Paris to Interlaken

Trains which depart from Paris-Est change at Basel. Trains from Paris-Gare-de-Lyon change at Bern. Travel time is 5.5-6 hours depending on what train you take. Flying might be cheaper, but the train will be faster. If your visiting during the summer high-season, Gimmelwald or one of the other neaby mountain villages is best. Off-season Interlaken is better as a lot of the hotels in the smaller villages close for the season.

Melanie -

The TGV from Paris twice per day and can save you a bit of time directly into Berne then on to Interlaken. You may want to look at Thun. Beautiful small town on Lake Thun short train from Berne. Castle - mountains - Lake - minimal tourists.

http://switzerland.isyours.com/E/guide/berner_oberland/thun.practicalities.html

Staying in Gimmelwald or Interlaken depends on what you would like to do. G is a small village high above the valley floor with an incredible view. Interlaken is good for shopping and banking, etc. I preferred staying a couple of nights in Gimmelwald which gave us an entire day up there to explore/hike. An early start in the morning up the Schilthorn gave us a discounted fare so we could splurge on breakfast at 10,000 feet! You could daytrip to G. from Interlaken but getting to and from could take you a while. (train, bus, gondola). Not sure when you are going, but we went in the summer.

Thank you everyone. We'll be there the end of May. Will there still be snow at Gimmelwald? (when hiking main trails etc.)

Melanie, I was in Gimmelwald in Sept./Oct. last year and there wasn't much snow. However, it's difficult to predict what conditions will be like at the end of May '08? Some of the forecasts indicate this might be a severe winter!

Rather than base at Interlaken, you might enjoy staying in Murren, as it's a beautiful small town and has more facilities than Gimmelwald. It's an ideal location to explore Gimmelwald or take the Cable car to the Schilthorn & revolving restaurant (and of course the "James Bond Bar" on the floor below the restaurant - Martini shaken, not stirred!). Trummelbach Falls is also close.

The Pensione is still closed in Gimmelwald AFAIK, so if you stayed in Esther's or other B&B's there, you'd still need to find somewhere for dinners (Murren has restaurants).

Check Rick's Guidebooks for lodging suggestions.

Happy travels!

Melanie, we stayed in Lauterbrunnen in the first few days of June this year. We would have liked to go a week or two earlier but were scared away by comments in the RS book about snow and closures. There was NO SNOW in either Murren (5,300') or Gimmelwald which is slightly lower. The temperature was in the low 70's although it could be different from year to year. GO GO GO. The wildflowers are in full bloom on the walking trail between Murren and Gimmelwald. So beautiful. Also, at the end of May through mid-june, you get to see the farmers walking their cows with their classic Swiss bells up to higher summer pasture. Soooo Swiss. If we went again, we would stay in Murren. It's everything a mountain Swiss village should be. No tourist cars and large enough for very nice places to stay and places to eat. Gimmelwald is much smaller but within walking distance (30 minutes down, 60 minutes up).

As for hiking, it could be a bit wet from higher snow runoff. We took the cog train up to the Jungfraujoch and saw lots of hikers coming down from Klein Scheidegg to Wengen. No snow but you could see many places where water went across the trail. You can also hike in many places above Murren.

I would just like to add something about the train. We went from Gimmelwald to Paris. Now Our reservations told us that we had to switch trains at the broader in Baisl. So We got off found ran thourgh the train station got on the same train but it had a different number. We ened up sitting in the same seats with the same people. I felt pretty dumb. I just want to make sure you would not make the same mistake.

Also We went the first week in July to Gimmelwald and stayed with Ollie. He a nice man but if it's raining beware of having a U.S. politics talk with him. Also I would stay in Murran. We went there everyday any way to get food from the Co-op. Also try sleeping in the straw its cheep and you don't have to split up with your wife. And its a great story to tell your friends.

I don't know if this helps.
Greg

Thanks Greg and everyone

Since I'm Canadian, the U.S. politics discussion won't be a problem. Ha Ha. I think we will stay in Murren now. And I'll pass on the straw!!!!

Check out out one of the low fare carriers from Paris and see if they fly to Basel from Paris. If they do -- it won't take a lot of time then rent a car in Basel. It's about a 90 minute drive to Interlaken from Basel

I wouldn't suggest renting a car to go to Interlaken or into the Lauterbrunnen valley. The Swiss train/bus/gondola system has to be the best in the world. You can get to everything on the train/bus/gondola. You can certainly drive to and around Interlaken in a car but tourist cars are not permitted in Murren, Gimmelwald or Wengen. Although you could park a car in Lauterbrunnen while you visit these other villages, it would be better to park the car in Interlaken and take the 25 minute ride into Lauterbrunnen where you transfer to everything else. So why rent a car.