[traveljet]

3 April 2023 at 8:11:34 #829481

Hi, I am trying to narrow down the choice of mt rides to avoid unnecessary repetitions of the views from the top.

It’s always good to hear from those who have actually experienced the rides, to give different perspectives on their preference. We will be based in Meiringen on 4 June in Meiringen, using the BO Pass. On the last day of the BO Pass, we will be departing for Wengen for 7N using the Jungfrau Travel Pass. We are 2 married seniors in our late 60’s and retired, hence we have the luxury of time without having to rush all over the place. The 3rd traveller is in his 40’s and has the same travel habits i.e. we like to take our time and not deal with crowds (whenever possible). Sometimes just sitting outdoors, enjoying our meal or drink for an hour or tow, just relaxing after a walk is pure bliss.

In our previous trips, we did:

Bern

Mt. Titlis, Engelberg

Rides up to the mts in the Engadine around Sils Maria, Pontresina, St. Moritz, Fex valley, Corvatsch, Piz Nair, Diavolezza, Muottas Muragl, walked Lake Sils, of the Graubunden region, did the Bernina Express to Tirano;

Stayed in Bettermeralp, went up to Eggishorn

Niederhorn Grindelwlald First, Mannlichen to Grindelwald cable car, the Panoramic walk from Mannlichen to Kleine Scheidegg, the Royal Walk up in Mannlichen, visited Jungfrau (enjoyed ourselves as it was not crowded during Sept), took the rides from Lauterbrunnen via Grutschalp to Murren, did the Lauterbrunnen valley walk and rides from Stechelberg to Murren, walked from Murren to Gimmelwald, did the Birg Thrill Walk (skipped the Schilthorn), rode up to Allmendhubel.

Appenzell

I did do some trip reports on the Jungfrau region but realised I left out sharing about the Graubunden region in 2018. Think I was too tired and got caught up with life once we returned.

THIS TRIP: we are hoping to ride the Eiger Express from Grindelwald Terminus to Eigergletscher and do the simpler Jungrfrau Eiger Walk (not the trail) down to Kleine Scheidegg. Also the walk from KleineS to Wengenalp, repeat the Panoramic walk from Mannlichen to Kleine Scheidegg and some rides (skipping Jungfrau this time).

We are planning to take the Lauterbrunnen bus to Isenfluh and cable car up to Suwald. Likely repeat the Lauterbrunnen valley walk and ride up to Murren. We will also include

Blausee – as we will arrive around 12pm and want to take our time walking the area, I am not sure if it will be too rushed to go up to Niesen Kulm on the same day.

cruises on Lake Thun (Spiez, Oberhofen, Thun) and Brienz (Giesbbach and Iseltwald).

Take the bus from Meiringen to Rosenalaui and walk to Schwarzwaldalp (cant decide whether to bus back to Meiringen or take the Grindelwald bus all the way from Schwarzwaldalp to Grindelwald terminus just for the ride). A little worried about feeling queasy on all those twists and turns during the ride although we don’t know if the scenery is worth it. We aren’t hikers so trying to hike from Schwarzwaldalp to Grosse Scheidegg is too much for us.

We will also do the Aare Gorge, Gelmerbahn “roller coaster” up to Gelmersee.

On our last 3N, we decided to base ourselves in Winterthur as there is a direct train to the airport in Zurich. This time we will visit Stein Am Rheim and Schaffhausen. Don’t really like main cities as much as the villages and towns.

As we missed out on the Brienzer Rothorn, Harder Kulm, the Niesen Kulm, Hasliberg Magisalp, reading personal experiences from fellow travellers can help us with our choices. We can’t get enough of the alps and can just walk around, take our own sweet time enjoying the views and beauty of the place. If there are any mt rides we missed out, feel free to suggest (preferably covered by the BO Pass). I have seen the validity map of the BO Pass – unfortunately the rides from Adelboden are not fully opened during our visit.

PUBLIC HOLIDAY CORPUS CHRISTI THUR 8 JUNE 2023 – The Public holiday on thur will flow into the weekend. So we are wondering whether the queues for the mt rides we missed will be crowded. Appreciate if anyone can advise if mt rides will have longer queues during this day and the weekend. We try to avoid crowds as much as possible, esp tour groups and if having to queue too long we would rather skip the rides. Trying to catch the 1st or 2nd ride of the day is not something we will be doing (given the jet lag and time difference of 7 hrs – there will be some adjustments to our body clock) – we tried doing that but doesnt work for us. We usually leave the hotel for our trips around 10am.

As you can see, we are returning to the Bernese Oberland as we really miss the Alps and the Wengen region as our last trip there was in 2017. So we could still repeat some of the activities without feeling bored. What we really want to see which we didnt the last trips are the late spring and early summer alpine flowers of the region, hoping daffodils are still there. So we really want to cover as much as we can of the Bernese Oberland this trip. Should we have the blessed opportunity to return, we shall definitely cover the other places like Zermatt etc. We usually like to stay at least 5N in each place to truly enjoy the town and sights.

I watched videos and read up on the places we missed and am now hoping to get personal experiences here as I trust the advice and opinions from the experts and fellow travellers on this forum.

Sorry if the post is lengthy, thought I have to mention what we have done before so those who have experienced the mt rides we missed will be able to comment. Thanks in advance.

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[Anna]

Reply 1 of 8 • 3 April 2023 at 13:09:10 #952919

Hi traveljet,

Blausee and Niesen in a half a day should be doable. If you have time, I recommend taking the gondola up to Oeschinensee, which is not very far from Blausee. The bus and gondola to Oeschinensee is fully covered by the Berner Oberland Pass.

