8889 posts
Hello Sarah Nicole and Welcome to MySwissAlps,
Here’s what one of our Jungfrau experts has to say on the villages . . . . “Lauterbrunnen is a very small village down deep in the valley with imposing cliffs above. Therefore it doesn’t get as much daylight as the villages up the mountains do. There is quite a bit of car and bus traffic through the little village and limited selections of restaurants and food stores. During the high summer seasons (July and August) there is a “college student backpacking around Europe” vibe. There is not much there in the way of sightseeing/views, other than the glorious walk down the valley floor (which can also easily be done from Wengen or Mürren). The positives are that there is a fairly major train station there (although Wengen and Mürren are only 15 and 18 mins, respectively, up the mountainsides) and lodging is less expensive (there’s a reason).
Getting up into a car-free village gives one a much more “old Switzerland” feel. You can’t go wrong with either Mürren or Wengen. We prefer Wengen because we like the views better from there (jaw-dropping), it is slightly larger therefore has more amenities (food stores, restaurants, shopping), is easier to get in and out of so is better as a base, and we think it has more of the quintessential Swiss mountain village “vibe” than does Mürren.”
Will you have a Swiss Travel Pass (http://www.myswissalps.com/sw isstravelpass) or Swiss Half Fare Card (http://www.myswissalps.com/sw isshalffarecard) or other pass? In which case the travel costs become immaterial.
You can find the travel times and fares for any trip using the SBB Timetable (http://www.myswissalps.com/ti metable). If you are not familiar with the timetable it will pay to first read the instructions on that page. The first price you see will assume you have a half-fare card so double it for full fares.
72625 posts
Murren is fine. The BLM (cable car and train interchanging at Grütschalp is efficient enough and a fun ride (especially if you watch the special crane that tranships goods containers from the cable car to the train at Grütschalp