the travel pass because it will cover most of the cable car rides, which you will be taking often since you are staying in Murren. I also like the travel pass because you don't have to buy any further tickets, except for special destinations like the Schilthorn. The HFC is a good value also, but you still have to buy tickets each time you want to ride.

Posted by
21094 posts

Your 17-year old will be considered an adult, but pick up the free Family Card (along with your own pass) to cover free travel for your 12 & 15 year olds as long as they are with at least one of the parents.
Consider the Swiss Transfer Ticket (141 CHF) with the Half Fare adder (60 CHF). That will cover the ticket from Basel to Muerren and to Geneva plus get half fare on all trains and lifts after you arrive in Muerren.
You must buy this before you enter Switzerland.
http://www.sbb.ch/en/leisure-holidays/holidays--short-breaks-in-switzerland/swisstravelsystem/swiss-transfer.html

Posted by
4 posts

Thanks so much for the help with the tickets. I'm going to try to figure out the "costs" tonight.

Do you guys have any suggestions for hikes that are your favorites in that area and any must sees in our limited time?

Posted by
7209 posts

If you don't want to bother with all the tedious calculations you can just buy the Swiss Half Fare Card which is usually the most economical pass to travel around all over Switzerland.

Posted by
197 posts

Hey guys!
Consider hiking the Schilthorn. I did it in October, 1984 and it is one of the most amazing experiences I have ever had-I still talk about it. Some tips: wear lightweight, waterproof hiking boots at a minimum. Sneakers & sandals are out (& I was amazed to see people trying to hike in these!). It gets rockier as you approach the summit and we had to go through a snowpack for the last 300 meters or so. Have a lightweight daypack that you can keep raingear, a light sweater, a water bottle and maybe some trail mix or chocolate to munch on. Respect the weather-check with the locals before setting out. We had a beautiful, warm sunny day (in October no less) when I did it but it gets colder as you near the summit. At the top, you do feel like you are at the top of the world. I was in good shape so I never felt the hike was overly strenuous and the rocky area I am talking about is sort of a level plateau before the last push to the summit. You are talking 4-5 hours with stops along the way. The alternative is to take the cable car up and hike down to Muerren. Don't forget a camera. The views and the overlooks either way are phenomenal!

Posted by
8915 posts

Elinor, in Mürren, you'll find trail maps all over the place, that show detailed info on trails including their degree of difficulty. Your hotel will probably have them as well as the gondola stations.

Posted by
4 posts

Thanks so much! I'm leaning towards just getting the Swiss transfer ticket combi. I suspect that we will spend the majority of the time in Muerren hiking around the area. It seems like this will keep us very busy. My guess is that this will be the most economical.

Posted by
7209 posts

Well Murren is stunning, but you will not want to confine yourself to just Murren - it's super simple to either jump on the little train/gondola down to Lauterbrunnen or jump on the other gondola down to Gimmelwald/Stechelberg - in a matter of minutes you'll arrive and the fun of traveling on the different transports is huge. You'll want to visit the other side of the valley and go up to Wengen and possibly on up farther to Kleine Scheddeg and even on to the Jungfraujoch (it's a very popular 1/2 day trip). No - don't confine yourself to just Murren.

Posted by
768 posts

If you have 3 days in Murren, here are the 3 "classic" hikes in the area,
and they follow the 3 great ridges. The first goes
from Grutschalp to Murren. In your case, you want to hike Toward the mountains, so you could take the train to Grutschalp and hike back. From Murren, you can go down to Gimmelwald or you
can hike uphill on a diagonal from the
Murren cablecar station, and eventually end up at the restaurant at
Spielbodalp. There you can get a drink and sit at a picnic table and watch the
cows. You can also get to Spielbodenalp via the Sprutz Falls route. About a third of the way up the trail branches near a hut. Take the upper one, you go to Spielbodenalp. The lower one goes fairly level into the woods and eventually to Sprutz Falls, which you cross under, climb up the trail on the opposite side, and end up in Spielbodenalp. You can see that trail and others here:
http://www.gimmelwald.com/pics/gimmelwald/hikemap.jpg

The second goes from Mannlichen to Kleine Scheidegg. The walk itself is
about 2 hours, and we save this for the sunniest day, because of the panoramic
views. (Leave in the morning--most afternoons the peaks cloud up!) Take the
train from Lauterbrunnen to Wengen, then a 5 min walk to the cable car
station, where you take the cable car up to Mannlichen. Once up, you can look
left at a 30 min up and back trail to a lookout point. If you look right
there is the main tra‎il that leads toward the Jungfrau mounta‌in, which takes
1.5 hrs and you end up in Kleine Scheidegg, where you can catch a train down
to Wengen and finally Lauterbrunnen. Great panoramic views all along the
route. This trail is so easy you could do it in a wheelchair.
It takes about 20 min train from Lauterbrunnen to Wengen, another 20 min cable car to Mannlichen, 1 and 1/2 hr hike to Kleine Scheidegg, 40 min train down to Lauterbrunnen.
The 3rd classic trail is from First to Bachalpsee. Take the Lauterbrunnen
train down to Zweilutschinen. Get off to switch to the train going up to
Grindelwald. Once in Grindelwald, walk about 20 min further into town to get
to the cablecar station, where you take it all the way up to First. From there
walk south to Bachalpsee. There are trail signs, and it is about 45 min each
way. On a sunny day, you can get great pictures of the mountains reflected in
Bachalpsee, which is a small lake. Just Google image "Bachalpsee" and you'll
see what I mean. If you want to turn this hike into a 6 hr hike, start at Wilderswil, take train up to Schynige Platte, and walk toward the Jungfrau mountains. There's a refreshment hut half way, then finally get to Bachalpsee, then 45 min more to First. Start early or you'll miss the 5:30 or so last cable car down from First to Grindelwald.
Finally, if you get a foggy or misty day, you can walk from Lauterbrunnen to Trummelbach Falls, which is about an hour each way (or take the PostBus). Google image it to see why Trummelbach Falls are worth seeing, and the nice thing is you can actually see them just fine on a dreary and foggy day.
Allen

Posted by
10 posts

What a great question Elinor - our family will be visiting in July and the answers provided by others to your post have been quite helpful!

Thank you!

Posted by
30 posts

Thank you Allen for that great info! We are doing a similar trip soon, and I want to do all those hikes!