Most efficient transportation from Munich to Murren

Take the train , straight through . You will need to buy a ticket from Munich to St Margarethen ( SG ) . From there , your Swiss pass takes over

Thank you. I did not know about this option.

One further bit of information , to clarify your plan - The border station for some of the trains ( depending on departure time from Munich ) varies from St. Margarethen . The most direct routing is Munich - St. Margarethen - Zurich . If you use a different routing your ticket purchase will be Munich to wherever you cross into Switzerland , The best way to determine this is to visit the DBB ( German State Rail ) website and put your information into the search . The results will guide your decision as to which train ( how early do you leave Munich ) works best for you - https://www.bahn.com/en

Steven, Thank you for this added information. I have been reviewing the train schedule to St Margarethan. From what I notice so far there is transfers along the way that will taking extra hours. I'm still considering all my options including this one. Thanks

No need to overnight in Luzern, I think is the main point.

Look at schedules for May, not the current ones, and use Interlaken Ost as your destination to see all the options. From there it is always the same to get to Muerren.

There are direct trains from Munich to Zurich, with no transfer at St. Margarethen. One departs Munich at 8:55 and goes to Interlaken Ost in 6 hours, which appears to be the fastest time for this journey, with the fewest train changes (at Zurich and Bern).

You can buy a ticket for this train (Munich to Zurich) on either Bahn.de or SBB.ch and it will figure in the discount for your Swiss Pass for the Swiss portion. Buy a month or more in advance and you should get a good Special Offer price as well. A ticket bought today for May 5 on Bahn.de would be €29,90 instead of €86,40 with this offer. It is a non-flexible ticket, limited to that particular train and date.

Awesome, Lola! Thanks
My travel day will be August 21.

Lola , I have a question - Looking at that 8: 55 Munich to Zurich run ,( runs through St . Margarethen ) with no change there . I am not seeing on DBB how to take advantage of the Swiss pass for a discount . The posted fare to Zurich is 29.90 as you say , but 18.90 to St Margarethen . How do you take advantage of the pass on the Swiss portion when buying the ticket . I tried a dummy entry ,but I must be missing something ?

Good questions, Steven. We are all learning. I'm new to the train websites so need all the help I can get to navigate them.

How long is the Swiss portion of your trip?
If you do not use a Swiss Pass on that Munich-Mürren day, would you be able to purchase a cheaper, shorter pass?

Asking because the Deutsche Bahn is able to sell you a Munich - Lauterbrunnen ticket for just €39.90, and it then costs about Fr. 12.00 to get to Mürren.
Since a ticket from Munich to Zürich is €29.90, it seems like a waste of money to purchase a longer pass just to cover the Zürich to Mürren segment.

I will be using my Swiss Pass for one full week. Thanks for all the brainstorming here.

Steven, to see the Swiss Pass reduction on Bahn.de, the first page of the ticket buying process will have a drop-down menu under the “Without BahnCard” option in the same text line as number of travelers and age. On my iPad is shows up in blue just below the date and time of the journey selected. It will open up a long list of possible travel cards to apply, both German, Swiss, and others. The one you choose for a Swiss Pass is “CH-General abonnement”.

But oddly, when I do that, it only offers a Flexpreis option for 50,30; no Sparpreis (Special Offer).

The same on SBB.ch: if you choose to apply a Swiss Pass (GA 2cl for a 2d class Swiss Pass) it only offers the regular price for the German portion of the trip (57 CHF); no Special Offer. This is for August 21.

It appears to be too far in advance for the Sparpreis/Special Offer tickets, because if I use a date closer in, like May 5, the Special Offer price comes up on both websites. 33 CHF or 29,90 euros. In other words, the same as the Special Offer price without the pass reduction. But there are also options for more flexible tickets for 40 CHF or 35-46 euros, which might be worth it for some travelers.

Ok thanks for clarifying. The difference between a 6-day and an 8-day pass is only Fr. 30, so you might as well buy a pass that would cover you in that first travel day. The savings of going for a 6-day pass would be almost zero.

Balso and Lola
You both have offered invaluable information. I greatly appreciate your suggestions.
Rhonda

Lola , Thanks ! I was unaware of that option , . Since I have an upcoming trip from Zurich to Munich in October , this will be a less fragmented way to buy that ticket when it comes up for sale .