Corpus Christi (Auffahrt/Fronleichnam in German) is a holiday in about 16 cantons. It’s not a holiday in canton Bern. So they may be more locals travelling than usual but I wouldn’t worry so much about it.

Regards,

Anna

[Arno]

Reply 2 of 8 • 3 April 2023 at 14:46:23 #952920

Hi traveljet,

Those are wonderful plans.

I think that the Niesen, Brienzer Rothorn, Harder Kulm, Eiger Express, Sulwald and Hasliberg/Alpen Tower would all be a great addition to your previous mountain trips. You can read up on some of them below:

• https://www.myswissalps.com/niesen
• https://www.myswissalps.com/brienzerrothorn
• https://www.myswissalps.com/harderkulm
• https://www.myswissalps.com/jungfraujoch/gettingthere

If your schedule and budget allow, it would be nice to do them all. I personally never get bored during mountain trips. Each and every trips has its own charm and offers unique views. If you’re looking for even more options:

• I personally like Pfingstegg above Grindelwald too: https://www.myswissalps.com/pfingstegg. It provides a very different perspective compared to many of the other mountain tops in the Jungfrau area, and it’s included in the Berner Oberland Pass.
• Did you get to visit the Oeschinensee from Kandersteg during your last visit? Definitely recommended too. It’s quite close to the Blausee, but you’re already considering to combine this with the Niesen. Doing all 3 in 1 day wouldn’t be relaxed.
• You could combine a visit to Niederhorn with your Lake Thun cruise. Beautiful panoramic views of the entire region up there.

A minor warning concerning Isenfluh/Sulwald: this road is quite curvy. If you’re hesitant about the Schwarzwaldalp bus, that might be good to know.

[traveljet]

Reply 3 of 8 • 4 April 2023 at 2:19:02 #952921

Thanks Anna and Arno for your input. You gave me food for thought about just going ahead and doing everything since we do have the time.

My greatest concern is having to deal with long queues for the mt rides esp on the public holiday and weekend so that sort of made me apprehensive about doing more rides. Hopefully the large group tours won’t be around yet. If only we could simply scan the passes or there was a counter for those who didnt have to buy tickets. Wishful thinking outloud.

The views and flowers in Suwald during that time of the year (from videos) look enticing enough to make a trip up and apparently it’s not as crowded as the other places, so hope I can manage the bus ride to Isenfluh as it’s not as long as the one from Schwarzwaldalp all the way to Grindelwald station.

We were also thinking about Axalp but I am not sure as we usually prefer walks with wide open spaces rather than through forest and I read there are some steep places here and there. The woodcarvings along the way do look interesting tho and what a brilliant idea for the woodcarvers to do that.mThe bus ride sounds interesting tho winding too but it’s not as long.

Thanks for suggesting Neiderhorn during the Thun cruise. We could do a repeat of Niederhorn if it’s convenient.

Yes, we can’t get enough of the mts esp if there is some snow on top. So hopefully there will be some dusting of snow during this coming trip to the BO if the weather is not too hot. We get 30-32 degrees Celsius all year round where we come from. So anything below 25degrees will be great during the trip. The reason we left Zermatt out this trip is we prefer to go at a time when there’s lots more snow on top.

One question about the Giessbach falls – can you advise how long it takes to walk down if we don’t take the funicular? We need to time ourselves to catch the boat to Iseltwald.

[Anna]

Reply 4 of 8 • 4 April 2023 at 8:52:35 #952922

Hi traveljet,

From my experience, the walk down from the Giessbach Hotel to the Giessbach See boat dock took about 10 to 15 mins. I remember walking up was a challenge as some part were rather steep. Walking down was much easier.

If your schedule allows, you can also hike from Giessbach Falls to Iseltwald, then take the boat there.

You can find more details here: http://www.myswissalps.com/hiking/giessbach-iseltwald

Regards,

Anna

[traveljet]

Reply 5 of 8 • 4 April 2023 at 9:26:09 #952923

Hi Anna, thanks. We better give ourselves 20-30mins for photo stops if we intend to walk down to get the boat. Walking up to the higher falls from the hotel, taking a short break at the patio and walking down will likely be enough for us. 😁 We can save our energy for a little more strolling around Iseltwald.

Am I correct that I should be able to get a hardcopy of the timetable of the Thun and Brienz cruises at the boat office or tourist centres? It’s always easier to look at the hardcopy compared to constantly selecting and peering at the phone screen. Otherwise I should print out the copy from the website.

[Anna]

Reply 6 of 8 • 4 April 2023 at 14:29:34 #952924

Hi traveljet,

You can download the PDF version of the timetable here: http://www.bls-schiff.ch/sites/default/files/2023-03/Timetable_BLS-Lake-Cruise_2023-24.pdf (scroll down to Page 9 for boat schedules on Lake Brienz). But yes, the timetable booklets are available for free at most train stations and boat docks in the Jungfrau region.

Regards,

Anna

[traveljet]

Reply 7 of 8 • 5 April 2023 at 10:14:28 #952925

Hi Anna, thanks I do have the link to the boat schedules for Thun and Brienz.

Regarding the Oeschinensee E-shuttle from the lake back to the Berg station, I could not find if they are available in the first week of June. The website states the shuttle is available in summer without further details. They only show the opening dates for the cable car ride from Kandersteg up to Oeschinensee. The return journey from Meiringen does take up quite a bit of travel time so if the shuttle is not running yet, we won’t consider visiting Oeschinensee.

Appreciate if anyone has any idea about when the E-shuttle starts their service.

[User]

Reply 8 of 8 • 5 April 2023 at 11:47:50 #952926

Hello traveljet,

Operations start May 13th for the summer period, closing on October 23rd, 2023.

• https://www.oeschinensee.ch/en/praktische-infos-sommer/

Kind regards,

Yolanda