Would like some feedback to my itinerary for Berner Oberland

Your days are awfully packed! I woiuld not do more than the panorama trail on day one and save Murren for another day in which I had time to also do the northface trail which is fantastic! Your plan only gives you one day in the Lauterbrunnen valley which is not much.

You might be able to get it all in on day 2 if you take out Brienz and if you don't plan on doing any hiking or spending much time at Schygge Platte.

When are you going to be there? If early in June then some trails may not be open yet.

Thanks for the suggestion. I'm going mid June.

I don't plan to do a lot of hiking except the trail I indicated above at Mannlichen and Bachalpsee. So I "should" have time to do a bit more stuff. I try to overplan so that i can drop things off if i run out of time rather than stumble what to do on the day.

Maybe for day 3 i drop the cruise and do that on day 4 instead of the lake thun so I can fit in Schynige Platte as well.

For day 2, i may have to pick between doing Eiger and Pfingstegg

Day 1

It sounds like a lot, but if you are an energetic person, I think it is doable. The Panorama Trail is a beautiful scenic walk, as opposed to what I would call a hike...just a gentle slope downhill in the direction that you will do it, so it definitely won’t be too tiring. You should still have energy and lots of daylight to complete the other things on your list

Day 2

This will be a fuller day, but as you say easy enough to drop something, if need be.

Day 3

If it looks appealing to you, you can explore Giessbach Falls while on the lake cruise - it will add a lot of time though because you will have to catch another boat (or the bus) back to Interlaken. These falls are extremely powerful and it is possible to hike up and walk right behind the waterfall, which is pretty cool.

The Schynige Platte train starts running on June 15th. This is not a flexible date (like the opening of a hiking trail would be). I have gone on opening day before, when they used to open in May, and even though there was still snow up there they opened as usual.

https://www.berneseoberlandpass.ch/public-transport/schynige-platte/

Day 4

A Saver Day pass is for train, bus, boat but does not include admission to attractions (although I do see now that it looks like you might get a reduction on admission...I didn't know this before). At only 12 CHF for an adult, it is a pretty good price anyway. We enjoyed it when we went there. Again, as you say, you can drop something if you run out of time.

No trip plan survives contact with the Swiss Weather.

Just plan your transfers between locations, and book your hotels. Leave the detailed planning for when you are here. You don't know if the weather will be good. The Panorama Trail may be closed. A storm might close down everything...

I know you’re trying to maximize your pass & It’s fine to have plans, but I can tell you right now that there is no way you’re doing all of this. It’s way too packed and you’re not leaving any time to savor anything, eat, sit and enjoy views, etc.

I won’t go through every day, because people have already done that for you, but your list definitely needs to be prioritized.

For example, the process of checking out of your hotel in Luzern, train to Wengen, checking into your place in Wengen and getting to the Mannlichen cable car point will probably put you around lunch time if you get going really early in the morning. Then the process of getting up to Mannlichen and actually enjoying the views as you walk should really be given 3 hours, not 1.5. Especially because you’re going to be walking into Kleine Scheidegg, which is beautiful as well as deserves a moment. Then it takes 30 minutes to get down to Lauterbrunnen. The beautiful part of Lauterbrunnen is the Valley, not the town. So to really enjoy that, you need to walk for around 30 minutes to get to the beautiful part. Plus doing this in the late afternoon isn’t the best, because the sun will have gone behind the cliffs, leaving you with not the ideal time to see it. Then going up to Murren is another 20 minutes and is really a gem that shouldn’t be rushed. It deserves its own day really.

Then combining Brienzer Rothorn, a Lake Cruise + Schynigge Platte is not realistic. Your times are not allowing for any time in between activities, waiting for trains, enjoying views, etc. All 3 are worthwhile activities, but not on the same day.

Your last day you’re spending time all the way over in Aare Gorge. Use this day to fill in for some of the things on the first 3 days that you’re trying to cram in. The Gorge is nice, but having more time to do Murren, Lauterbrunnen, and/or Schynigge Platte should take priority over going that far out of the way, especially when you have to get to Chur that day as well.

For 2 full days + 2 half days, I think you can realistically accomplish this…
—-Mannlichen
—-Grindelwald/First OR Murren/Schilthorn/Lauterbrunnen
—-Brienzer Rothorn OR Schynigge Platte
—-Lake Cruise on Thun OR Brienz

Thank you everyone for the feedback. Much appreciated, you guys are wonderful!

@WengenK is absolutely right about the weather, it has been on the back of my mind too. If it does rain, I really don't have much room to move given the short amount of days I'm there for. Maybe just move the summit ones around and make the most of it. On a good day, is it usually quite clear on the summit or can the conditions change by the minute.

