MySwissAlps.com features ads, commercial and non-commercial Is Wengen a good idea in the 1st week of June?
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Hi Everyone my wife and I are planning on staying in Wengen the first week of June 2020 of next year for 4 days. I’m getting so many mixed reviews on whether it’s a good time to visit during my research. We picked late May early June because we were hoping to stay clear of the busy tourist season and my summers in Canada are quite busy as a musician. photography, dine and wine and moderate hiking are our thing. A trip like this is a big deal for us, are selling our selves short or setting our selves up for disappointment picking this time of year to visit?
Corey Lueck
The Smoke Wagon Blues Band
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Hi Corey –
Thanks for joining us.
<<“A trip like this is a big deal for us, are selling our selves short or setting our selves up for disappointment picking this time of year to visit”>
Fist thought is “yes.”
However, it ain’t that simple.
Altitude matters.
Exactly what kind of hiking do you have in mind? What else would you do if snow blocks the trails?
At that time of year, a base in Luzern makes more sense than a base in the Jungfrau region. Wait 2 -3 weeks, and that perspective changes. That is if you want to hike at the higher altitudes. (And, you probably will).
First week in June will find many services closed, awaiting the Summer season, beginning at about June 15th. The tourist hordes are more of a concern once July arrives.
Can you be more precise about your goals?
http://www.myswissalps.com/we ngen
http://www.myswissalps.com/fo rum/topic/tips-about-wengen-and-the-jungfrau-region-by-kim
Slowpoke
We just returned from an 11 day trip which included Zermatt, Wengen, Montreux, and Lucerne from June 3-13. We had a wonderful stay and thought it was a perfect time.
<“We just returned from an 11 day trip which included Zermatt, Wengen,
Montreux, and Lucerne from June 3-13. We had a wonderful stay and
thought it was a perfect time.”>>
Hi Sharpl –
Did you try for the Maennlichen – Kleine Scheidegg walk?
Any other specifics on what contributed to your enjoyment? Or items that disappointed you?
Slowpoke
Thanks so much Slowpoke for the reply, we would be interested in 3hr hikes moderate to easy with huge interest in photography: the valleys, meadows, trails, mountain ranges, towns etc. Enjoying magnificent views from our balcony over coffee in the morning and good cheer with beer and wine at the local establishments in the evenings. That’s kind of it in a nut shell 😎 Wengen and area appeals from an artistic view for possibly our home base stay because no vehicles will cloud our photographs, easy access to the attractions of the area and its restaurants and shops sound appealing during down time if they are open. We also would like to make a day trip to Montreux if it’s possible. We have been considering driving (rental) to the region from Milan, dropping it off right away in Interlaken or keeping it parked in the nearest vehicle permitted town for a day trip use if needed and/or to reach the nearest airport after the 4 day stay. Of course all of this is only in thought at this point, which is why all your suggestion are greatly appreciated.
Sharpl your trip sounds very encouraging! Yes I agree with Slowpoke, please share, we would love to hear more about your trip, the pros and cons of traveling to these areas in early june.
Hi Clueck!
I think you should be fine visiting Wengen in May/June. We can’t predict what weather will be like, and which hiking trails are accessible by then. But there’s still plenty to see and do. Quite some mountain transportation will be running by that time, whereas tourist crowds tend to come in July and August. I quite often visited Switzerland end April/early May, and although it requires some planning as not all activities are accessible yet, I really value the combination of green spring landscapes, snow-capped mountain tops and (relative) peace and quiet on tourist spots.
A day trip to Montreux is possible indeed:
- https://www.myswissalp s.com/goldenpass
- https://www.myswissalp s.com/timetable
- https://www.myswissalp s.com/montreux
A car will be more of a hindrance when visiting the Wengen region, to be honest. You’ll have to pay for parking costs while not using it. Drop-off rates can be pretty high. Note that there are excellent and scenic train connections from Milan. Please refer to the timetable I just mentioned. This information might be useful too:myswissalps.com/carver sustrain and myswissalps.com/traint ickets/italy. Don’t buy any tickets until you know which rail pass you’ll be using though: myswissalps.com/train/ ticketspasses/practica l/chooserailpass.
Hi Annika –
<<“Drop-off rates can be pretty high”>>
Good point.
One way drop off rates are high; international is a lot more, because they eventually need to get the car back to the country of origin.
I did notice that sometime the rental cars offers will say ” no drop off fee,” But, if you look into the rates, in those cases the daily rates are substantially higher than for a comparable journey inside one country with return to the start point.
<<“I really value the combination of green spring landscapes, snow-capped
mountain tops and (relative) peace and quiet on tourist spots.”>>
When I go in late May or early June, I stay at lower altitudes, have nice hiking and beautiful scenery, with the alps in the distance. See attached. If you are not set on hiking, then the Jungfrau region, and Wengen in particular, are quite nice. And, there are some easy walks at lower altitudes. The waterfalls in the Lauterbrunnen Valley are out in force, fed by snow melt.
I agree with you that it is a nice time to visit Switzerland. However, Clueck specified “early June” and “Wengen” and “moderate hikes.”
What could you suggest in that category that will definitely be open in early June within easy distance of Wengen?
My concerns would disappear by late June, and the tourist crowds would not really become heavy until July.
I think his other interests could be met by many hotels in Wengen in early June.
http://www.myswissalps.com/we ngen/hotels
They start to re-open at about that time. He could get his coffee on a balcony with good views in the morning ( if he rents a room with a balcony) at many hotels, and among the best or possibly the very best views in Wengen at a hotel favored by Kim in her report, which has become my preferred option. That is the Hotel Bellevue.
