The Bernese Oberland is one of the most popular destinations in Switzerland and for good reason.  It checks all the boxes on a traveler’s Swiss wish list – snowcapped alpine peaks (check), rolling green hills (check), adorable mountain villages (check), cows and more cows (check and check).  And at the heart of the region is the town of Lautebrunnen with a population of about 2,000 people, which sits in a picturesque valley between soaring rockfaces accentuated by its waterfalls and iconic backdrop mountain peaks.  The region more than delivers year-round with countless activities to choose from and experiences to be savored.  Here are some top tips to help make the most out of your visit to this breathtakingly beautiful destination.

1. Stay in a Place with an Alpine View
Whether you decide to stay high up in a cliff-clinging town or low down in the valley, you’re guaranteed to be treated to spectacular views throughout the Bernese Oberland.  We picked Lauterbrunnen as our homebase because of its relatively central position with good connections to public transportation throughout the region.  We stayed at the adorable, family-run Hotel Silberhorn, which overdelivered on both charm and location, with the train and cable car stations, a Coop grocery store, an ATM and many restaurants along the town’s main street all within a stone’s throw away.  Our top floor room was spacious and modern with updated furnishings, wood ceilings, slate tile and a large bathroom.  From our patio the lush green landscape of the valley unfolded before our eyes.  There’s also a restaurant on-site, and each morning we were treated a scrumptious breakfast spread with everything from eggs, meats and cheeses to breads, fruits, cereals and more.  

2. Chase a Waterfall or 72
Lauterbrunnen means “many fountains” and as the name implies it’s home to no less than 72 of them that tumble down the cliffs high above the valley floor.  It’s quite magical to say the least, and what’s even more incredible is that you can get up close with some of them.  One of the most famous is Staubbach Falls, which plunges nearly 300 meters from the rockface above making it one of the highest free-falling waterfalls in Europe.  Just as you leave town look for the start of the path on the right that takes you up .2 miles to a viewing platform behind the waterfall.  It’s free to visit but bit a bit steep and slippery, and probably a good idea to bring an umbrella (read: you will get wet).

Continue further south in the valley, look for the big sign on the left for Trümmelbach Falls where you’ll find a series of 10 waterfalls located inside the mountain that are fed by the glaciers of Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau (the last of its kind in Europe that’s still accessible).  Pay the admission fee and take the tunnel lift to reach waterfalls 6 through 10, which are eerily illuminated in the dark and damp cave-like space (it’s also a good idea to bring a light jacket as it’s a bit cool inside).  The other half can be reached via a staircase outside, thundering down with up to 20,000 liters of water per second.

3. Take a Hike to Higher Heights
There’s a reason why the Swiss Alps are synonymous with hiking, and perhaps the hardest thing to decide is where exactly to spend your time.  You’ll find a vast network of well-signed trails that range in difficulty from gentile walks to challenging mountain climbs.  During my visit I hiked in a different area each day and no two were the same in terms of terrain and scenery.  Options abound from high (the flat walk along the Lauterbrunnnen Valley floor at 2,600 feet) to higher (cliff-clinging towns like Gimmelwald and Mürren at around 5,000 feet) to highest (mountain peaks like Schilthorn at nearly 10,000 feet or the Jungfraujoch “Top of Europe” at more than 11,000 feet).

In each of these areas you’ll find everything from lush alpine fields carpeted with colorful wildflowers in the summer to some spots snow packed nearly year-round, a James Bond-themed exhibit and the rotating restaurant Piz Gloria, frighteningly high cliff walks (in First and the Via Ferrata in Mürren) and the more than occasional cow lazily grazing the day away.  Read more about some of my recommended areas to hike within the region here.

4. Eat All the Cheese
From morning until night there was one thing that was never in short supply: cheese.  Breakfast at our hotel featured a rotating assortment of locally produced cheeses made from the milk of cows who graze in the pleasure of alpine mountain pastures during the summer (look for names like Alpkäse, Emmentaler and Gruyère).  At dinner you’ll also find ooey gooey cheese as a staple of traditional dishes like rösti (a mound of grated hashbrown-like potatoes topped with cheese and other things like eggs, ham or bacon) and raclette (partially melted cheese that’s “scraped” and often served with potatoes, pickles and onions, sort of like fondu).  Another uniquely Swiss thing to keep an eye out for is the unexpected vending machine (and even little self-service refrigerators operating under an honor system) along popular routes in mountain villages selling large wedges of cheese, wine and other local products that make for the perfect alpine picnic.

5. Invest in a Travel Pass
Getting around the Bernese Oberland can be on the expensive side and investing in a travel pass is a great way to make the most out of your time and money as you explore the region via its many trains, cable cars, buses, boats and more.  There are several options to choose from, which can be a bit confusing at first as each come with different benefits and cover different routes.  One popular yet pricy option is the Swiss Travel Pass (comes in multiple-day options and covers most trains other public transportation throughout Switzerland, plus free admission to some attractions), while other options include the Jungfrau Travel Pass and Berner Oberland Pass.

After a bit of research and route planning, we choose the Jungfrau Travel Pass since it would cover most of our travel throughout the region, including the train between the gateway city of Interlaken and our homebase of Lauterbrunnen, as well as the Harder Klum funicular (pretty much every area we planned to visit except for Gimmelwald and the Schilthorn).  Timetables are available online here and here so you can plan your routes, and while they may seem a bit daunting at first, they are completely intuitive when you’re on the ground.  In fact, timetables are smartly planned so you don’t have to wait for the next train or cable car, rather you step off one and immediately board your connection.  Not only did we find public transportation around the Bernese Oberland to be easy to navigate, stations and trains were also impeccably clean.