Interlaken Area Guide (2026 Edition): Grindelwald vs Lauterbrunnen vs Wengen vs Mürren

This is part two in a three-part series on how to plan a trip to Grindelwald and the Jungfrau region. Easily one of my favorite trips this year next to winter in Lapland chasing the Northern Lights and an hot springs tour across Japan.

Ironically, even though many people might be searching for Interlaken, it’s not where I’d recommend staying.

If you haven’t read my general Grindelwald/Jungfrau planning guide yet, that’s the place to start for the full itinerary, mistakes to avoid, and the best travel pass to get breakdown.

I also made a separate activities guide because there’s so much to cover, especially breaking down what’s actually worth it, what you can skip, and the things you should book in advance.

If planning by spreadsheet is more your thing, you’re welcome to download MY ACCOMMODATIONS SPREADSHEET I created while I was looking for places to stay. It has my shortlist for each of the towns, some post-trip notes, and the ones I liked (and went with).

Picking a home base in this region tripped me up more than it should at first. Learning the names aside, every village seemed to have a mountain view, a train station, and a handful of hotels with ‘alpine’ somewhere in the name, so on paper they all looked similar. They’re not.

Altitude, crowd levels, grocery access, vibe, and even how many transfers it takes to get there separate the main villages in the Jungfrau region, more than so I’d have expected considering how close and connected the whole area is.

Ultimately, we stayed in two of these villages ourselves and did day trips across the rest. Let’s start.

The 5 Main Villages (By Altitude)

1. Interlaken (566m)
2. Lauterbrunnen (795m)
3. Grindelwald (1,034m)
4. Wengen (1,274m)
5. Mürren (1,638m)

While doing our research, I made an excel sheet shortlist of places we liked in each village as well as the ones we ended up picking, with some post-trip notes and tips.

Why You Should Skip Interlaken

Interlaken is the region’s main hub, the place where trains from Zurich, Bern, and Geneva all pour in in before splitting off toward Grindelwald or Lauterbrunnen. The town, more than a village, sits right on the Brienzsee lake, so if you want a view of the water with your morning coffee, this is the only place that offers it.

For the most part, prices in Interlaken were higher than the other villages. I mean, check out Victoria Jungfrau Grand Hotel. I get that it’s historic, but I saw a lot of nicer options for much less in the villages. I did like the Boutique Hotel Bellevue though, with its location right on the waters.

Which is the main station in Interlaken?

There are two main stations. Interlaken West and Interlaken Ost (East).

If you want to actually visit Interlaken, stay closer to Interlaken West. That’s the main town, with the restaurants, shops, and more of the hotels. The Interlaken Ost area is more a transit-hub if you want to connect to the alpine villages like Grindelwald, Lauterbrunnen, etc.

How far apart is Interlaken West and Interlaken Ost?

The stations are about 2 km apart. It takes about 20 minutes to walk, and there’s a bus that runs along the main road between the two station. By train, it takes only about 3-4 minutes, but they only run every 30 minutes. This is important to remember if you want to base yourself in Interlaken and head up to the villages often.

Is Interlaken Touristy?

Interlaken is also where most of the tour groups stop or stay when they’re hopping across Switzerland, so it can be quite busy and loud, and not in a good way.

This is not a bad place if you’re doing guided tours and water sports, and popular bucket list experiences like paragliding over Murren or Lauterbrunnen and skydiving. Lots of outfitters have a departure from Interlaken for the concentration of tourists here.

But, if your actual focus is the Jungfrau region, basing yourself in Interlaken means backtracking through Grindelwald or Lauterbrunnen every single day. It’s not a long ride, but it adds up fast over four or five days.

Where Interlaken might make sense is as a one or two night stop is if you’re doing a wider Switzerland trip and just dipping into the Jungfrau region for a day, or if you prefer to be by a lake instead of in the mountains. In that case, I recommend staying near Interlaken West and closer to the waters.

Grindelwald Is The Most Practical Base and A Storybook Village

Grindelwald is where I’d recommend most people stay, and it’s where we spent most of nights on our trip.

It’s the most central village in the region, has a wide range of accommodation from hostels to luxury retreats, and puts you within easy reach of nearly every major highlight: First Mountain, the Glacier Canyon, Pfingstegg, plus close to direct train or cable car connections to everywhere else, Lauterbrunnen, Mürren, Jungfraujoch, and Wengen by way of Mannlichen.

You can even stay on the top of First mountain, if you don’t mind the spartan accommodations and only accessing the chalet via cable car.

In Grindelwald, you get the best view of the three big peaks, the Eiger, Mönch, and Jungfrau, right from town. It’s unreal.

There were a few standout hotels like the Bergwelt Grindelwald and the Eiger Mountain & Soul Resort, both very central with beautiful aesthetics and spas to match.

We narrowed it down and ended up splitting our stay between the Hotel Kreuz & Post right in the center of town by the main station, and the Aspen Alpin Lifestyle Hotel tucked into the quiet hills just a few minutes’ drive away.

We went with these two hotels because they had the best looking spas, breakfast was included, and the location was perfect for what we were looking for, especially the Aspen, where we found a little escape to relax and celebrate our engagement.

You can read my full review of the Hotel Kreuz & Post and my full review of the Aspen Alpin Lifestyle Hotel.

Lauterbrunnen Is Magical

Lauterbrunnen is the western valley to Grindelwald’s eastern one. The village is a smaller than Grindelwald, doesn’t have that the surrounded-by-mountains landscape, but more than makes up for it with its 72 waterfalls.

