Planning
Plenty of people see Lauterbrunnen as a day trip from Interlaken or Zürich. You can, but the valley rewards an overnight far more than a flying visit. Here is how long to give it.
Yes, it is an easy day trip from Interlaken (about 30 minutes) or even Zürich (around 2.5 hours each way), and a lot of people do exactly that: arrive late morning, photograph the Staubbach Falls, ride a cable car, leave by late afternoon. If your time in Switzerland is genuinely tight, a day is better than skipping it.
But the day-trip crowd all arrives and leaves in the same window, which is exactly when the valley is busiest. The magic hours, early morning and evening, when the day-trippers have gone, only belong to people who stay. Stay overnight and you get the quiet valley, the alpenglow on the cliffs, dinner without the crowds, and the flexibility to ride up the mountain on the clear morning rather than gambling on a single fixed day.
Staying in Lauterbrunnen village itself, rather than day-tripping from Interlaken, puts you steps from the trailheads and the village (and the winter ski shuttle), with the early mornings and late evenings to yourself. For a few nights, that is the difference between seeing the valley and actually experiencing it.
Common questions
It works as a day trip, but staying overnight is far better: you get the quiet early mornings and evenings after the day-trippers leave, plus the flexibility to go up the mountain on a clear day. Three to four nights is ideal.
One day covers the village and a cable-car trip. Three to four nights is the comfortable minimum for hikes or ski days plus a viewpoint and a weather day in reserve. A week lets you explore the whole region.
Yes, it is about 2.5 hours each way by train, so a long day trip is possible. But with that much travel, staying at least one night makes far more sense.
The early mornings and quiet evenings belong to those who stay. A short walk from the village; private hot tub in The Apartment.