Booking Train Tickets to and from Murren Switzerland

Try the Swiss Rail site, sbb.ch. Deutsche Bahn has great schedule information, but they don't book tickets for trips not originating in Germany - someone correct me if I'm wrong. RailEurope won't show you all the options.

Thanks for the responses. I tried Captain Train and it wouldn't let me book it either. I did realize I have to go to Lauterbrannen, not Murren. I'm a little nervous about booking several different legs myself straight from the stations, but I might have to try it. Plus the German train site where I found a schedule has really short transfer times (6 minutes) and not sure I can transfer trains in that amount of time.

In Switzerland, especially Muerren-Lauterbrunnen-Interlaken Ost, will show short connection times. The Swiss figure you can make it, and you can. They set the schedule with that in mind to minimize your travel time. They've been doing this for a while.
You do not really need to "book" trains in Switzerland. Normal way is to buy tickets out of the station vending machines. If you have a Half Fare Card, you just indicate that in the purchase process. If a ticket inspector on the train asks to see your ticket, you also show your Half Fare Card to show you are entitled to the price on the ticket.
So book Rome-Domodossola from www.trenitalia.com or www.captaintrain.com. Book the continuation at www.sbb.ch/en. The reason to book this in advance is so you can stay on the train if it continues on to Brig or Spiez.
Going to Paris, you can book at www.captaintrain.com for Basel to Paris. Then you can just buy your ticket that morning from Muerren Station to get you to Basel SBB station in time to make your Paris train. The station agent can print you out alternate itineraries if you want. You can leave as early as you want, stop off on the way, just make sure you are at Basel SBB before the scheduled departure to Paris.

denimo,

On what dates will you be making the rail trips you mentioned? That could have a bearing on whether you're able to buy tickets now.

Could you clarify if you're staying in Mürren or Lauterbrunnen? Your original post mentioned Mürren but you mentioned Lauterbrunnen in a later post. You will have to go through Lauterbrunnen to reach Mürren, and there are two different routes you can take.

Don't book through Rail Europe. Use the Captain Train or SBB.ch websites mentioned earlier. Captain Train handles tickets for Italy, France and Germany, but not Switzerland. They charge the same prices as the rail networks.

With a bit more information, it will be easier to make more specific suggestions.

Train tickets are usually not possible to book until about ninety days before the travel date. Are you trying to book a longer time in advance than that?

Those short connection times in Switzerland are do-able. BUT if you miss a connection, just wait on the next train. There'll be plenty.

Thanks for all of the quick responses. I see some good advice I'm going to try this weekend. We are going in July so the 60/90 days shouldn't be a problem. We are going to Murren, but it looked like there wasn't a train there. That we would have to go to Lauterbrunnen and find our way to Murren from there. Is that correct?

denimo,

You can book your entire trip to Mürren at SBB.CH and it will include all modes of transport. This is the easiest method to use.....

• You can book your trip from Rome to perhaps Spiez (or other points just inside Switzerland) using either the Trenitalia or www.captaintrain.com websites.
• You can buy tickets from there to Mürren either at the station in Spiez (it's very easy, I've done that) OR at SBB.CH. There are numerous trains on that route so if you miss one train while you're buying the ticket, there will be another one along shortly. It's a relatively short trip from there to Interlaken Ost.
• When you buy your tickets to Mürren, specify the "Mürren BLM" route (there are two routes and that's the easiest one).
• After Spiez (or other point), you'll arrive at Interlaken Ost (it's the second stop in Interlaken). Once there you'll need to change trains to the Berner Oberlandbahn, which will likely be waiting. The trains are blue & yellow and easy to spot.
• When you board the Berner Oberlandbahn, be sure to check the digital display on the side of the car to ensure it's going to Lauterbrunnen (some cars split in Zweilütschinen).
• When you arrive in Lauterbrunnen, walk across the street from the rail station to the cable car station, and walk up the stairs to the platform. Board the next Grütschalpbahn gondola for the short trip to Grütschalp (about 15 minutes).
• When you reach the top, transfer to the small BLM mountain railway, which will be waiting with typical Swiss efficiency.
• The trip to Mürren will take about 20 mintues, and you'll arrive at the opposite end of town from the Schilthornbahn cable cars, which go up to the famous revolving restaurant that was used in one of the James Bond movies.
• The BLM train arrives in the lower level of the Mürren station, so you'll have to walk up the stairs to street level. There are no Taxis so you'll have a short walk to your hotel.

A few quick additions to Ken's very detailed post:

While it looks complicated when written out, it's really easy once you're there. I promise. The only "hard" parts are to make sure you get off at Interlaken Ost (not West) and that when getting on the train to Lauterbrunnen, you get on the correct Lauterbrunnen section rather than the Grindelwald section (they're clearly labeled).

Once at Interlaken Ost, don't worry if you "miss" any of the subsequent connections. All of them run 2-4 times an hour; just get on the next one, at no additional charge or penalty.

While it may appear at Mürren BLM station that you have to take stairs, you don't. Instead of heading to the stairs, head the other way along the platform (in the direction your train arrived from). At this "back end" of the station, you can take a ramp up to town level.

Thanks Harold. Everyone here has been so helpful. Unfortunately I had already booked several trains through Rail Europe before posting. However I did buy my last few from Captain Train after reading everyone's responses.