Trümmelbach Falls is a glacial waterfall cavern carved into the mountain itself and Staubbach Falls looks like it’s dropping straight off the cliffs right into the village. It’s genuinely one of the most surreal backdrop for a town I’ve ever stayed in.

I found that the hotels options were much more basic in Lauterbrunnen compared to Grindelwald and Wengen, and there were more apartment options, which may be better if you’re in a larger group.

We only spent one night here at the Valley Hostel, specifically so we could get an early start on the via ferrata the next morning, since the cable car goes straight up to Mürren at the edge of the Lauterbrunnen Valley.

We booked relatively last minute, so the Hotel Silberborn was unavailable when we were ready to book, but we didn’t mind the hostel at all since we were arriving late and just needed a place to sleep and head out in the morning. They had a luggage storage room, which was useful.

For solo or budget travelers, there’s also another hostel, a little further away from town, but it’s restricted for ages 18 – 32.

I’m so glad we stayed here because the town is so peaceful in the evening when most of the day-trippers are gone and you can just slowly take in one of the most beautiful places in all of Switzerland instead of treating it as a stop.

Wengen Is The Most Alpine Feeling

Wengen is similar in scale to Lauterbrunnen (a bit bigger) and makes for a good alternative to Grindelwald if you want a bit more distance from the crowds while still having easy access to a variety of shops, restaurants, and grocery stores.

It’s car-free, which gives it a quieter, slower feel than Grindelwald without giving up much as far as convenience. This place felt the most alpine to me, possibly because you really feel like you’re going higher up the mountain when you’re taking the train in from Lauterbrunnen.

I found that Wengen had nicer options with incredible spas compared to Lauterbrunnen, and was slightly less expensive compared to Grindelwald.

But it’s also the architecture, the fields, and all the cute Kugelbahn (marble run) stations scattered around the village. I always feel like a Swiss cow could just pop out at any moment. We also happened to be there when there was an alpine cheese festival going on, so yea, very alpiney.

We nearly chose to stay in Wengen because of the spas at the Braunbär Hotel and the Grand Hotel Belvedere. The Beausite Park Hotel was the other option we really liked.

Getting to Lauterbrunnen or up to Mannlichen from here is easy, which makes it a solid pick if more of your planned activities are on this side of the valley.

If you want to escape the crowd and have Mannlichen all to yourself in the late afternoon and mornings, the Berghaus Mannlichen is the only place to stay on the mountain. And you get this view. You can even see Jungfraujoch in the distance.

If you are arriving by car here, you’ll need to park in Lauterbrunnen. Same with the next two hamlets.

Mürren and Gimmelwald Is Your Escape

Mürren and Gimmelwald are the two smaller, quieter alternatives, if you actually want to escape the crowds. They are also both car-free.

Mürren is the bigger of the two, with a couple of streets of restaurants and shops, a small COOP for groceries, and an Intersport where you can rent gear for the via ferrata climb that starts right outside the store. It’s an easy cable car ride down to Lauterbrunnen or up to Schilthorn, which makes it a practical base if want to wake up and get an early start on the via ferrata.

Other than staying on top of First or Mannlichen, there’s no place with a better mountain view than Mürren.

Most of the shops were closed when we arrived in the early morning, but I saw a guy just standing on the empty streets with a mug of coffee. And that just feels like the best way to describe this place. You can just step out in the morning and enjoy the peace and quiet while staring out at the mountains that’s right in your face.

Gimmelwald is about as untouched as this region gets. There’s a mountain hostel, literally called Mountain Hostel, a couple of other simple chalets, and not a whole lot else.

For groceries, you’re looking at fresh alpine cheese, milk, or cured meats from local farmers, some sold through honor-system vending setups right on the side of the road. You can even pay by credit card.

Anything beyond that means a cable car up to Mürren or down to Lauterbrunnen.

So, Which Village Should Are You Going To Pick?

If you want one central base with the most options and the least backtracking, Grindelwald.

For a quieter stay without giving up much convenience, Lauterbrunnen or Wengen.

If you want to properly disconnect and stare at the mountains and don’t mind fewer restaurants and shops, Mürren. If you want total quiet and don’t mind planning grocery runs around it, Gimmelwald.

Again, I would probably pass on Interlaken.

Here are my post-trip notes, tips, and recommendations.

Final Thoughts

It’s easy enough to get around that any of these places can work as a base. We picked Grindelwald because we like the proximity to everything and the liveliness of the village. Since we had the Jungfrau Travel Pass, it was easy to get around everywhere. We were able to do First Mountain first thing in the morning and the Glacier Canyon and Pfingstegg in the afternoon.

Even when we had to backtrack to Murren for the rescheduled via ferrata, it wasn’t so bad. We still wanted some peace and quiet, so we spent a couple days in the hillside of Grindelwald at the Aspen Alpin Lifestyle Hotel.

That said, I’d have been happy to have stayed in any of the other villages, especially Wengen. It’s such a toss-up with Lauterbrunnen, because there are nicer options in Wengen, but that first impression of Lauterbrunnen and the imposing waterfall was magical.

Gimmelwald, might have been a bit too quiet for me though, even though we had originally booked a night at the Mountain Hostel (it was the end point of the Via Ferrata). I don’t think we would have minded it, especially if we had more time to just chill.

So, ultimately, it’s just which one you want to come home to at the end of the day.

If you want to check out my full itinerary and everything else worth knowing before you go, start with the complete planning guide, and for a breakdown of what to actually book once you’ve picked your base, save the link to my activities breakdown. And of course, if you like to see all these recommendations in one place also with a shortlist of places I had picked out for each of the villages during our planning, you can download my spreadsheet.

Updated on July 29, 2026