Lauterbrunnen, Interlaken & More: Three Incredible Days In The Bernese Oberland, Switzerland

If there’s one area of Switzerland I could see myself visiting time and time again, it’s got to be the Bernese Oberland, an impressive stretch of mountain ranges encompassing the vast area between Bern and Lucerne. More specifically, I would return to Jungfrau in a heartbeat, the region south of Interlaken to Lauterbrunnen and Grindelwald.

You could easily spend three days just in the Jungfrau region (one in Lauterbrunnen and surrounding areas, one in Grindelwald and/or taking the Jungfraujoch train, and one either going up Schynige Platte, or exploring Interlaken) but there is just so much to do in the general area of the Bernese Oberland.

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We spent most of our three days in Jungfrau, but we did go further afield one of those days, and our alternative options were all outside Jungfrau.

I would recommend a minimum of three days if you don’t want to hike, and five days if you do. From there, honestly how long is a piece of string? We planned a couple of short hikes, and didn’t get to do one of them due to the weather, so it’s worth factoring that in as well, because you might need to pivot.

For comparison, here’s what we planned to do while we were there:

• Day 1 – arrive Lauterbrunnen, explore the valley, go up to Wengen on the train and hike back down
• Day 2 – Grindelwald, go up Grindelwald First, do the Bachalpsee hike, have fondue in a gondola!
• Day 3 – ride the Gelmerbahn, walk through Aareschlucht gorge, take the boat back to Interlaken from Brienz. Potential stop at Giessbach if time

And here’s what we actually did:

• Day 1 – arrive Lauterbrunnen (via Trauffer), explore the valley, rest of the day rained off
• Day 2 – explore Wengen, hike back down to Lauterbrunnen, heavy rain due in Grindelwald so we went to Interlaken instead and rode the Harder Kulm funicular, went to Grindelwald later anyway for that fondue and managed to see the town too
• Day 3 – ride the Gelmerbahn, walk through Aareschlucht gorge, take the boat back to Interlaken from Brienz, stopping at Giessbach on the way. The most ambitious day which actually went completely to plan!

So if you want to read more about all of the above, here’s everything we got up to in Jungfrau and the overall Bernese Oberland region.

Day 1 – Lauterbrunnen

(…and a wooden cow detour)

We arrived from Lucerne, travelling to Lauterbrunnen (around a 2.5 hour journey from Lucerne via Interlaken) where we had booked to stay for two nights. We did want to stay for three, but even six months in advance, the hostel was booked out!

We decided to book the final night in Wilderswil, five minutes outside of Interlaken towards Lauterbrunnen, so it worked out pretty well and we discovered that Wilderswil is somewhere we would return to as it’s perfectly positioned while avoiding the premium prices of Interlaken.

Lauterbrunnen itself is about a 20 minute journey from Interlaken, so this was also a perfect place to stay for a couple of nights. Lauterbrunnen was in fact the main place I wanted to see in Switzerland, and our overall trip sort of grew arms and legs from there.

Before we even got to Lauterbrunnen though, I’d been sent on a mission by a colleague to get a particular cow from Trauffer. These wooden painted cows are for sale all over Switzerland, but their factory is near Brienz – and it’s brilliant. After we failed to get the specific cow in Lucerne, I decided the best bet would be a small detour to the factory shop, which actually ended up making more sense while we had our luggage on us so we weren’t just carrying around a bag on another day.

There’s even a small museum, and you can book a session to carve and paint your own cow! This would be such a cool Swiss souvenir, and I really want to go back to do this!

We did, however, leave with much lighter wallets in exchange for a lovely Christmas present for my parents, a gift for Ash’s parents, a small Bernese mountain dog called Barry for us, and of course the cow that began the quest, which now sits pride of place in my colleague’s herd.

While Trauffer is close to Brienz, the Swiss travel app suggested getting off at a station I’d never even heard of, Brünig Hasliberg, and jumping straight on a 151 bus towards Brienz. It takes about 15 minutes to get to Trauffer, and cuts out the Meiringen part of the train journey.

I also really need to point out that at Brünig, there is a pizza vending machine – so kickstarting my comparisons between Switzerland and Japan, which you may be surprised to hear there are MANY similarities. For starters, the Trauffer shop had Japanese toilets. Yes, really!

And for another thing, the trains. The most efficient trains – and public transport in general – that we’ve ever experienced are in Japan and Switzerland. Both countries offer brilliant rail passes (let’s not talk about Japan’s price hike though… the Swiss one is still worth it!) and they are so easy to use.

So after our foray into wooden toy heaven, we were straight on a bus again to Brienz, where we immediately jumped on a train to Interlaken, and then straight onto another train to Lauterbrunnen. Proper Swiss efficiency.