@maureen thank you for the feedback and the tip on Glessbach falls. I don't think I have time as it is :D I may not even have time for Schynige Platte. I will add to my "if there is time" list.

@wenderweg thanks for the tip on the light in the afternoon. I may have to switch things around a bit. The rationale for my Day 4 is I base myself in interlaken so I can leave my suitcase in a locker and get it on the way out to Chur, so i planned the activities around Interlaken. If I skip Aare Gorge, and do Lauterbrunnen and Murren instead, this may be a better idea, then I solve the problem with the day light you mentioned. I can leave my luggage in Wengen hotel, and get it on the way out. On this day, I wouldn't have the BO pass anymore, but I think the transport is covered under the saver day pass so this may be the way to go. And I won't be back tracking very much to get my suitcase since Wengen is on the way to Interlaken. Is the cogwheel ride to Wengen from Lauterbrunnen included in the Saver Day Pass? Do you think this is a better idea?

Then I need to backfill my Day 1 afternoon with something. Perhaps move Grindlewald to Eiger there. Or maybe we may just want to chill and just look around wengen and take it all in :D

If you do Lauterbrunnen & Murren on your way out, take your luggage down to Lauterbrunnen and store there. Then explore Lauterbrunnen & Murren and retrieve from Lauterbrunnen on your way out to Interlaken. No reason to go back UP to Wengen to get your luggage.

For your first day on arrival I think coming all the way from Luzern, checking in + doing Mannlichen - Kleine Scheidegg is going to be plenty. If you find yourself with extra time you can continue walking up to Fallbodensee and/or Wengernalp to extend the Panorama Walk. You could also ride the Eiger Express roundtrip for relaxing nice views before returning to Wengen.

Ok sounds good, thank you. Are there plenty of lockers at Lauterbrunnen? I was thinking that keeping my luggage at the hotel may be safer. Also gives us the excuse to look at the views one last time on way to wengen :).

Also gives us the excuse to look at the views one last time on way to Wengen

If you choose this option - yes, the Saver Day Pass will cover the trip up to Wengen (but not further up than that).

Are there plenty of lockers at Lauterbrunnen?

There are lockers at the BOB railway station, and there are more lockers in the basement of the Cable car station.

Thanks both. Are there photos or dimensions of the lockers available. Just want to make sure we can fit out suitcase, not just a small bag.

If your bag is too big for the locker at Lauterbrunnen, the station office will store it for you for 5 CHF per day.

Ok thanks @sam

I just have a small tip to add. When you use the SBB site to book your train tickets, choose "Lucerne to Lauterbrunnen" and "Lauterbrunnen to Brienz" etc. There will always be a transfer at Interlaken Ost, but putting the full SBB route in will give you the best train connection. Save a bit of time. Lauterbrunnen is the hub from which you take the mountain trains (not SBB) to the Murren/Gimmelwald hiking area, or alternately to get to Wengen or Grindelwald.

You've obviously done lots of research. Have a good trip!

We will be in Wengen the start of June. This post was helpful on many questions and helpful ideas. Where have you chosen to stay in Wengen? That is my next stop. Book stays. Are you not getting the Swiss Pass?

I believe the OP is only getting the Berner Oberland Pass, which gives better coverage on the lifts above Wengen, and a combination of SuperSaver tickets and Saver Day Passes.

@Sam Ahhhh ok.

I just have a small tip to add. When you use the SBB site to book your train tickets, choose "Lucerne to Lauterbrunnen" and "Lauterbrunnen to Brienz" etc. There will always be a transfer at Interlaken Ost, but putting the full SBB route in will give you the best train connection.

Sorry I didn’t get you, when you say full route are you saying end to end. So in your example are you saying to put lucerne to brienz rather than the two individual connections?

I believe the OP is only getting the Berner Oberland Pass, which gives better coverage on the lifts above Wengen, and a combination of SuperSaver tickets and Saver Day Passes.

Haha @sam know my plan better than my travel partner :D

But yes the people on this forum is awesome!!! Thank you guys.

I'm not sure I fully understand their suggestion wording, either. But in general on SBB you can always put in where you start and where you want to end up and it will calculate routes for you. If you want to go a certain route you can also put a "via" point in. I think this concept came up when you were doing your travel from Munich to Wengen. You split up the routes when you could have just put in Munich to Wengen and it would have shown you all the times/routes without having to break up into different segments/tickets. Or another example, above you have listed that you're going from Interlaken to Chur via Bern and Zurich. If you just put in Interlaken to Chur you'll see that there is an option with only 1 changeover in Zurich, instead of having to change in both Bern and Zurich. I've lost track a bit of where you're at with things in these threads, so I may be saying things you already understand, because in your confusion of things I started to get confused :)

@wanderweg, yes thanks for that. That’s exactly how I did the search to force it into a particular path. All good then.