We toured Switzerland’s Bernese Oberland Region from 16 to 21 July 2013 (Summer) for 5 days 4 nights. Here’s a summary of our Switzerland Bernese Oberland Itinerary with Travel Tips and links to detailed post experiences. The Airline we took was Swiss Air and we had to transfer to Lufthansa in Germany because our return flight is from there. 

We toured 4 main locations: Interlaken, Wengen, Lauterbrunnen, Grindelwald and visited a total of 10 places. Our accommodation was in Wengen Village.

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5-DAY FAMILY ITINERARY FOR SWITZERLAND BERNESE OBERLAND

*Click on Links to view Detailed Posts Summary

DAY 1 ( WENGEN )

1200 — Took ICE Train From Germany (Freiburg Station) to Basel SBB
1250—  Arrived in Switzerland Basel SBB Station. Buy Swiss Pass & Get Family Card
1330 — Took train (Basel(IC)->Interlaken OST(R)->Lauterbrunnen(R)->Wengen) to Wengen using Swiss Pass
1620 — Arrived Wengen Station & Village
1645 — Check in Hotel Edelweiss / Explore Hotel Surroundings / Supermarket COOP (buy sandwich ingredients for hike)

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DAY 2 ( MANNLICHEN / LAUTERBRUNNEN

• Aerial Cable Car in Wengen Village to go up to Männlichen
• Took Männlichen Hike Route 33 to Kleine Scheidegg
• Train to Lauterbrunnen
• Arrived in Lauterbrunnen Village / Explore and lunch
• Bus to Trümmelbach Falls/ Explore
• Bus back to Lauterbrunnen Village / Train back to Wengen

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DAY 3 ( INTERLAKEN )

• Train (Wengen(R)->Lauterbrunnen(R)->Interlaken OST(IR)
• Cruise on Lake Brienz (Brienzersee) to Brienz Town
• Quick Snack Lunch in Lake Brienz Town
• Steam Engine Train (Brienz Rothorn Bahn) up to Brienzer Rothorn Mountain
• Walk About Brienzer Rothorn Mountain
• Steam Engine Train Back
• Cruise back to Interlaken Town
• Dinner in Chinese Restaurant in Interlaken Town
• Explore Interlaken Town
• Back to Wengen Village / Rest

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DAY 4 ( JUNGFRAUJOCH / GRINDELWALD )

• Take train (Wengen(R)->Kleine Scheidegg(R)->Jungfraujoch) to Jungfraujoch
• Jungfraujoch Railway Station / Sphinx Observatory at Aletsch glacier
• Experience Snow at Jungfraujoch Top of Europe / Snow-Slide down the slope
• Walk in Alpine Sensation Gallery displaying history of Jungfrau Tourism and Railway
• Jungfraujoch Ice Palace
• Lunch in  Restaurant Aletsch Self-Service
• Train to Grindelwald Village and explore
• Dinner in Grindelwald Village
• Train Stop at /Wait For Transfer Back to Wengen
• Arrived Wengen Hotel Edelweiss / Rest

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DAY 5 ( WENGEN / DEPARTURE TO AIRPORT )

0800 — Breakfast in Hotel / Luggage Pack Up
1045 —  Explore Wengen Village / Buy Souvenirs (realised most shops closed on Sat morning!)
1200 — Check-out from Hotel
1330 — Train from Wengen(R)->Lauterbrunnen(R)->Interlaken(IC)->Bern(IC)->Zürich Flughafen
1620 — Arrived at Zurich Airport
1700 — Lunch / Tea-break Snack at Airport MacDonald’s
1840 — Take Swiss Air Flight Back Home with 1 transfer to Lufthansa in Germany Frankfurt

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DAY 6 ( BACK SINGAPORE )

0950 – Arrival in Singapore

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Tips on Travel in Switzerland