We were staying at Valley Hostel, which is perfectly placed just five minutes from the train station, five minutes from the famous viewpoint, and only a few minutes more to the famous Staubbach waterfall. Even better: our PRIVATE ROOM HAD A BALCONY WITH THIS VIEW!!

Can you believe this was the cheapest place we stayed on the whole trip as well? It’s the only place in Switzerland that cost us under £100 per night. It might have been a hostel, but for a private room with that view, I definitely can’t complain! Highly recommend it.

With rain due to hit at 3pm, we headed straight out for a walk. I was BUZZING. This place has been on my dream list for years and it lived up to the hype the second we arrived. I couldn’t stop looking at the mountains, the valley, the waterfall. I was in my element!

And no wonder Lauterbrunnen is known as the inspiration for Rivendell in Lord Of The Rings; it certainly reminded me of it!

We wandered deeper into the valley, and stumbled across a cheese vending machine!! More Japan vibes, here in the middle of the Swiss mountains. Obviously I bought some, because how could I resist? I also bought some homemade tablet from an honesty box – the crumbly fudge-like sweet that I’ve never seen outside of Scotland.

We could have walked all the way to the end of the valley, but with the impending rain we would end up getting caught in it. We had decided against the Trümmelbachfalle because, quite honestly, we couldn’t do everything on this trip and for 16CHF we would rather prioritise something else and enjoy the free waterfalls, of which there are apparently 72 in this valley!

Eventually, we cut down a path to the river and start walking back along the water. This was just as beautiful, and when we arrived back in town, we found ourselves walking past the famous viewpoint. This is surprisingly easy to miss if you’re not looking for it! And, unsurprisingly, pretty busy with people doing entire photoshoots.

The plan from there was to take the train up to Wengen, one of the villages high up above the valley, and walk back down to Lauterbrunnen. But it was now 3pm, and although the rain hadn’t quite hit yet, we decided to head back. I settled down on our balcony with a book just as it started bucketing it down. I really couldn’t complain with that view, and there are far worse ways to spend an afternoon on holiday!

And sometimes that’s just the way it works out.

Day 2 – Interlaken & Grindelwald

Our main plan for day 2 in the Jungfrau region was to visit Grindelwald and go up Grindelwald First. We were already disrupting our plans by doing the Wengen to Lauterbrunnen hike first thing, but after a quick explore of Wengen and just over an hour walking down the (steep!) path, we were back down in the valley by 10am, so we had plenty of time.

Unfortunately, the weather had other ideas, with Grindelwald due to get heavy rain pretty much the whole day.

Luckily, the whole region wasn’t to be struck by the same fate, so out came my back-up plans. The main one was Harder Kulm, a viewpoint over Interlaken accessible by a very steep funicular. With our Swiss Travel Passes, it was about 50% off, which weirdly was 19CHF (reduced from 36CHF). Some odd maths going on there…

The queue can take a while, but moves quite significantly when each funicular fills up. I was concerned that we were going to have to wait more than an hour, but it seemed that the funicular ran more often than the advertised timetable, so we were on one within half an hour.

Seconds into the ascent, we spotted a load of ibex below and made a mental note to go and check them out afterwards. It’s actually a free alpine “wildlife park” with marmots and ibex, which is pretty cool!

After ten minutes or so, we reached the top and piled out with everyone else. A short walk brings you to a small complex with a restaurant, some food stalls and a souvenir shop – and of course, the main attraction: the observation deck.

It was definitely touristy, but it wasn’t as overpriced as we thought it would be, and Ash treated himself to a beer to enjoy the view with.

We decided as we had some time that we should have a wee look around Interlaken. I’ve got to be honest: we didn’t really vibe with it. It very much felt like a base from which to explore the surrounding area rather than spend time in the town itself. Maybe we missed something, but we came away feeling like we hadn’t.

Instead, we headed to Grindelwald early, in the hopes that it would stop raining enough for us to see some of the town during the day. As predicted, we arrived to a downpour, and took shelter in a bakery where we could sit outside undercover and people-watch.

As time went on, the skies cleared enough for us to see the surrounding mountains properly – and what a beautiful place! Eventually, the rain stopped altogether and we ventured out for a walk. Ash said we should stay there next time. I got proper Banff (Canada) vibes, with the mountain overlooking the main street.

And of course, the biggest attraction – literally – is the Eiger. There is so much to do in this area alone, and although we weren’t going to do any of it, we already knew we loved it! I’m really glad we managed to see the town in the end, even if it was brief.

We were there for one main reason, though.

I’d booked us a fondue inside a gondola! How cool is this?!?!?

This was absolutely brilliant. We had the fondue tasting for two, which was recommended to us by the really friendly waiter. He said the larger portions are just a bit too big, whereas the tasting is just right for a fondue.

