Hi,
We'll be in the Berner Oberland starting this weekend, and I was curious if we need to pre-book a trip up the Jungraujoch and Schilthorn, or if we'd be fine purchasing the day of? Rick's book mentions that we may need to book the Jungfraujoch in advance, but also mentions that you should monitor the weather before purchasing, so I was curious if anyone had experience/guidance on if either get fully booked in advance.
Thanks for your help!
Rusty
The only people who book in advance on the Jungfraujochbahn on are package tours. As far as the Schilthornbahn goes, never heard of prebooking. It's a ski lift in the winter.
Do NOT book ahead. You don't want to waste your money for that trip if the weather on top is miserable. Ask about the at the train station the day before you want to go up. The SBB staff in Murren are always very kind to tell us "weather looks good" or "weather is not good" etc. Only buy the tickets when the weather will be good.
Lift station in Muerren has tv cameras showing the views from the top, so you can see it before you buy tickets.
The book indicates that only three departures per day accept seat reservations and for the portion above Kleine Scheidegg only. The trains don't get sold out but they can become "standing room only." The first two departures of the day are discounted because they want to spread out traffic. If you can depart Lauterbrunnen at 7:00 or 7:30, I don't think you'll have trouble finding a seat.
The Schilthorn ride is a series of cable cars, once you've taken the bus through the valley. Since you're already in the B.O. you'll have the flexibility to pick the best day to do the ride based on the weather. Don't go if there will be no visibility, that's the only reason to go up there! But even without much of a view Murren would still be an enjoyable visit.
I did Schilthorn last Monday it went: Lauterbrunnen to Grutschlapp to Murren to Brig to Schilthorn
It was a day of decision to purchase. I got up out at 7am and the sky was clear and off I went. There were more people coming after 9 am
I just did the Schilthorn and Jungfraujoch two weeks ago. No need to make a reservation for the Schilthorn. We too went up for Murrren where we were staying. we left around 8:00 am (from Murren) and had the whole place practically to ourselves - as we were leaving the crowds were starting to show up. The sky walk at Birg is fun. We did it on the way down and spent about 1 hour there. For the Jungfraujoch we did get tickets the day before at the TI office in Lauterbrunnen (after checking the weather forecast). You can make a seat reservation for 5 CHF more from Kleine Scheidegg. When you arrive at KS you get in the line with seat reservations. It just made our trip smother and less lines to contend with. We did not enjoy the Jungfraujoch as much as the Schilthorn. The Jungfrajoch is quite commercialized once your do get to the top with many large groups of tourists to maneuver around. I am glad I went up, but would not do it again for the price.
We booked the day of in order to choose a good weather day...both trips are well worth the price and time! Enjoy!
Beware that if you have rail passes they may work on only certain legs of the trip, but you'll likely get a discount, meaning you'll need to factor in time at the station for the ticket office.
Thank you all for the advice and tips! We just got back, and were fortunate enough to have great weather that allowed us to see both the Schilthorn and Jungfraujoch! Both were amazing experiences.
We did both early in the morning before they got too crowded. We just booked the Schilthorn the day of, and Jungfraujoch just one day early in order to secure a seat reservation (cannot recommend this enough, 5 CHF well spent).
Thanks again for all of the help!
