Wengen

Your friend is referring to Grindelwald, which is down the mountain from Wengen, on the opposite side from the Lauterbrunnen valley. Grindelwald is a bigger town, with lots of tour buses rolling through. Tons of shops and restaurants. Definitely a different feel. Lauterbrunnen is similar, lots of cars & buses. Lots of shops & restaurants.

Another town nearby is Gimmelwald. This is tiny, with just a few places to stay and few restaurants. It is up on the hillside opposite of Wengen, near Murren.

We stayed in Wengen for 5 nights, near Hotel Baren. Loved the views from there, but it’s a steep walk up to the village, if there are mobility issues. Loved the peace in the village, and the ability to go to Jungfraujoch easily. Or up and over the mountain to Grindelwald. Or down to Lauterbrunnen (and beyond) in the other direction.

I would book a refundable stay in another hotel in Wengen. I don’t have a recommendation, as we stayed in a rental: Chalet Gerbera. About 2 weeks before your stay, contact the hotel and ask about the renovation status. Ask what the impacts are to guests. Look at recent reviews. Then decide if you want to stay or cancel.

Loved Wengen! Years ago…stayed in Hotel Belvedere. Was wonderful then. A sweet village and train offered easily the other local sites which we also did.

Consider yourself lucky that you were notified in advance. When I arrived in Lisbon, March 2024, there was a note on the table apologizing for any inconvenience the “intervention” next door might cause. I later found out that intervention equaled renovation.

In Wengen, I have stayed at the Hotel Schonegg twice, June 2022 and June 2024, and would stay there again.

https://hotel-schoenegg.ch/en/

It’s an easy walk from the train station down the main street. Slightly uphill, but nothing compared to the hill down from the train station.

I’m not a fan of Grindelwald at all. I prefer to be up in the mountains away from the crowds and traffic.

It sounds like you have ruled out Murren. I stayed at the Hotel Edelweiss, also June 2024, and I can’t imagine a hotel with a better view.

https://www.edelweiss-muerren.ch/en/

But, it’s easier to get to and from Wengen.

I don’t like the idea of having multiple hotels booked and cancelling at the last minute. I don’t think that’s fair to the hotels.

Too bad about Baren - it was the most incredible stay for us - particularly their half board. Amazing food and best service. We really loved their staff. (We were there a week this past summer). But exciting about renovations!
Rick also recommends hotel schonegg (3 star)and hotel Berghaus (2 star) in his Switzerland guidebook. The book - although it covers all of Switzerland - was a good first step in my research.

We stayed at Hotel Alpenruhe - Vintage Design Hotel, and I see the ratings on Booking.com continue to be very high with a 9.4 rating currently. It’s in a quiet area, and make sure you pick a room that has the balcony with the stellar views!

Personally, I would immediately cancel the hotel undergoing renovations. There’s no reason in an expensive area to have some of the issues we’ve experienced, also, when being told a renovation would be completed before we arrived.

they preferred Grindelwald…because there was more action and it wasn't so high up.

This is absolutely true, so if that is what you are looking for then it can be a good option for you, otherwise I would remain with your initial choice of Wengen.

Thank you all for your comments. It will definitely be Wengen, and I'm leaning towards Hotel Braunbar now.

We’ve stayed in both villages, Grindelwald is located in a completely different valley from Lauterbrunnen and very touristy and crowded. Im sorry to hear about the Hotel Baren construction during your stay but if they are still open for dinner. I would recommend. We ate there several times and it was very good.

margie, I had heard that their restaurant is really good. We had the half board included in our accommodations, but maybe we can do one night for dinner at Baren. We will be at the end of a 3 week trip. I know others suggest not tying themselves down to one restaurant with the half board but frankly at the end of three weeks, I'm tired of thinking about what's for dinner. We aren't really staying long enough for a chalet and even some of the Wengen hotels want a 5 night minimum stay.

In September we spent 6 nights at Braunbaer Hotel in Wengen. We enjoyed our stay there and our balcony had a great view. The hotel also has a very good restaurant and a bar that has live music twice a week. It was less than a 5 minute walk from the train station slightly uphill. My husband and I are seniors and had no problems with staying there. It’s a great town.

https://www.braunbaerhotel.com/en?gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=22173282423&gclid=CjwKCAiAssfLBhBDEiwAcLpwftkzWUmRmu6AHkoQOQElXmQ5rYExmxZn7OCzGcz6gSd3mDrmBwHhBhoCU8wQAvD_BwE