Need lots of help on planning trip to Gimmelwald in early March

To get to Gimmelwald from Interlaken, you need to get off your train from Spiez at Interlaken Ost and not Interlaken West. Go over to track 2B (a few feet) and pick up the train to Lauterbrunnen. The journey is about 25 minutes. Then, walk across the street from the Lauterbrunnen train station to the bus stop in front of the post office. From here, you catch the bus to the Stechelberg gondola station. The buses run every 30 minutes and well into the evening. You can buy tickets on the bus. You'll have to pay in Swiss Francs. At Stechelberg, you get on the gondola for the short ride to Gimmelwald.

Since this is our only chance to see the alps, would you recommend that we stay in the valley (Interlaken?) and maybe ride up to Piz Gloria, etc. or would you recommend somewhere else in Switzerland. We've only got 2 nights for this portion of our "Best of Europe" trip. Thanks!

The Lauterbrunnen valley, Piz Gloria, etc is well worth seeing, as long as you don't expect to hike there in March. The views you will get of the Jungfrau, Monch, and Eiger are jaw-dropping.

So any recommendation where we should stay in early March - Interlaken or maybe Lauterbrunnen?

Early March in the Berner Oberland is still skiing season. Although you can probably walk from Gimmelwald to Murren (provided too much ice or slush does not cover the road), your hiking options in early March are severely limited, I am afraid. And if your train arrives in Interlaken at 5:00 pm, that's probably too late to catch the last gondola up to Murren or Gimmelwald.

Since we will be arriving late in the day, I was concerned about getting up to either Gimmelwald or Murren in the evening. As such was wondering if I needed to stay in Interlaken or maybe even Lauterbrennen - due to evening transportation.

There really is no reason you couldn't stay in the mountains for a few days (other than the first night, since your arrival time will probably be too late). Its just that the tourist infrastructure is geared towards skiing in early March, not hiking.

Elizabeth, I'm looking at the Swiss transportation site (www.sbb.ch) and I see that the cable car up to Gimmelwald leaves Stechelberg at 20:55, 21:55, 22:55 and 23:55. Thereafter, it doesn't run again until 05:55.

In the evening, the bus runs every 2 hours. It departs from the stop across from the Lauterbrunnen train station at 21:35 and 23:36. It's a 16 minute ride to Stechelberg so you have 3 minutes to get to the gondola. Plan carefully.

If you arrive at Interlaken Ost at 5:00pm, you will have no difficulty getting to Gimmelwald in the evening.

I agree with Kent about staying in Muerren. It's a ski area so hotels and eating places are open. I can't say the same about Gimmelwald. You'll be quite surprised about how much attention RS gives to this village and how small it really is. Muerren is a bit larger. Lauterbrunnen will mostly be shutdown. Interlaken is a great backup. You can easily day trip into Lauterbrunnen Valley.