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Rental Car or Berner Oberland Pass?

Posted by on

I know this is cringe and American of me to ask about getting a rental car in Switzerland, but hear me out..

For our 6 days in Switzerland, we are staying Bürglen which is in between Interlaken and Lucerne, we are going to the following:

  • Arriving in Basel
  • Interlaken: Paragliding, mountain carting and canyon swinging
  • Lucerne: No activities planned yet
  • Lauterbrunnen & Wengen: Ebiking through the valley, Murren Flower trail if weather permits
  • Lake Brienz area: Hot tub boating and exploring
  • Zurich, to fly out

Now if we rent a car, we would be able to stop by Bern and Thun on our way to our Air BnB - which would be a 2 hour trip vs the train from Basel to our Air BnB which is 2 hours on its own.... Also its worth noting that a train ride to Interlaken is 1.5 hours vs a 45 minute drive, one way.

With the passes being around $450 per person, $900 total for travel with maybe an extra train ticket in Zurich for our way to the airport.

For the rental car, I was able to book one for $300 for 6 days. I know gas is significantly more expensive there so budgeting $300 for gas (fuel efficient car btw). Plus we will still need to purchase parking and couple train/gondola tickets as well that could put us at $900, potentially a little over.

So price on each is relatively comparable, even if we end up spending more on the car, I would be okay since we are saving a significant amount of time. But I just want to make sure that I am not missing anything? I know places like Wengen are not accessible by car, but other than the fuel, parking and train tickets - why does no one else rent a car?! I have to be missing something lol.

Thanks in advance, and also any tips on the itinerary would be appreciated as well!

Posted by
2493 posts

The Berner Oberland pass is intended for people who want to do a lot of mountain railway and cable car trips.

Now why does nobody else rent a car? A few reasons:

  • Most people do not choose an out of the way place like Bürglen as a base.
  • The public transit system is really good. It is a major tourist attraction in itself. But it does not go everywhere.
  • Having a car means that if you go to a place that is not reachable by car you must park it somewhere, and then you must return to it. A lot of interesting trips are geared towards public transit. For example, if you want to do a boat trip often people will go one way by boat, and then return by train. When visiting Murren you can go up one way, and down another. Same when visiting Wengen and Grindelwald, which can more easily be combined if you are not burdened by a car.

Furhtermore mountain railways are, if you pay each one individually, rather expensive. Having a pass, or a reduction card, saves a lot of money. And once you have that why not use public transit for everything else too?

Posted by
2493 posts

From Basel to Lungern the route is not normally via Bern and Thun. You can of course drive that way, but you will then increase travel time. Also add in the time from the P+R at the outskirts of Bern to the town centre. Your car may not save you as much time as you want. But since you are staying in a small hamlet near Lungern you probably have no option, as you will need to go away for pretty much anything.

Posted by
1117 posts

Not cringe at all. We rented a car in Switzerland and unless you are just going city centre to city centre, car is the way to go. Its so nice to stop at any viewpoint or mountain lake you come across.

In the BO, it depends where you are staying. We stayed in Murren and parked the car in a secure long term lot near Stechelberg at the bottom of the Schilthornbahn. It was about EUR 9 a day, I think.

When we did the math, we found renting a car cheaper than trains, even counting for the three days in the parking lot.

The only cities we drove into were Bern, Lucerne and Chur. None had ZTL's, at least back in 2016.

Posted by
2493 posts

I live in the Bernese Oberland, and I see how Lauterbrunnen is slowly being destroyed by all the car traffic. If it was up to me non locals would not be permitted to take their cars beyond Wilderswil. It is nice being able to just stop your car somewhere to take a picture. ignoring the road code and the well being of the locals.

So if you rent a car, leave it at the new P+R in Matten, and continue by train.

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