What are your favorite hikes near Gimmelwald/Lauterbrunnen?

Google The North Face Trail and see if it holds any interest for you. Not too hard, good walking surface, and the scenery is beautiful.

A fabulous hike straight out of Gimmelwald, is to the back of the valley and Chilchbalm or Sefinental. Its little known and very pretty.
Another hike is from Murren to spielbodenalp and back down to Gimmelwald via the Sprutz waterfall.
Both the mountain view trail and the Northface trails are fabulous.

You’re going to have the best time! My husband & I spend our summers living in Murren to hike (it's hikers paradise), so we’ve done pretty much every hike there is to do in the area. I’ve broken it down to 1 easy/moderate/challenging option from Gimmelwald, from Murren and from a bit further out.

We often take people out on the more custom “locals only” type hikes we’ve created, so if you’re interested in hiking with a “local”, feel free to reach out. The hiking around Gimmelwald/Murren is extremely well marked BUT for the moderate/challenging hikes there are often 10 different ways to get to your destination, so it’s important to either have custom maps or someone who knows the area taking you around, otherwise it’s likely you’ll end up at your destination, but not necessarily in the most scenic way.

If I know how many hiking days you have, I’m happy to recommend which combo of these would give you the best variety.

3 options from Gimmelwald….

EASY
Ride the cable car up to Murren, explore the village and do the easy 45 minute paved walk back down to Gimmelwald

MODERATE
Gimmelwald to Chilchbalm

CHALLENGING
Gimmelwald to Tanzbodeli/Obersteingberg

3 options from Murren….

EASY
Ride the cable car up to Gimmelwald, walk through Murren, ride the funicular up to Allmendhubel and do the Northface hike counterclockwise ending at the cable car station in Murren where you can then cable car or walk back down to Gimmelwald

MODERATE
Ride the cable car to Murren > Birg > Schilthorn - enjoy the views from at the top > ride the cable car back down to Birg for the Thrill Walk + do the hike Birg > Grauseeli > Wasenegg Ridge > Bryndlii > Murren - then cable car or walk back down to Gimmelwald

CHALLENGING
Ride the cable car to Murren > Hike Murren > Spielbodenalp > Rotstockhutte > Schitlhorn > cable car back down to Gimmelwald

3 options from outside of the Murren/Gimmelwald area….

EASY
Cable car down to Stechelberg > bus to Lauterbrunnen > train to Wengen > cable car to Mannlichen > detour up to Royal Walk > walk to Kleine Scheidegg and on to Wengernalp > train back to Wengen > train to Lauterbrunnen > walk or bus to Stechelberg > cable car to Gimmelwald

MODERATE
Cable car down to Stechelberg > bus to Lauterbrunnen > train to Wilderswil > open air cog train to Schynige Platte > Hike the Panorama Trail on the ridge from Daube to Oberberghorn to Loucherhorn > open air cog train back down to Wilderswil > train to Lauterbrunnen > bus or walk to Stechelberg > cable car to Gimmelwald

CHALLENGING
Cable car down to Stechelberg > bus to Lauterbrunnen > train to Wilderswil > open air cog train to Schynige Platte > Hike Schynige Platte > Daube > Loucherhorn > Faulhorn > Bachalpsee > First > cable car down to Grindelwald > walk through the town > train to Zweilutchinen > train to Lauterbrunnen > bus to Stechelberg > cable car to Gimmelwald

Be sure to visit the honesty shop in Gimmelwald. You'll have a wonderful time in that amazing little town!
Have some Swiss Francs handy as the swiss grannies that hand make their amazing lace creations outside their barn only take CH. Not Euros. My heart still sighs a bit when I think of that lace doily I wanted so badly but had no CH. I would have given plenty of Euros for it! :)

@tripletblessings - Unfortunately the "lace lady" in Gimmelwald passed away this winter :(

As usual, wanderweg has excellent advice. One we love to do, though, for an easy and scenic day is the walk from Stechelberg to Lauterbrunnen, through the valley. Love it rain or shine. Be sure to start in the village of Stechelberg, not just at the lift station. Also, beer and lunch in the garden at the Hotel Stechelberg is nice on a warm day.

Thanks, Laurel!

I agree that the valley walk is absolutely lovely. Personally I prefer going to Lauterbrunnen (town) and then walking or biking to the back of the valley towards Stechelberg and beyond. That way you're walking toward the mountain views instead of having them at your back. This walk can easily be added on to some of my other suggestions, such as doing Schynige Platte or Wengen/Mannlichen and on your way "home" walking from the train station in Lauterbrunnen to Stechelberg where you catch the cable car up to Gimmelwald.

My favourites all involve starting in the valley, in Lauterbrunnen. You want to end your hike in Gimmelwald, not start it there.

There are several interesting routes you can follow. They all involve a bit of climbing in the beginning, but the scenery is worth it. You can walk all the way to the back of the Sefinental, and then across, or turn to Gimmelwald earlier. Things to see on the way are the Sefinenfall at the beginning, the Sawmill at Fellsagi, and the Sprutz.

A good app to get is the "Swisstopo" app, which allows you to plan hiking routes (showing you distance and elevation) and allows you to download topographical maps for offline use.

And then at the end I get myself a beer at the Beergarten, relax, and then go home...

MODERATE
Ride the cable car to Murren > Birg > Schilthorn - enjoy the views from at the top > ride the cable car back down to Birg for the Thrill Walk + do the hike Birg > Grauseeli > Wasenegg Ridge > Bryndlii > Murren - then cable car or walk back down to Gimmelwald

THIS! Except we didn't do the Thrill Walk. This hike was an experience we will never forget. We intended to hike down from Schilthorn, but we did it in June and there was still too much snow so we rode back down to Birg. Grauseeli is a picturesque alpine lake (often seen in computer wallpaper). Wasenegg Ridge is a thrilling but completely safe hike along a spine with dropoffs and views to both sides. Bryndli is a spire where you get 360 views (and a guestbook to sign).

Two things to add on the way down. From Bryndli we went to Sprutz Waterfall, where you can hike BEHIND the falls (super thrilling). And then to Spielbodenalp where there is a mountain cafe. And then we actually hiked down to Gimmelwald and then back up to Murren (no cable car on the way down). This took us about 4 hours, if I recall.

Another one to add is Gimmelwald down to Stechelberg. From there we took the PostBus to Trummelbach Falls, and then continued on foot to Lauterbrunnen. Great views down the whole Lauterbrunnen Valley this way.

Glad you loved it, Darren!

I’ll add some info about the alternative Sprutz/Gimmelwald cut off for that specific hike - if you do that, you do miss some of my favorite parts of the hike below Gimmeln. You can do either way, but the views and feel of the area below Gimmeln outweighs Sprutz/forested walk down to Gimmelwald IMO.