Which Mountain Scenery Best

Murren is better than either of the other two. Think of it as a bowl that has one side slightly higher than the other. Murren is at the top of the highest side of the bowl.. Wengen sit on the opposite side of the bowl at the top of the lower side of the bowl. Grindewald is at the bottom of the bowl. In addition to the best views, in my opinion Murren is the best place to stay for quality/value of accomodations, food and ambiance.

I agree with Murren!

From Grindelwald, you get an amazing view of the sheer north face of the Eiger, plus many of the surrounding mountains. In Wengen, you get a view of the Lauterbrunnen Valley, the Schilthorn and part of the Eiger, but not the north face.

GoogleMaps street view is your friend!

Google street view will work for some locations in Grindelwald, but not for Wengen or Mürren, which are car-free ( the Google cam car could not drive there). They have done some famous places like Venice and the Grand Canyon on foot, but not these two Swiss villages.

I believe the view from Wengen includes the Jungfrau---not so sure about the Eiger, which is behind the Männlichen ridge.

But do you really want to choose which village by the views? They are nice from all three, but different as noted. No one has mentioned the other peaks that tower above Grindelwald, such as the Wetterhorn and others, with their hanging glaciers. But from many spots on the main road (Dorfstrasse) the views are blocked by large hotels, so choose carefully if you want a view from your room. Places on the bench above town, such Hotel Bodmi, may have unobstructed views.

We have enjoyed our time spent in all three towns, but I do love the car-free aspect of Wengen and Mürren. And between those, I find the views from Mürren to be more dramatic---and more hikes available right from your door. The cablecar ride down from Gimmelwald to Stechelberg is pretty thrilling.

I agree with TravelingMom... Murren hands down.

Hi Kevin, I don't know if one more vote will make a difference, but Murren has the most beautiful mountain views I have ever seen.

We stayed at the Hotel des Alpes in September and enjoyed it very much, we'd stay there again. A few years ago I stayed at the Hotel Jungfrau. Also a very nice hotel, but they built another building that obscures the views from the front of the hotel, too bad :(

Kevin,

Which one has the "best" views is probably somewhat subjective, but I tend to agree with the others that Mürren has better views. It's a smaller town and not as "cluttered" by lots of buildings, etc. One other point to consider is that Grindelwald and Wengen tend to be more "posh" so staying in either of those will likely cost more than staying in Mürren (or even Lauterbrunnen). Switzerland is expensive at the best of times, so cost is an important consideration for many people.

As someone else suggested, Google Street View might help you to decide which one appeals most to you.

I had a great view from our balcony room at the Hotel Jungfrau. I am unsure what the previous poster is talking about. This is a great hotel. Pay a little extra for the balcony room. It will be worth it to see that view.

Ken---can you get Street View for Mürren and Wengen on your device? I have satellite view but when I drop a pin on a street in these villages it does not offer Street View. I can get it for Venice and really enjoy walking around there.

Lola,

I should have clarified my remarks about Google Street View for Mürren and Wengen. It was late and I wasn't focusing well. Google doesn't provide normal street view in those locations given the fact they can't operate their camera vehicle there (although they also have a Backpack version of their fancy omni-directional camera for remote locations). For Venice they may have used the Backpack version or perhaps their Google Camera Tricycle?

They do however provide a "pseudo street view" in the form of small photo spheres which are represented by blue dots on the map. By clicking on a number of those, one can get some idea of the views. With the map open, click on the figure representing street view and drag it onto the map, and the blue dots will be shown. With one of the photos displayed, if you go to the small map on the bottom left and click "Expand", it will show all the blue dots and you can click your way around the village for different views.

On the original question, anywhere in that area provides incredible views but which are the "best" is subjective (IMO).

Thanks everyone for the great feedback!

Thanks for the explanation, Ken. I don't see those blue dots on my iPad, but I do recall those round "view windows" when I used a desktop PC at work. I should try on my Mac laptop and see if they work there. Or maybe the blue dots just don't appear on Apple products at all? One of my iPads, bought in 2012, does not have Street View at all. My son says it was from a time when Apple and Google had a dispute about the licensing or something. I should see if I can upgrade to a better version.

I think they must have photographed Venice with the backpack camera---the one they used for the Grand Canyon. The hundreds of bridges in Venice could have posed a problem for the tricycle thing---possible but not ideal. I wonder if they used boats as well---I should go and check if one can get into the small back canals.

Getting back to the topic----there is no bad choice here. I have stayed in all three villages and would happily return to any of them if Switzerland hadn't become so darned expensive. Grindelwald offers some of my favorite hikes, but the tour buses and traffic are annoying. Wengen has our favorite lodging---Hotel Bären, with simple Ikea-type rooms but nice balconies and wonderful food like grilled Zanderfilet with lime-ginger risotto. Mürren scores high in all categories----nice inexpensive lodging like Chalet Fontana ( but no view), carfree streets, good access to some great hiking, and fun access by cablecar. It is probably the logical choice for a first-timer in the Berner Oberland.

One thing that might help Kevin choose isnIf there are any village festivals (Dorffests) ) going on at the time they plan to be there. Our first time there we hit Fests in both Mürren on the weekend and midweek in Grindelwald a few days later.

In Mürren, on arrival by train we were greeted by women in local dress passing out small plastic cups of white wine and samples of local cheese. We learned the parade was about to start, so (after indulging a bit) we headed to Chalet Fontana, down the main street which was lined on both sides by people assembled to watch the parade. There were seven of us, so we made a small parade of our own with our roller bags and backpacks. A few bystanders with a quirky sense of humor started applauding us, and my teenage nephews responded with smiles and their best "parade wave". Next thing there were more people laughing and clapping, and we were all laughing and waving. It was a great start to our time in Murren. The real parade started about ten minutes later and we watched from our bedroom windows upstairs in Chalet Fontana.

This was the last Saturday in Junenor the first one in August if you want to try to find it. Rick's Switzerland program has footage of the parade, including the guys with the huge cowbells.

The Grindelwald Fest was more of a street fair. It included a zipline set of from the fourth floor balcony of one of the big hotels, down to a flatbed truck. Of course my teenage nephews had to try it. . .

Lola,

" Or maybe the blue dots just don't appear on Apple products at all?"

I verified the information I posted using a full size iMac, and the blue dots were quite visible. I double checked on my Macbook Pro, and again the dots were visible. However I had less success getting street view to work on my iPhone. I'm sure there must be a solution, but I haven't found it yet. It's possible that the photo sphere street views are "buried" somewhere inside iOS. However, I did figure out how to use "regular" street view on the iPhone.

I agree with Travelingmom. Ken makes some valid points.

To me Murren has the best views, good hiking, and is car free. It has a variety of restaurants and a grocery store.