Your ideal 4 day itinerary in the bernese oberland?

First lucky u, it is a drop dead beautiful area. See the l. Valley highlights (falls etc)one day, see Murren then walk to Gimmelwald historic Swiss village. Ck weather very carefully when u arrive for the best forecast day to see the Jungfrau[ often fogged in completely].

Last time I was in Switzerland, I injured my leg on the first day of my visit... so this time I am determined to have the fun I missed out on last time.

Here’s how we are arriving in Zurich. Morning flight from Paris to Zurich. From Zurich airport go to Interlaken by train (2.5hours). leave luggage at train station. Take a jet boat ride on the lakes. do the Harder Klum. If there is time, do horseriding or explore small medieval town of unterseen. In the evening, collect luggage and take train to lauterbrunnen where our hotel is.
Day 2. Do jungfraujoch if weather is good, hike a portion of kleine scheidegg
Day 3. Do Grindelwald, first flyer activities. Schynigge Platte
Day 4. Whatever else comes to mind - murren, gimmelwald, wengen,

Anything fun or interesting I am missing here? Our home base (hotel) is in Lauterbrunnen

Day 4 - Paragliding the Lauterbrunnen valley - take off in Murren.
Via Ferrata Murren - I suggest using a guide
Enjoy the view from Hotel Bellevue's patio with a lovely beverage

Following this thread for sure!!! I am saving for this very thing and will be interested in the replies.

That's the great thing about staying in Lauterbrunnen. You don't have to plan your days! You just do whatever you feel like doing each day, depending on the weather, you stamina, etc. You not only have tremendous variety, but also every level of physical exertion, from the kind of hikes requiring equipment, to no hiking at all (just letting motors do the work of moving you up, down, or across, by taking the buses, cable cars, rack railways, etc).

Some of my personal highlights were the Schilthorn (particularly the view from Birg), the Allmendhubel, walking around Muerren, Rick's Valley Floor walk, and some parts of the Jungfraujoch excursion (particularly going out on the glacier). But just being in this insanely beautiful place is the real "sight."

Where is better to stay? In the valley or up high? And why?

judy, you might want to start a new thread of your own with that question. it will likely get more exposure that way. My answer to your question would be that, there are more restaurants and shops down in the valley, and it is easier to get around the valley from there as a transportation hub. However, up on the mountain, its a different experience where you start out your day already up where you want to be. Best is up to you (and the weather).

Judy if you want to get that “stay in the mountain” feeling, spend a night in murren/wengen/gimmelwald. But if I were you, I would make Lauterbrunnen my base for the rest of the days. On our first visit to Switzerland, we followed Rick’s advice and stayed in Gimmelwald - we got a lot less done because in mountain towns, lifts close early so you have to rush back to your room and then there is nothing to do at night... cant enjoy the scenery either in the dark. So spend one or two days in mountain towns, then rest in valley so you can maximize your fun

Harold, thanks for mentioning Allmendhubel. We were in Schilthorn today and on the way back, I stopped in Murren to see Allmendhubel and it was the highlight of our day - views were even better than high up on the schilthorn because the mountains seemed so close. I had a great time swinging on the kids playground in that gorgeous scenery - no kids were harmed, it was past 4pm when we were in allmendhubel and there were no kids there to compete for the swings lol. Because most guidebooks dont emphasize allmendhubel, we hadn’t bothered to visit it in previous visits. Today we realized what we missed out on!

By the way, yesterday’s highlight was taking a jetboat ride via Jetboat Interlaken, total blast.

Glad you liked the Allmendhubel. I agree, it doesn't get enough emphasis compared to other things in the area, but it's really nice.

On my last trip (my second of two), I missed it due to weather and the hours of the Allmendhubelbahn. But I loved it on my first trip, and definitely want to do it again on my third trip (whenever that may be).