Murren vs Gimmelwald based on logistics & expense

Hi all.... we are coming from Venice and have to catch a flight from Geneva. Thinking of spending two days in Murren or Gimmelwald.. and then off to Geneva. I am assuming both are great place..... what should we choose? Based on logistics, expense, getting in from Venice, going to Geneva etc. Also, does hotel offers some travel pass as well?

Mürren and Gimmelwald are verry, verry small places. In Gimmelwald there are no shops at all.

Mürren have a great view on the mountains.

Mürren have one mainstreet, you can walk it in 5 minutes. But what are you go doing in Mürren or Gimmelwald ? There are better places to stay in Berner Oberland.

Murren and Gimmelwald are very small towns.. not much to do..

Murren is slightly.. just slighty bigger.. more hotel / b&b options. Gimmelwald is small.. a pension/hostel... no supermarket/coop

if you want some activity or more options.. i would do Lauternbrunnen or Grindelwald.

Grindelwald has lots of restaurant and hotel options.. great open view of Alps

Lauternbrunnen is great option too. down in the valley.. in the middle between Jungfraujoch or Schilthorn... i did 3 days in Lauternbrunnen and found it to be perfect.. not too quiet or busy. and affordable accommodations.

Thanks for all the replies. Meanwhile, I could not get a good air fare from Geneva on Monday.. so I am having one more day. Yahoo.... So, I am now dreaming of taking my daughter to the top of Europe.

The comprehensive schedule looks like this: does it look doable? One obvious question is: Murren, Grindenwald, or Lauterbranen..which is closer to the top of Europe? I shall probably choose that one for the two nights stay (as shown below)

Also, is it too early to book the tickets, buy the pass etc.?

schedule:

July 13 Wednesday: day 1: starting from Venice/Milan..reaching Murren/Lauterbranen/Grindenwald (have to decide) and stay Overnight.

J 14, day 2: going towards 'top of the Europe' and come back to Murren/Leuterbranen/Grindelwald for overnight..

J 15, day 3: Nearby areas/towns....overnight could be in another neraby town on the way to Geneva.

J 16, day 4: Reaching Geneva, Overnight Geneva

J 17, day 5: Geneva

J 18, day 6: Geneva

J 19, day 7 Tuesday: Leave Geneva in evening.

Thanks so much for all your help....!

Why so many days in Geneva ?

In the Bernese Oberland is so much to see and do.

For the Jungfraujoch / Top of Europe, Wengen is the closest , then Grindelwald and Lauterbrunnen , then Murren. When you only visit the Jungfraujoch, Mürren is not the place for you overnight.

I would also spend less time in Geneva and more in the mountains like Brahms suggested.

It's not too early to book. Booking early could save you money on the ticket from Venice to Switzerland. Pass prices won't be lower by booking early but are influenced all the time by exchange rates and whether or not there are promotions. Please see:

• myswissalps.com/ traintickets/italy/pri ce
• myswissalps.com/ swisstravelpass/price

But do not buy tickets for Jungfraujoch excursion in advance. Making the trip at all depends entirely on the weather. If it is cloudy you will spend a great deal of money and see nothing. Rather, wait until day before at the earliest, paying careful attention to the weather forecast

I also recommend making your overnight stop the stop in Geneva. Spend the rest of your time in the far more interesting and spectacular Jungfrau Region. Wengen is our top pick for a base. There are three villages in the Jungfrau region: Lauterbrunnen, Wengen, and Mürren. Gimmelwald is not a village, it is a gondola stop with two hostels there and nothing else. Grindelwald is a small city with lots of lodging, restaurants, and shops. It is also teaming with traffic and tour busses. Basing in one of the three villages will give you a wonderful Swiss mountain experience. Here is my opinion of the three:

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.

Thanks to all of you... I am getting convinced that the base should be Wengen....given all the reasonsings/insights I can gain from your postings. I am also trying to get the ticket of the Milan to Switzerland... at least the Italian part.

Note that the plan that I had sent had three nights and two days in Geneva. That is, arriving Geneva on Sat and spending sunday and monday in Geneva and take the plane on Tuesday. I thought two days are just about optimum. Just one day become almost impossible to do anything meaningful. Even the lesser places in the world, one may need at least two days to get a feel.

Two questions:

1. Arriving in Wengen on Wednesday, and going to the top of Europe on Wed, and nearby places on Thu, leaves a free Friday to explore another place with overnight stay as well. It could be somewhere on the way to Geneva. Looks like Montreux or Lusanne could be an option.

2. For Wengen hotel, how do I ask if there is any free travel voucher/pass offered by the hotel or not?

Thanks so much...

You want to do too much on one day...... From venice to Jungfraujoch on one day. Nobody does that on one day.

Hi Brahms...thanks for the reply. I may not make myself clear. We start from Venice and just reach Wengen....by the end of the day. We start from Venice with a 7:50 train... and should be in Wengen by 6 or 7 PM?

Please let me know whether it is too ambitious or we should find another town for the overnight stay?

From Venizia Santa Lucia, depart 07.50 to Wengen is posible, arriving at 15.51 PM.

But I think it's too ambitious to do this on the same day (wednesday) travel from Wengen to Jungfraujoch (arriving 17.22) you write, and back tot Wengen (hotel). You will only have 8 minutes on Jungfraujoch untill the last train goes back.......

I think there are no free travel passes offered by the hotels........ and a train trip from Venizia to Wengen seems very expensive to me.

Hi fmurshed,

Hotels in Wengen provide a free guest card which includes a few local discounts (on the swimming pool and things like that). There's no free traveling. You can find train passes here.