Wengen, Lauterbrunnen or Murren?

In my trip report from my June trip, I did a comparison of the 3 based on my experience.

MY THOUGHTS ON MURREN VERSUS WENGEN VERSUS LAUTERBRUNNEN

I have previously stayed in Lauterbrunnen and Wengen and wasn’t sure I wanted to fully commit to Murren, so I decided to split my time between Murren and Wengen this trip. This was a great decision and worked out well for me.

Lauterbrunnen is the most convenient for day trips, but also the busiest. I love walking in the valley once you get past all the hotels. There’s just something about having the rock walls on both sides of you with the waterfalls. It’s pretty incredible!

Murren I find to be the next busiest as there are often large groups walking back and forth between the train station and the Schilthorn cable car station. And I’m not a huge fan of getting up and down from Murren. From Interlaken Ost to Murren, it is 54 minutes (versus 38 minutes up to Wengen). There is a 12-minute wait after getting off the train in Lauterbrunnen to the cable car heading up the mountain. So, you have to stand around and wait in line. The cable car is usually very crowded and the small train does not always have enough seats to accommodate everyone. That being said, I absolutely love the views from Murren!! And it has many spectacular walks.

WENGEN is easier to get to (an 11 or 12 minute beautiful train ride up from Lauterbrunnen) and also has great views and walks. Plus, it’s easy access up to Männlichen, a favorite of mine. I have always found Wengen to be the least busy of the three.

VERDICT: You definitely can’t go wrong with either of the three locations. But for me, it’s a toss-up between Murren and Wengen as I prefer being up in the mountains. If Murren was easier to get to, I would have to go with Murren. But that cable car is such a negative for me, I’m going to have to call it a tie. If I had just a few nights in the area, I would probably go with Wengen. Or Murren. :-) If I had 5 or more nights, I would definitely split my time again.

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/trip-reports/solo-in-switzerland-june-2024-my-trip-report

I am a big fan of Lauterbrunnen for reasons that would suit you.

• It is in the middle between the two desirable and sides of the valley, I.e., between Mürren and Wengen. Being in Lauterbrunnen makes it easier to visit either side.
• You have to go through Lauterbrunnen to enter and leave the area, so if you day trip to Grindelwald or one of the lakes, for example, you are in great position for efficient coming and going.

Just walking the valley from Lauterbrunnen to Stechelberg (or vice versa) is delightful. You’ll see lots of cows!

You may get lucky with cow parades. Some are earlier, but we saw some in early October this year. Watch the tourist info sites as your trip approaches as they are often announced there.

You can view some adorable small farms in Gimmelwald. Gimmelwald is just down the mountain from Murren, there is a path. One of the times we were in Gimmelwald, we watched a local teen bringing the goats home for the evening. She was on a horse. Now, there is a small restaurant with a brewery, there. I find myself agreeing with both Laurel and Carrie! We stayed just outside of Lauterbrunnen in the valley and it was gorgeous, but so was Murren and Wengen.

Thanks to all 3 of you and it sounds like you have the same issue as I do! We for sure don’t want to split, mainly because we don’t like packing/unpacking. But all 3 sound beautiful and a treat.
The issues with Murren were what I was thinking. Now I at least have it narrowed down to 2. Is Lauterbrunnen really a big town?

It’s sound like you have ruled out Murren. These videos on Wengen and Lauterbrunnen may help you decide:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fDtdPELvSiY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3xqgW2Ha7kg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GI3IH6KJjFY

Lauterbrunnen is full of cars and traffic, to the point where the locals are talking about over-tourism and possibly limiting cars. We much prefer the car-free villages above the valley, for views, ambiance, and the car-free aspect. Which makes walking around so much more pleasant (although you will still have the farm traffic, tractors and such, now and then, and there has been construction traffic in Mürren the past 2-3 years, but that should be over soon.

We have stayed in Wengen once, and Mürren 6 times (so far). I much prefer the views from there, especially from the area in the upper village, near the little church. I love waking up to that view, and spending time with it on our balcony in the evening. As for the crowds moving through town that Carrie mentions, we have not experienced that on any of our visits. On our most recent visit, in mid-September 2023, the town was so quiet and empty we wondered what was going on. The weather was perfect and it was nice to feel we had it almost to ourselves. Of course next year could be different.

We did encounter a small cow parade down from the Schiltalp in Mürren on our last visit; it was around September 20? But I am not sure. It was a small one by one farm. I do not know when the main one with decorated cows takes place.

Not trying to be pushy, just giving a different opinion. My husband is 80, and I am 77. We have been going to Switzerland to hike for 22 years, and hope to continue.

The two towns are quite different in “feel” to my mind. Wengen has more high-end hotels, based on its history as a high-end British resort from the early years of Swiss tourism. It also has more shops and stand-alone restaurants. Mürren’s tourism history goes back to ski clubs from the UK, and the original hotels were more like ski lodges. There are few stand-alone restaurants in town (I know of one Asian and one local Swiss), but most of the hotels have nice restaurants, and half-board (breakfast and dinner included) is a good option there. I cannot recommend a particular hotel because we rent apartments in Mürren as we generally have family members joining.

Of course, both towns have always had farmers and cows. And to this day you can visit a farm and cheesemaker above Mürren. Maybe there is one near Wengen too.