We also got a glass of wine each included, and a great view of the Eiger, so it was a perfect little date night and really not too pricey for Switzerland. And by the time we had finished, the lovely lights had come on!

You can book the gondola fondue here!

Quick note: there’s another fun fondue experience in Zurich! The fondue tram sadly only runs in the winter (November – February), so we missed it.

In the gondola next to ours, someone was filming absolutely everything. I was mildly fascinated by this real-life “influencer in the wild”. After an hour and twenty minutes, in which time she had barely sat down, I went out to take a couple of photos of our gondola, and she took the opportunity to ask me to film her. I was distressed to note that she had barely eaten anything. She’ll be on social media gushing about what an amazing experience she had, and she didn’t even experience it! I just don’t get it. I often now think in terms of the blog when I’m travelling, and what content I should try to get, but I always try to be present in everything I’m doing. That’s why I’m not an influencer, I guess, but it seems a shame we are allowing ourselves to be influenced by people who only focus on what they’re creating rather than what they’re experiencing. (Something I touched on in this post!)

Anyway, despite today not going quite as planned, we had a fantastic day which showed the importance of being able to pivot plans and make the most of what you can.

Day 3 – Gelmerbahn, Aareschlucht and a cruise on Lake Brienz

There is so much to do in the Bernese Oberland that if you only have three days, it can be a bit overwhelming trying to prioritise what would be best. If we’d had one extra day, we would have gone to Adelboden and Kandersteg to hike Oeschinensee.

However, my main priority was riding on the Gelmerbahn – but it’s a pain to get to on public transport when you also have to book a time to line up with it. This led to the total opposite of the previous day: a meticulously-planned day which thankfully somehow worked out even better than we imagined!

I decided to book it for 11am, giving us enough time to get there, and then plan some stops for the way back to Interlaken.

The only thing: the weather. AGAIN. It wasn’t even that the weather was bad. We had bright sunshine most of the day, it was just that the clouds were stuck on the mountains – including the one that the Gelmerbahn ascends.

The Gelmerbahn used to be the steepest funicular in Europe, until the Stoosbahn was opened in 2017, also in Switzerland. However the Stoosbahn is fully enclosed, so the Gelmerbahn is still the steepest OPEN funicular, which I think is far more exciting. And, yes, it opened us up to all the elements too, all on a 106% incline which is insane.

As we were there on an October weekday, we were able to get on an earlier trip. I would absolutely recommend booking online, as I think it usually sells out, and I imagine we wouldn’t have had any flexibility during the summer. We were booked on the 11am one, but we got there at 10.10am and they ushered us onto the 10:12! Other people were moved forward to the 10:36.

By the time we got to the top, there was a brief spell of sunshine before the clouds encased us again – typical! And it was FREEZING. It was far colder than anywhere else we went in Switzerland, as evidenced by the fact we’re wearing our winter woollies, which never left our luggage again on the trip.

With no sign of clear skies coming back any time soon, we decided not to walk too far and headed back down – despite being booked for 11:36, we could just jump on any descending. We got back to the funicular stop just in time to hop into the back row of the cart, and I immediately started kicking myself as we could have waited for the front row on the next one!

At 40CHF return, this is not a cheap experience, so I’m a bit gutted that we didn’t get the full views. But it was more about the experience itself which was still a lot of fun, especially going back down. Ash absolutely hates heights so this was not his favourite activity ever, but he did say the way down wasn’t so bad. It’s certainly not for the faint-hearted, but it’s not *too* extreme either!

There’s also a suspension bridge right next to the station at the bottom too, so that’s worth checking out for free. (Again, Ash did not like this!)

How to get to the Gelmerbahn on public transport

We travelled from Lauterbrunnen, which meant an early start to get a train to Interlaken in time for the train that would get us to Meiringen in time for the infrequent bus that would get us to the Gelmerbahn in time for our booked slot. Phew!

I had all the times written down, and it all magically worked like clockwork. Honestly, you should see my notes for the day. Here they are:

🚅 Lauterbrunnen > Interlaken 08:01 > 08:23
🚅 Interlaken > Meiringen 08:33 > 09:06
🚌 Meiringen > Gelmerbahn 09:25 > 09:58
✨️ Gelmerbahn: booked for 11am, down 11:36
🚌 Bus back to Grimseltor 12:30 > 12:56
🚶‍♀️ 20 min walk to Aareschlucht or catch train at 1:03
✨️ Aareschlucht needs up to an hour
🚶‍♀️ 25 min walk back to Meiringen station
🚅 Meiringen > Brienz 14.51 – 15.02
🚅 15:40 boat from Brienz
⛴️ Giessbach to Interlaken 17:51 > 18:53

To be clear, this is not my usual type of planning, but I needed to make sure all the potential stops would actually work and we wouldn’t just end up stranded for hours. As you can see on the map above, the next bus was almost an hour and a half later. There’s usually a method to my madness, and this was definitely madness!