1. Clothing for Hike & Walk

• Wear Shoes with Traction as it is slippery on some snow-capped grounds or rough terrain. (We did well with Nike and New Balance sports shoes though)
• Waterproof Shoes or Extra pair of socks if not able to have hiking boots like us. (Socks would be wet once you step into thick snow at Jungfraujoch Top of Europe snow-capped ground if shoes are just normal sports shoes)
• Männlichen Hike (Summer): Waterproof & Windproof Jacket with Hoods (Rain occurs fairly often) / Layer Fleece Sweater over normal clothing/ Thick weatherproof pants (We wore normal t-shirt plus extra sweater- 2 layers)
• Jungfraujoch (Summer): Extra Fleece Jacket Waterproof or layered with waterproof light jacket + sweater +  t-shirt. Winter hat or sun hat/ a pair of gloves / thick socks.
• Sun Protection: Sunscreen /Sunglasses. (We regret not bringing sun glasses. Glaring for eyes due to reflection of sun on snow)
• Alpine Sensation Gallery: Extremely Cold walking through the long gallery with the breeze blowing so child should wear thick winter jacket with scarf for neck area/winter hat. We had to put on gloves ourselves. Other areas on Jungfraujoch were alright and comfortably cold.
• July Weather in Villages : It’s actually quite warm in the villages (Wengen/Lauterbrunnen/Interlaken/Grindelwald) and we wore normal T-shirts and pants.
• Trümmelbach Falls : Raincoat or Waterproof Clothing with hoods needed to prevent getting wet from the splashes of water droplets.

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2. Activities

• There’s only a café restaurant with washroom the last 1/3 of the Männlichen Hike to Kleine Scheidegg so please go to the washroom first before going on the hike.
• Need to pay for a Summer Snow Slide on Jungfraujoch Top of Europe Snow Slope but unlimited rides down for as long as you wish.
• Cruise on Lake Brienz is breezy and quite cold. Wear a light windproof jacket. May get sea-sick after a while so child might need to eat a pill for sea-sickness before starting. Cruise Journey from Interlaken —> to Brienz Town (to take Rothorn Bahn) takes about 1 hour 10mins.
• The Brienz Rothorn Bahn up to Brienzer Rothorn Mountain arrives and departs again in about half an hour so if you wish to stay for longer, you would have to eat at the Rothorn Kulm Mountain Restaurant or hike around until the next train departs 1.5 hrs later. (We didn’t want to wait for so long as we wanted to go Interlaken so took the same train back down) Time-Table of Brienz Rothorn Bahn

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3. Travel By Train

• Train Transfer in Bernese Oberland Stations is within minutes so one needs to be fast to walk across to platforms to board the next train with the correct train compartment.
• Train Compartments are divided into 1st Class and 2nd Class. For 2nd Class, seating is free and on a first come first served basis. There is no need to reserve seats.
• There are special carriages on certain train for large tourist groups which individual travellers cannot board.
• Train Conductors check tickets often so make sure tickets is available on hand, ready to show. Fine is hefty for not having a ticket so please do not lose it!

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4. Food & Drink

Pack Food for Hike

• We made sandwiches when we rested at a stop in the middle of a hike. Essentials can be obtained from the supermarket in the village and we brought the ingredients individually in our backpack, ONLY making the sandwich when we rest.
• Sandwich Ingredients — Bread / Jam or Peanut Butter or Nutella / Canned Tuna / Cheese / Canned Hotdogs.
• Cutlery — We brought along a butter spreading knife / small teaspoon / long fridge storage container – cover when turned over acts as clean surface for making sandwich.
• Snack — Large amount of Chocolates/ Mixed chocolate bars. (really helps to boost energy!) / Tidbits (We love Pringles potato chips for ease of carrying and cracker biscuits)
• Fruits — Bananas are easy to carry in bag and give lots of energy!

Drinks for Hike

• Two Large Bottles of Drinking Water — Although hotel owner said we could get drinking water from the tap in our room’s washroom (supposedly water from alps?), we preferred getting bottled drinking water from the supermarket in the village.

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5. Meals in Restaurant or Hotels

1. Beware, Meals are very expensive in Switzerland ! Our Swiss delicacy dinner of Fondue / Beef Stew  in the hotel cost CHF 25 per person(abt SGD 35) We took them because we wanted to try local Swiss food and restaurants in town were more costly at CHF30 and above.
2. Chinese Restaurants charge chinese simple dishes at CHF 28 at least to CHF 62 each. At the lowest price of CHF 28, you can only order fried noodles and fried rice. SGD$40 for a plate of fried rice?! Meat ranges from CHF 36 (chicken) to 98 (horse meat)! We were not used to Swiss Cuisine and craved for rice so had no choice but to eat in one. Rice costs CHF 3.50 (SGD$5) for a plate. O_O
3. That’s why many people around us ended up buying sandwiches or instant stuff from supermarket CO-OPs.