[Removed user]

8 March 2020 at 16:31:54 #825435

Thanks to those of you who replied to a previous post about Thun/Spiez/Brienz. I think I’ve narrowed it down to Brienz for mid-May! This is such a great forum. I have 4 more qu’s…

1. Having stayed in Weggis (on Lucerne) and found it a bit small with no real centre, does anyone have knowledge of both villages and therefore some useful persepctive on the difference in feel and facilities? I’m still a bit worried that Brienz will feel too small to ‘hang out’ on foot for 2 weeks, although I realise it has great connections for bus and train trips. Has anyone stayed in Brienz 10-14 days and found plenty to do just strolling around and discovering things (like waterfalls and animals) as well as doing a few day trips?

2. It’s tempting to go therefore to the Interlaken area, but we don’t want to be in the busy town itself, and if we go out to say Wilderswil we won’t get the lake views, which is the great thing about Brienz! Any other suggestions with great lake view and plenty to do?

3. I note the railway up Rothorn is only going as far as PlanAlp -is that still a great view and worth a trip?

4. Re Coronavirus (thanks for your excellent links), I guess I’m not alone in being more concerned about the journey than the Swiss Alps destination? A healthy place to be compared to London, but we’re coming by train from London via Paris (eeek!) and via Zurich – very busy hubs – and it’s hard not to wonder whether it’s wise to travel at all. I know we have to keep this all in perspective, but when none of us know how the numbers will rise/fall in next 2 months, it’s a nightmare, especially re whether to secure accommodation! Most self-catering aparments want the full balance by 6 weeks before, which is early April in our case.

Thouights very welcome!

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[Removed user]

9 March 2020 at 0:04:46 #931276

Brienz is a small, quiet place. Many places in Switzerland are like that – as is Weggis as you discovered. Big cities are where you need to be for guaranteed ‘night life’. Otherwise you just have to use somewhere as a base. Interlaken / Wilderswil aren’t really any different to Brienz

[lbiggs020260]

9 March 2020 at 4:30:37 #931277

I cannot agree with you about Interlaken/wilderswil being similar to Brienz. Interlaken is a town with lots of life day and night. Brienz is much smaller. Having said that from Interlaken you do not have a lake view although you can easily walk to the lake.

[Removed user]

9 March 2020 at 9:30:41 #931278

Hello Giggy,

Brienz is a bit smaller than Interlaken, but both places have below 10’000 inhabitants, so they’re small and on the more quiet side. Interlaken is more frequented, also by foreign tourist and thus busier and maybe a little less “Swiss” than Brienz, but at the end of the day they are around 18-25 mins. apart by train with connections from around 6 am to 10.30 pm, as you will see in the timetable:
– http://www.myswissalps.com/timetable

Best,
Steph

Also see:
– http://www.myswissalps.com/brienzerrothorn
– http://www.myswissalps.com/lakebrienz
– http://www.myswissalps.com/lakethun