Help with trains Zurich to Lauterbrunnen

The website sbb.ch will show you the possible trains. Flughafen is the German word for airport. So your starting point is Zurich Flughafen. Your destination is Lauterbrunnen Bahnhof (train station). You will probably have 2-3 connections. Which train you take will depend on when you arrive how long it takes you to get your luggage. You may want to get a rail pass to cover these 3 days (maybe more depending on where you are going afterwards).

Your activities are going to be very dependent upon good weather, with the exception of the falls, which you can certainly do in the rain. If the weather is good (check the webcams before going up), go early to Schilthorn as clouds come in later n the day. Have a backup plan in case weather is bad.

I found this site to be helpful in planning some likes in the area: https://lauterbrunnenhiking.wordpress.com/lauterbrunnen-hiking/murren-hikes/

As above, you’ll take a train taking 2.5-3 hours with changes of trains in Interlaaken and possibly Bern.
The waterfall is in Lauterbrunnen Valley so that will not require a lot of travel time. The Murren/Gimmelwald hike takes about 45 minutes and you can either take the gondola from Stechelberg to Gimmelwald and hike the flat trail to Murren or start in Murren and take the gondola down into the valley after Gimmelwald. Outdoor activities are always contingent on the weather cooperating and, usually in October, there can be a few rainy days along with some wind. Accuweather is forecasting a little rain for 10/23.
Trying to forecast the weather in the Alps two weeks in advance is not something I would bet on but the weather itself in October can be unstable.
You will want to check the conditions early in the morning before going up to the Schilthorn as a cloudy day can interfere with visibility. You also might want to talk with those in your group about what activity will get priority if the weather is good on your first day—the Schilthorn or paragliding — as it is possible if the weather deteriorates and you wake up to a cloudy or rainy morning on the 23rd that you’ll need to improvise. Hopefully that will not be the case, but there’s no certainty with the weather in late October.

Maybe check with the paragliding company you want to use to see how far in advance you need to book, then you can plan your other activities around that.

There are two options for the Mürren - Gimmelwald walk (an altitude difference of 270m/885ft - not flat, as was stated above)
https://gimmelwald.ch/?page_id=83&lang=en#038;lang=en

The Northface trail is a separate hike, you can find it here
https://muerren.swiss/en/summer/tracks/northface-trail-2h30/

All of the things that you want to do are in very close proximity. Use the SBB website or app to see travel times. For the falls type in Lauterbrunnen, Trümmelbachfälle as your destination (an easy walk, if you have time). Also look up Mürren (Schilthornbahn) as a destination.

Thank you all for the wonderful information. Not having been to Switzerland before, we’re all very excited to see the beauty of the Alps so hoping for nice weather.
Thank you for the help with the trains. I wasn’t sure where to even start looking. Google offers many different options so I appreciate solid advise.

This is the official Swiss Rail website in English: swiss rail sbb Note a couple of things. The prices are shown at half price, because it assumes you have a Half Price Card, like most Swiss residents. But it will show you all the routes and times.

But more importantly to your planning purpose, getting round is slower in the mountains than it might look on the map, so transportation will eat up a lot more time of your two days than you think.

Schilthorn can be reached from Lauterbrunnen two ways. Check the weather up top on webcam and go early. Trummelbach Falls is a nice 45 min walk from Lauterbrunnen.

You'd really be helped by getting a good guidebook like Rick's that will answer a lot of questions

There is an SBB ticket office at the Zurich airport. They are quite busy, but very helpful. We explained to the guy where we wanted to go and what activities we wanted to do, and he helped us buy the correct passes and tickets. We took the train from Zurich to Lucern to Interlaken Ost, where we changed to the train to Lauterbrunnen. Don’t worry about short change times; the stations are small and well marked.

I second the suggestion of the SBB office at the Zurich airport. I was traveling to Lauterbrunnen the first week of August. The agent helped me with the Swiss half-fare card, the Berner Oberland regional pass, and my ticket from Zurich to Lauterbrunnen for later that day. She suggested going via Lucerne rather than Bern because it is a more scenic route, even if it takes a little longer. That was fine with me and, after taking that train, I was very grateful to her. The many lakes along the route are truly beautiful.

Would Rick's guidebook be helpful and fun to explore during your planning? I just pulled mine out the other day.

I would add that the SBB app gives specific details on train connections and which platform your connecting train is on. Usual layover times are often only 6 minutes or so but still plenty of time to get from one platform to another. Wishing you happy travels and good weather!

Not having been to Switzerland before, we’re all very excited to see the beauty of the Alps so hoping for nice weather.

The best advice I can give when you are in the mountains - get an early start every day. The best weather is often in the morning and often clouds roll in by the end of the morning. While it can rain at any time depending on prevailing weather, often a morning rain can be quite soft and atmospheric; the storms and heavy rain if they come are often late afternoon and evening.

Of course I could be absolutely wrong during your trip but that's my experience over several years.

Thank you all for the information. It has helped me greatly. I bought a Rick Steves Switzerland book and have been scouring it as well.

One last question, with our days and sites we’d like to see, do you feel a BO pass or the half price pass would benefit us?

Thank you again. Your posts have been valuable info.