As for the cablecar up to Mürren, yes it can be crowded, even packed like sardines, but I we are used to that from hiking in the Dolomites where every cablecar is so full you want to scream Stop!. But I don’t. We have also ridden that cablecar when there were only 5 or 6 of us. So you never know. After the cable car comes the little train, which has to be one of the most scenic train rides anywhere. We have never had trouble getting on that train. But if it were too crowded for our tastes, we would let it transport our luggage to the Murren station and we would walk, and pick up our bags at the station.

An alternative to the cable car to Murren would be a bus through the Lauterbrunnen Valley to Steckleberg and a gondola to Gimmewald and another to Murren. It lets off where the gondola to Schilthorn starts. I'm not saying the gondola is any more efficient in terms of time, but its lovely.

We were in the area in the winter. I'm sure Lauterbrunnen is more busy in the summer. For the record, we stayed in Lauterbrunnen Valley, at least a mile out of town. I hope Lauterbrunnen does NOT become like Grindelwald which was so crowded and touristy that it wasn't a place we enjoyed.

Honestly, each of the three has its advantages, you can't go wrong with any of them. I know there is a Coop in Lauterbrunnen and Murren. Is there a grocery store in Wengen?

Oh Lola, thanks so much! I have a hotel I got a pretty good price on in Murren. Now it is back on my list. It all sounds so lovely. I have a little bit of time and lots of studying. I will look at Carrie’s videos also.

We've stayed in Murren for four nights and Lauterbrunnen for two during the same time period in 2016. The view from Murren is amazing, but it did take a lot of time to get down and up the mountain each day, plus it was a short trek up the hill to get to our hotel. We found restaurants choices were limited, but that may have changed. I think you would be happy with any of them.

We were just in Wengen for seven nights during the first week of October. We are so pleased that we chose to stay there out of all the options.

We found Lauterbrunnen very busy, with large buses and cars. Admittedly much nicer past the town though, but there aren't many places to stay past the town.

The views from both Wengen and Murren were fabulous, and I suspect Murren's were a teensy bit better, but we preferred being in Wengen as there was simply more options for hotels and restaurants, which we needed in a week. Twice we were in Murren at lunch time and found it very difficult to find somewhere to eat, as everything appeared to be closed for the season, even so early in October.

There was one hotel closed in Wengen and one other restaurant, but everything else was open.

From our point of view, Wengen was much easier to get to than Murren, had far more options of hotels and restaurants, and still had amazing scenery.

Well all you need is one good hotel, right? I have never understood why “more hotels” is a factor in choosing a village.

As for restaurants in Mürren, in addition to the Stager Stubli and the Asian restaurant, you will find a dinner restaurant in each hotel. They are open to people who are not guests at the hotel, and are all good. We especially like the bar and restaurant at Hotel Eiger.

Many guests, especially European ones, take the half board option at their hotel, which includes a nice 3 or 4 course dinner.

And there are good lunch spots for hikers in the little alp inns above, and a nice one with a terrace at the top of the funicular (Allmendhubel). Plus the OP said they will be exploring elsewhere during the day, so they don’t need many lunch spots in Mürren.

I do recommend a ride up the little funicular for lunch and a walk back down to Mürren.

We stayed in Murren a few years ago in July and we were very happy with our choice. You can't beat the views from Murren and there are several great hikes on that side of the valley, plus Schilthorn. I don't remember it feeling crowded in the afternoon. Mornings and evenings were very peaceful. There is something not yet mentioned about Murren: it was bug free. We were able to have our windows wide open during the night and didn't have to worry about the bugs entering our room. I don't know if you can get away with doing that in Lauterbrunnen or Wengen, being at lower elevations.

You guys are so wonderful! I am still torn between Wengen and Murren, but you gave me the exact information that is impossible to get from travel books and such. We are so looking forward to our first visit to Switzerland.
Thank you all for your advise,
Janet

FWIW, I've never been to Wengen, but we loved Murren more than we can say. Murren has the view over the valley to the Jungfrau, Monch and Eiger. I don't know what Wengen's view is but its hard to believe it could be better than that!

Lauterbrunnen is a definite no as it is in the valley, not the mountains.

I am sure you will be happy whichever you choose. It’s all good.

As for the views, Wengen is lower down and the view is to the south, looking down into the Lauterbrunnen Valley and up to the Jungfrau. Like this:

https://www.alamy.com/view-from-wengen-to-lauterbrunnen-valley-and-bernese-alps-with-mount-jungfrau-lauterbrunnen-canton-bern-switzerland-image189134606.html

I can’t find a photo with the exact view we had from our balcony in Mürren but I will keep looking. Basically, Mürren is on the opposite side of the valley, higher up on the mountainside, and further up the valley. You can’t see Mürren itself in that photo above. The view is looking more directly across the valley to the snowy peaks you see in the sunlight in the photo above. That snowy ridge is lovely with Alpenglow in the evening. I don’t think you can see down into the valley, unless you are staying right on the edge at Hotel Alpina.

Wengen vs Murren. It's like Coke vs Pepsi on this forum. Both will quench your thirst, but people are firm believers in their favorite brand.

Just pick one to stay in and visit the other one while you are in the area. I am partial to Wengen as there are more dining alternatives and Wengen seems more compact to groceries and restaurants. Neither will disappoint you. Both have plenty of chocolate bars for sale!!!. LOL Enjoy Switzerland.