Continuing with our 'Making Memories with Moms' series since 2022, we are back with another trip with our moms this year. This time, our destination was Europe - Germany, Switzerland, Luxembourg, and Liechtenstein. We kicked off our trip in Germany, and drove around the entire country in 10 days covering a total distance of 2856 kms (1775 miles), and continued our journey in Switzerland by trains. This was a hectic trip but we are so thankful for the opportunity to enjoy all the amazing places and sceneries with our moms, making memories that will last for a long time.
18 May 2025: Lucerne
19 May 2025: Grindelwald, Schilthorn, Murren, Gimmelwald
20 May 2025: Lungern, Brienz, Isetwald
21 May 2025: Wilderswil, Isetwald
22 May 2025: Schilthorn, Interlaken
23 May 2025: Zermatt
24 May 2025: Mannlichen, Wengen, Lauterbrunnen, GoldenPass Express
25 May 2025: Geneva
18-24 May 2025: 6 Nights in Wilderswil
When planning the Switzerland part of our trip, one of the challenges was finding accommodation because unlike Germany, there weren't many hotels where we could use hotel points, especially in the Jungfrau region. Since eating out is expensive, we also wanted a place with kitchen.
Deciding where to stay in the Swiss Alps was another challenge because there are so many options (e.g. Interlaken, Grindelwald, etc.), and I am so glad to stumble upon this video by Aplins in the Alps on where to stay in the Swiss Alps. I have heard about quite a few of the Swiss villages in the region but I had not heard about Wilderswil until watching that video. Wilderswil was attractive because it seemed to be a hidden gem that was affordable and its proximity to Interlaken made it a convenient base to get to many sights in the Jungfrau region.
Accommodation in Switzerland is expensive and a hotel for 2 person costs about $200/night, so I was excited to find this one-bedroom apartment for 4 in Wilderswil when I was looking around the map on booking.com. The total cost for 6 nights was CHF1,194 ($1,460). It would have been $100 cheaper if we paid earlier before USD depreciated against CHF but $243/night was still a good deal for 4.
We made it to the apartment at 7.30pm and was welcomed by our hosts - Silvia & Reudi. Silvia showed us the map of the surrounding areas, and provided us with the free Interlaken guest card that we could us to get free trains and buses to/from Interlaken. We didn't need to use the guest card as we had a train pass but it was good to know that this was available. It was also very nice of them to provide some Swiss chocolates and Kambly biscuit as welcome gifts.
Our apartment is the ground-floor unit of this 2.5-storey cute Swiss chalet with a separate private entrance. The owners were living at the unit above us but our unit felt very private.
This apartment has one bedroom with a king bed and 2 beds tucked in the corner of the living room. It has a fully equipped kitchen (but without a microwave), one bathroom, dining area, and washing machine (for a small additional fee). Nothing fancy but we had a very comfortable and cozy stay. It was cool to be able to experience living like the locals.
The best part of this house was the amazing view of Jungfrau from the backyard! We could see the mountains from our windows. The house had an outdoor patio with dining area which we could use to enjoy the mountain views.
I've been fascinated by the Swiss chalet buildings since my first visit to Switzerland in 2008 so I was very glad we had the opportunity to stay in a Swiss chalet, and have this beautiful place as our 'home base' for 6 nights in the Jungfrau region.
The apartment was a short 5-8 minutes walk from the Wilderswil bus/train station and we'd walk through a small little walkway right next to the house to get to the station.
I agree with Aplins in the Alps that Wilderswil is one of the most charming and authentic villages that is still central enough to be a great tourist home base. This village is not touristy at all so we were able to experience the real Swiss village charm.
Thanks to 2 rainy days, we had time to chill in the apartment and walked around the village.
The village was surrounded by misty mountains because of the rain. It was so quiet and tranquil walking around the village. Wilderswil is surrounded by lots of farms.
The houses are gorgeous and the gardens are beautiful.
We were walking to the train station around 12pm one day and bumped into a bunch of local kids returning from school. It's cool to see young kids getting home from school independently by foot, scooters, or bicycles. It was cute to see many of them in rain jackets and rain boots. The smaller kids also wore high-visibiliy vests to ensure their safety commuting to and from school. It was eye-opening seeing the kids crossing the street themselves (sometimes without even looking), which shows how safe it is in the village. I loved seeing the daily life of the locals in a small Swiss village.
Transportation and Accessibility
I agree with Aplins in the Alps that Wilderswil is one of the most charming and authentic villages that is still central enough to be a great tourist home base. This village is not touristy at all so we were able to experience the real Swiss village charm.
As mentioned above, Wilderswil train station and & bus stop was an easy 5-8 minutes walk from our apartment. We loved that there was only one platform which makes navigation super easy and there weren't any slopes or stairs to climb. It was never crowded at this train station either.
There was also an ATM at the train station.
We loved the ease of transportation connection from Wilderswil. It's basically as good as Interlaken (without the chaos) because it's only 5 minutes from Interlaken OST and is along the train route to Lauterbrunnen (16 minutes) and Grindelwald (30 minutes). There is a bus that goes to Interlaken West in 10 minutes. The cogwheel train to Schynige Platte also begins from Wilderswil station.
We knew we would be spending more time in the Swiss Alps on this trip, and after a lot of research and price comparison, we decided to go with the Swiss Half Fare Card (CHF120/pax) and the 6-days Berner Oberland Pass (CHF254/pax). Train passes in Switzerland can be overwhelmingly complicated with the many different options but Aplins in the Alps has a video for the Ultimate Swiss Train Pass Travel Guide, which was helpful for us in deciding the best train passes based on our itinerary. We bought these passes on Klook and were able to get a 10% discount on all tickets.
Convenience
There are 2 grocery stores near the train station - Volg and VOI Migros. There are not big and the selections are not as wide as the grocery stores in Interlaken but they were good enough. We also visited Coop next to Interlaken OST station which was much larger and had more ready-made food.
Mom enjoyed stopping by Volg everyday to check out what mystery bag they had for CHF2.95.
Not sure if the prices are visible when you click on the photos to expand it, but here are the prices for the groceries in Switzerland. Some examples of prices of the things we bought - bread (CHF1.40), grilled chicken (CHF4.20 for one chicken leg), tuna onigiri (CHF4.50), broccoli (CHF5.90 per kg), cabbage (CHF2.30 per kg), Frey chocolate (CHF1.95), eggs (CHF4.25 per dozen).
22 May 2025 (Thurs): Interlaken
As mentioned above, Interlaken was only 5 min train ride away from Wilderswil and we transitted a few times at Interlaken OST. We had thought about going up to Harder Kulm at Interlaken but decided not to go up due to the rain and low visibility.
We took bus 105 to Interlaken West on one of the rainy days to do some shopping. Interlaken West is has a lot of restaurants and shops. We stopped by the Laderach store in Interlaken to buy some Swiss chocolates. I learnt about this brand from the free chocolate I received when flying Qatar biz class.
It started pouring as we were shopping but I was determined to get a photo of the Victoria-Jungfrau Grand Hotel & Spa. This hotel is a filming location for CLOY's final episode, where Captain Ri and Seri had their annual reunion during the piano recital scene.
So that's an intro of our 'home base' in Switzerland. We'll explore more of Jungfrau region in the next post, starting with Grindelwald.
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