Airport question - Flying to Swizterland - traveling to Gimmelwald.

I think flying into Zurich is easiest. It is a nice airport and easy to navigate. The route does indeed go through Bern, with a change of trains there. There are two trains per hour that go directly from the airport station to Bern, with no additional change at the main Zurich station (Hauptbahnhof). Right now they depart at :13 and ;40 after the hour.

Kathleen, You'll probably find greater availability of flights to Zürich than any other Swiss airport, so that will likely be your best option. That's about the closest large airport to the Berner Oberland (Geneva probably wouldn't be as convenient?). Depending on which train you're able to connect with, there will either be one or two changes, and the trip from Zürich Flughafen to Interlaken Ost will be ~2h:15M. Zürich is a large airport, so it could take some time to collect your luggage and get to the station. You mentioned that you know the route from Interlaken Ost to Gimmelwald. If you do have any questions on that, post another note. Where are you staying in Gimmelwald? Happy travels!

Thank you all for your responses. We haven't finalized our reservations yet so I am not exactly sure of where we are staying. (My husband is working on that part of the trip) I am trying to construct a trip that will be fun for all of us - we have two teenage boys and we all enjoy hiking so this Gimmelwald seems a good place to go. It also sounds like we can easily get to the neighboring towns (Murren, etc) without to much trouble. If anyone has any advice on good hikes or "not to miss" places in this area, I would love to hear from you. Thank you again for your help.

Flying into Zurich is the correct airport - or at least that's what we did. It is extremely easy to get the train from there. The train station is connected to the airport, the changes in Bern and Interlaken are extremely easy. You get off one train the the next one is very close and the waits are short.
Once in Lauterbrunnen, the bus that takes you to the gondola to Gimmelwald stops right at the train station. A very easy process even when jet lagged.

I would be happy to help with suggestions for hikes. When are you going? Also, I note that you haven't booked lodging in Gimmelwald yet. If you do dnot find anything that appeals to you, try Chalet Fontana, a B&B in Mürren. It is very reasonably priced and you will meet other travelers there. Mürren is about a 20-minute walk from Gimmelwald, up the hill, and has more in the way of shops and restaurants than Gimmelwald.

My husband and I stayed in this region during the last week of August of 2012! We are avid day-hikers and were thrilled with all the options available. We flew from Chicago to Philly, then into Zurich and took a series of trains (timed like clock-work I might add) to Lauterbrunen. Our first couple nights we stayed above and between Grindlewald and Wengen at the mountain house at Mannlichen (cable cars available from both towns). This place is isolated and has basic amenities but is very clean, quiet, has great food and amazing views of the Eiger, Monch, and Jungfrau! Great for use in a "hut-to-hut" hiking trip! The rest of our stay was in Murren. We thought about Gimmelwald, but we are not really B & B kind of people. In Murren we stayed at the Hotel Bellevue. As for sights... every restaurant, hotel, and train station has maps, sight-seeing suggestions, and hiking suggestions. The only "major" sight we saw was the Jungfrau, which isn't cheap, but I thought was necessary. The rest of our time was spent hiking, which we figured out when we got there. I highly recommend the long trek to see the Chilchbalm glacier if you are in good shape. FYI, Rick was wrong about the walking time on the signs, those are for people in great shape, not senior citizens! Expect to add an extra 15-30 minutes!