They open on June 1:
<<“Opening times
Summer
1.6. – 29.9.2019″>>
http://www.bellevue-wengen.ch/en/home.html
Check their webcam
You will see that the view from the Hotel Bellevue is very similar to the attached image of the Lauterbrunnen Valley, which was taken from a point just a bit below the hotel where the old train roadbed and the new track diverge.
In the first week of June, even with the warmer weather recently, in my opinion, there is no chance to get on some of the trails at 2200 meters near Männlichen…..which typically open at about June 15th, +/- a few days. Last few images for examples.
Slowpoke
Hi to the both of you!
No, not all trails are open by that time, but most of the lower altitude ones are. Clueck, you’ll find plenty of easy to moderate hikes around Lakes Thun and Brienz, in the Lauterbrunnen valley, probably Grütschalp-Mürren, Alpiglen-Grindelwald (or even Kleine Scheidegg-Grindelwald), possibly Kleine Scheidegg-Wengen and First-Bachalpsee, and so on. You can check the list at http://www.myswissalps.com/be rneseoberland/activiti es (scroll down for hikes) and check the elevation information for each hike.
Mountain transportation to Schilthorn, Jungfraujoch, First, Männlichen, Niesen, Harder Kulm, Oeschinensee, Stockhorn, Niederhorn and Pfingsteg should all be available. Brienzer Rothorn and Schynige Platte will probably get running by June 1, depending on the exact weather conditions. The “Route” tab of each of our attraction pages (see the link above) shows operation dates and links to timetables.
I’m typing up my report right now as we speak. Watch for it. I totally advise staying at Hotel Victoria in Wengen. It now goes by Arenas Resort as they have taken it over. This was our favorite hotel of our entire trip. Wonderful, wonderful view from our balcony. See attached picture. Robes and slippers. Also, totally affordable. We actually did not pay for any of our hotels. I used credit card bonus points.
Here’s the link to Sharpl’s trip report: http://www.myswissalps.com/forum/topic/june-zermatt-montreux-wengen-lucerne-trip-report.
These are excellent posts! Thanks so much everyone! If it’s possible in my playing schedule next year I will possibly try to postpone by a week or so if it will make a big difference in trails being open we shouldn’t miss out on and by the the sounds of it on here I should probably can my driving aspirations though I sure love a good road trip 😎 the main reason I was thinking about it is I love to pull over and take pictures when I feel like as apposed to through a train window.
Hi Corey,
We were in Wengen for 8 nights from 5th June this year, stayed at Hotel Edelweiss in a room with a balcony looking over to snowy mountains and a view out the other window to the Staubbachfall. Great hotel, a 10 min walk downhill from the station, optional lovely 4 course dinners for 25 CHF each, a terrace out back in the garden with umbrella and lounges, common inside lounge areas, and gorgeous staff. We had some cloudy and stormy weather, especially the day we went up to Mannlichen, but this just made it feel really wild, and was one of our favourite days. The Mannlichen to Kleine Scheidegg trail was still closed unfortunately, but we took the train up to Kleine Scheidegg and walked down to Wengen, amongst beautiful mountain scenery. Another cloudy day we took the train down to Lauterbrunnen and walked through the valley past gorgeous waterfalls through impossibly green fields covered in wildflowers, accompanied by the tinkling of cowbells, to Trummelbachfalle, a series of 10 cascades inside the mountain. Another gorgeous walk was to take the cable car from Lauterbrunnen to Grutschalp, then walk to Murren. We then walked down to Gimmelwald as the cable car to Schilthorn was cancelled due to high winds, and took the cable car back down to Stechelberg, and bussed back to Lauterbrunnen. We did make it to Schilthorn another day, but got our best views from Birg, the station below.
Our trip was 15 May to 19 June, in a clockwise direction from Zurich. We had all sorts of weather, including some clear gorgeous mountain days. We chose this time to keep out of peak tourist season, and to be there in spring for the scenery of recent snows, wildflowers, and lots of water in the waterfalls. We noticed the further into our trip, the more tourists there were, to be expected I guess though, around the ‘big ticket items’ of the Matterhorn and Junfrau area. Luzern also had a lot of tourists, but is a beautiful city, with gorgeous mountain areas nearby.
The weather can be very changeable, even in the one day, and we were prepared to take the chance at this time of year to keep away from the tourist hordes!
From what we saw, the whole country is mindblowingly gorgeous!
Have a great trip whenever you decide to travel.
Excellent! Wow Rels, I can’t wait 😎😎
Apologies for incorrect Jungfrau spelling above…..
I hope to start on a trip report soon….
The benefit of an early June ( or any June) trip to Switzerland is the spectacular wildflowers, and low tourist density. There can be beautiful days, or parts of days, but there can be long spells of rainy, cloudy days that are best used in the lower altitude regions…such as Luzern. I was there in early to mid June this year and had mostly good weather, but a few days with rain all day long. I did not go up in the Alps; too early for me. I visited the Emmental, the three Lakes Region, visited the border with France along the River Doubs with Snowman (of this forum) , Luzern and nearby (including Rigi Staffelhöhe), Fribourg in the Altstadt, as well Bern for my regular visit to the Rosegarden. I spent time with friends in Zürich.
The disadvantage of that time of year is that the more spectacular (higher) trails are still closed, until late June, and the Spring weather, which can be wet, often.
The transport system lets you get around easily, so you can pick and choose, to some degree, if the weather patterns so indicate.
Slowpoke
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