And, in fact, we didn’t end up doing either of those walks; every time we were about to set off, a train would turn up! So by the time we got back to Meiringen, we were so far ahead of schedule that we were on a boat from Brienz before that 14:51 train even left Meiringen!

Anyway, on to the next part of the day, which as you can see from above was the Aareschlucht gorge.

From the Gelmerbahn, we took the bus back to Grimseltor (we discovered that the one to Meiringen actually stops at Aareschlucht, but the infrequent timetable meant we’d be waiting much longer for that).

Aareschlucht

Aareschlucht gorge is absolutely worth the 12CHF entry fee.

The whole length took around 45 minutes to walk through, and it’s absolutely gorge-ous.

There are two entrances – at either end of the gorge, funnily enough – with the west entrance closest to Meiringen. We were coming from the other way, so we went in the east entrance which I think was quieter – the downside to that is we had quite a lot of people walking in the opposite direction.

Both entrances have train stations, which again worked out really well for us both sides! But it’s worth bearing in mind that it’s a steep walk up from the east station, whereas the west entrance is on ground level. The bus stops right outside the east entrance which would be a lot easier.

It’s possible to buy a combined ticket for Aareschlucht and Reichenbachfalle, where Sherlock Holmes “dies” (or did he?), however the waterfall was actually closed for the season, and we had another waterfall lined up anyway, so we weren’t too bothered about this one.

Brienz & a cruise to Interlaken

Onwards, then, to Brienz, where we now had plenty of time to wander along the pretty shoreline and take in the views before our boat trip. Brienz is a really lovely lakeside town and you can walk along the waterfront for what seems like miles – I never found out how far it goes, because I had to turn back eventually. I reckon this would make a really nice base for the area as well.

As I got back to the dock, we could hear the rush of jet engines; suddenly several military jets appeared above us! It was SO cool to watch as they darted alongside the Swiss mountains. It’s not the sort of thing you associate with famously-neutral Switzerland, but there’s actually an air base at Meiringen.

We ended up taking a boat an hour earlier, which meant we could stop at Giessbach for one hour instead of two, and then jump on the boat I had originally been planning to get.

So the next question: is an hour long enough at Giessbach? To take the funicular up to the hotel, get up to the waterfall for the view, and then walk back down to the ferry port: yes. If you want to walk higher or get food at the hotel (which we had considered doing), then no. And walking both ways would have been tight.

Giessbach is the first stop from Brienz, so we breezed across and jumped straight on the funicular. To be honest, I wasn’t going to do this, as it’s a whopping 7CHF each way to save a 15-20 minute walk. But now we were on a time constraint, I thought better of it – and discovered it was the first ever funicular with the one-track design, and all proceeds go towards maintaining it. Pretty cool! I did walk back down though.

Giessbach honestly blew us away. The waterfall, all fourteen (14!!) levels of it, is one of the best I’ve ever seen! And I mean, I’ve been to Iceland. And Lauterbrunnen.

I highly recommend walking up to the bridge, and then up to the next level to get this incredible view over the hotel and beautiful teal lake.

Soon, we were back on the boat enjoying the hour-long ride back to Interlaken. Best of all, the boat trip was included in our Swiss Travel Passes, so we didn’t have to pay a thing. A relief when the rest of the day had been pretty expensive!

This was a really ambitious day, so I’m very relieved that it all worked out!

That evening, we were moving over to Wilderswil for our final night. A bit of a pain, but actually our hotel Alpenrose Hotel & Gardens was brilliant (and about £115 including breakfast which is incredibly reasonable for Switzerland) and it’s somewhere we’re very likely to go back to as Wilderswil makes a perfect base.

We could easily have spent our whole trip in the Bernese Oberland, because there really is so much to do. Here are just a few other things we could have done:

• head down the other “arm” to Adelboden, and explore Kandersteg and Oescheninsee
• Lake Thun – take a cruise, go and visit the caves at St. Beatus-Höhlen, or see the castle in Thun itself
• spend a fortune on the Jungfraujoch train up to the highest train station
• take the train as far as Kleine Sheidegg if you’re not made of money
• go up to Schynige Platte from Wilderswil
• go up any number of cable cars to places like Mürren or Mannlichen for days-worth of hiking
• make your own wooden cow at Trauffer
• get your Sherlock Holmes nerd on in Meiringen – there’s a museum as well as the waterfall where he “died”
• go paragliding over Interlaken
• take a steam train up a mountain and eat sausages cooked with the steam (yes, REALLY.)

Some of these are on my list for next time – because I definitely think we’ll be back! Switzerland has so much to offer, and now I’ve got a taste for it (and fondue), it’s left me wanting, nay, needing more.

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