VAN-COMPARATOR Guide
The Bernese Oberland by Motorhome: Interlaken, Lauterbrunnen and the Twin Lakes
Between Lakes Thun and Brienz, the valley of 72 waterfalls and the Jungfrau: itinerary, passes, Swiss vignette and overnight stops for a Bernese Oberland road trip.
Few regions pack as much Switzerland into each square kilometre: two turquoise lakes, a glacial valley walled by thousand-metre cliffs, car-free villages and the Eiger–Mönch–Jungfrau rampart as a backdrop. The Bernese Oberland suits a motorhome remarkably well — provided you accept one rule of the game: park in the valley, go up on foot or by train.
Interlaken, base camp between two lakes
Set between Lake Thun and Lake Brienz, Interlaken is the logical pivot of a stay. The shores lend themselves to waterside overnights — Belle Époque boats on the Brienzersee, castles on the Thun side — and campsites are plentiful, which is no luxury in a region where free overnight parking is tightly restricted. Our guide to waterside overnight stops gives the right reflexes.
Lauterbrunnen: the valley of 72 waterfalls
The Lauterbrunnen valley, where the Staubbach falls drop in a veil in front of the village, is the Oberland's postcard — and a textbook case of managing your vehicle's size: Wengen and Mürren, perched above, are closed to cars. You leave the motorhome at the valley-floor car parks (Lauterbrunnen or Stechelberg) and ride up by rack railway or cable car. It feels counter-intuitive, but it is the best "hands off the wheel" day of the trip.
Grindelwald and the Jungfrau: glaciers in majesty
On the other side of the mountain, Grindelwald faces the Eiger's north face; the Jungfraujoch railway climbs to 3,454 m, Europe's highest station, between seracs and the Aletsch glacier. Glacier tourism has become a research field in its own right: the literature review by Johannes Welling, Þorvarður Árnason and Rannveig Ólafsdóttir published in 2015 in Tourism Geographies (Google Scholar page) highlights both the growing appeal of glacier sites and their rapid transformation as the ice retreats — one more reason not to postpone this trip by twenty years.
The passes: Grimsel, Susten, Furka
East of Interlaken, the Grimsel–Susten–Furka triangle lines up three legendary passes, closed from autumn to late spring. In a motorhome you take them seriously: check opening status as detailed in our pass weather guide, and brush up on downhill braking — engine braking first, always. As a loop, the Grimsel tips over into the Valais and joins our Geneva–Lake Geneva–Valais itinerary.
Swiss practicalities: vignette, size, budget
Up to 3.5 t, Swiss motorways require the annual vignette; above that, the flat-rate heavy vehicle charge applies instead — check what your rental company has already paid for. Swiss prices (campsites, fuel) match the country: the classic trick is to rent on Lake Geneva and radiate out. Our guides to Lausanne and Lake Geneva and Graubünden from Zurich cover Switzerland's other two great playgrounds. Compare offers in Geneva, Lausanne or Zurich on Van-Comparator: the Oberland is two hours from each.
Free checklist: your first campervan trip
Licence and vehicle size, pick-up inspection, stopovers or campsites, water and electricity, insurance, drop-off: everything to check before and during a first trip. Sign up — the link to the full checklist appears immediately.