Swiss: Where to spend 3 days: Interlaken, Lucern, Bern?

Will you be taking day-trips out from Interlaken in those three days? Make sure you consider seeing Lauterbrunnen and the surrounding areas - Gimmelwald, Murren, the Schilthorn, and the Jungfrau.

And tell us, what time of year, as that makes a big difference on what's available. But about expense... Switzerland is probably one of the most expensive countries on earth, and Interlaken and the surrounding regions are some of the most expensive regions of Switzerland... although I believe Zurich takes the top prize in that category.

Thanks Steven, Kent and Tom. We are staying in a chalet on 24, 25 & 26th May in Interlaken.

Right, but is your plan to spend the days exploring the Lauterbrunnen Valley? And if you could answer the other questions, we can give you more useful advice--thank you!

Yes we will be exploring the Interlaken surroundings such as Jungfrau, Lauterbrunnen/Stechelberg while we are based in Interlaken. And yes please advise on exploring anything else around Interlaken as we are still exploring ideas. Other than that, as we have 3 more days to spend, we would also like your views and ideas on other places such as Lucern, Bern or any other place for that matter.

Many of the travelers on this board who visit Interlaken (influenced by the writings of Rick Steves) do so for the specific purpose of exploring the Alpine villages above the Lauterbrunnen Valley. Many of them choose to sleep in one of these villages instead of sleeping in Interlaken.Other travelers reporting here choose to explore the Alpine areas of Austria's Tirol and southern Bavaria.

I am staying in Interlaken and hope to travel to the villages mentioned in this post such as Lauterbrunnen. i understand taking the train to the Jungfrau costs 160 swiss francs, does anyone know a price range for trips to the smaller villages mentioned in this post

Rick's Switzerland guidebook has a chart listing the fares. You can also check fares at the Swiss Rail site:www.sbb.ch/en
The Swiss Pass covers village to village transport in the valley, check here for more details:
http://tinyurl.com/css43f

Any recommendation in hotel in Lauterbrunnen area?

Look here on TripAdvisor and see all of the hotels, their reviews by fellow travelers, and their rankings.

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotels-g285724-Lauterbrunnen_Jungfrau_Region_Bernese_Oberland_Swiss_Alps-Hotels.html

I highly encourage you to spend your time in a hotel in either Lauterbrunnen, Muerren, or Wengen. Don't waste it in Interlaken.

www.sbb.ch will show you schedules and prices of tickets. If you have some sort of Swiss Pass, Swiss Saver Pass or Swiss Flexipass then all of the trains in Switzerland will be free including Lauterbrunnen, Wengen and Muerren. If you have a Swiss Half Fare card then all of those trains are 1/2 price.

would my eurail pass save any while travelling within Swiss?

thanks

youre pass could save you some money but you have to figure out what the cost for the trip is vs a day's use. If you do a side trip from Lauterbrunnen and its only 25 sfr - then you may not want to waste a day of eurail pass if it comes out to, say, $45/day (just divide the cost buy the days its good for).

If you want a swiss-card - those can be used for a free day to and from airport, a few full days of travel between - and 50% discount for most of the lift/cablecars/etc any day. Some times the eurail pass has discounts too for museums etc - but it has to have been activated on that day - so its not always worth using it if you dont travel by train that day. The Swiss-Card can be used for discounts any day!