Hi JoandPhil –
You are correct about the nature of the off-season in the hiogh Alpine regionnear the Jungfrau. . A little earlier and all the skiers would be there. After mid-June, the hikers are there. In between, time for rest, recuperation, repairs, refurbishments. However, not all hotels and restaurants are closed in the Jungfrau region. Besides Grindelwald, which is more commercial, you could check Wengen, as well.
What may not be clear is the effect of altitude.
At time of your trip, the floor of the Lauterbrunnen Valley at about 800 meters will have open ( easy) trails, most likely….although this past winter had a LOT of snow. Snow melt will cause the waterfalls to show off:
http://www.myswitzerland.com/ en-us/valley-of-the-72-waterfalls-lauterbrunnen-stechelberg.html
http://www.myswitzerland.com/ en-us/valley-of-the-72-waterfalls-lauterbrunnen-stechelberg.html
The webcam shows that there is no snow there now. At high altitude ( about 2400 meters) , where I took the attached picture of the Jungfrau Massif, the trails don’t open until mid-June.
Some webcams may help
en.swisswebcams.ch/suc he/ort/lauterbrunnen-2659992/
Wengen is pretty much free of snow at about 1300 meters. Männlichen at 2300 meter has lots of snow.
The pleasant short walk – Mürren to/from Grütschalp – will be open:
http://www.myswissalps.com/hi king/gruetschalp-muerren
The clue from this is that Luzern (local German spelling) at about 400 meters might offer more opportunity for hiking or walking.
The tourist information by track #2 in the Luzern Hauptbahnhof (main station) is very well inforemd and very helpful. I am sure that they would have some suggestions for you, what ever your interests. By the way, there is no track #1, contrary to what I mentioned in some earlier posts.
I’m pretty sure that the trails I mention in this thread will be available:
http://www.myswissalps.com/fo rum/topic/the-swiss-path-and-southern-lake-lucerne
I have attached a panorama that I took in the Emmental region, (between Bern and Luzern) near the village of Sumiswald at 700 meters in mid-April 2014.. I think it was the 17th. That year all of Switzerland had about a week of sunny, clear, dry weather. Very unusual.. Usually a lot of rain in April. Apart from the nice scene, you will get some clues about Spring timing. The grass has not greened up except in the lowest areas. The deciduous trees are flowering, but no leaves have appeared. Plenty of snow on the Alps.
The weather was more like May than April.
<<“I don’t want to spend all my time traveling just to re-board a train and
head back to where I came from, which is what it seems as if much Swiss
travel consists of. “>>
‘Fraid I have to disagree with you on that. It s certainly true that many people go to Switzerland just to ride the scenic trains. In fact, I’m going to take one day while I’m there this coming May to ride through the Gotthard Pass on a train with a special photographers car, where you can open the windows…that’s how much people like the trains and the scenery.
But, the Swiss like to hike. There is an extensive network of well marked hiking trails throughout Switzerland:
http://www.alpenwild.com/stat icpage/trail-signs-in-the-swiss-alps/
In the German speaking region, there are “wanderways” – ein Wanderweg, die Wanderwege, singular and plural.
This map may be overkill for most uses, but you can turn on the hiking trails . There are a lot.
map.geo.admin.ch/?topic=ech&lang=en&bgLa yer=ch.swisstopo.pixel karte-farbe&layers=ch.bav.ha ltestellen-oev,ch.swisstopo.swiss tlm3d-wanderwege&layers_visi bility=false,true&E=26 79202.02&N=1206154.65& zoom=3
Click on Hiking Trails in the menu. I turned them on to show what is near Luzern.
And, that map follows the color coding convention noted on the Alpenwild site.
While you are in Luzern, you might try my favorite “go to” restaurant for a wide range of food, from cheap an simple to quite goof full meals:
http://www.rathausbrauerei.ch /
By the way, “Rathaus” means council house or town hall. No rats. 😉
Wait a moment and watch the images go past after you open the site.
Also, nearby under the arcades beside the river is the recentlly re-opend restaurant Schiff. No longer a hotel (used to be my favorite for years) the kitchen is noe operating at full speed with excelent local specialties. They also have a rom upstairs, indoors, wita a view quite similar to the attached view of Pilatus. It was taken from the 4th floor of that building.
if you want to splurge on a world class excellent restaurant, eat at the Palace Hotel.
Ooops- they are closed for renovations:
http://www.palace-luzern.ch/en
You might enjoy going up to Hammetschwand on the Bürgenstock Peninsula/ mountain …see these threads. It includes a nice walk.
http://www.myswissalps.com/fo rum/topic/the-hammetschwand-lift
http://www.myswissalps.com/fo rum/topic/the-hammetschwand-lift-getting-there-from-lucern
However, it may not yet be open when you are there. I did a Google search for Hammetschwand opening hours, and got conflicting information. If you are interested, check with the tourist info. office in Luzern main station.
In those threads it mentions getting there by bus, etc. That was necessary when the funicular up from the lake was not running during construction.
The funicular from Kehrsiten to Bürgenstock Resort ( rather nice place) is now runniing, with a periodic boat to the base station. There is a special boat from Luzern at the boat landing next to the main station.
Slowpoke.