Stay in Wengen getting around

Why are you staying in Wengen if your destination is Murren and Schilthorn? Stay in Murren at one of the apartments that Denise has at Chalet Fontana http://www.ferntree.ch/chalet/fontana_summer.htm. There is wonderful hiking all around Murren. Also, take the train from Venice to Murren. A car will be useless to you in Berner Oberland.

2nd the "stay in Murren" option. Wengen is indeed beautiful, but Murren is spectacular and a true village feel. There are apartments to be rented (and a public laundry facility if you need it at the Hotel Bellevue). Denise is incredible and would give your family wonderful tips on how to spend your time.

Thanks for the quick replies. I appreciate the advice about the car/train, but the cost, time, needs analysis works out heavily in favor of the car. (Venice to Wengen 6hr car vs 18h train)

We're still weighing the Wengen/Murren place to stay decision. I will look into the Fontanna Apartment.

My original questions remain about Wengen.

Not sure where you are getting the 18hr for train Venice to Murren, or Wengen. I did this trip in reverse in about 7.5 hours last September. I see several options on the SBB site from S. Lucia to Murren BLM in the 7 to 8 hour range. But I understand your concern for the costs and logistics for a group of 5.

We love staying in Wengen and the hotel (Alpenrose) sends a shuttle to pick you up at the train station. Wengen is car free--not sure about Murren but may be car free as well. There are COOP stores in both of these towns to get supplies.

The train time was from google maps- should have check the actual train schedule. Thanks. The equation still favors the car though.
I guess I'm looking for a 'taxi' in Wengen.

Yeh, If you are staying in Wengen, your car will be parked in the garage at Lauterbrunnen train station. That is as close as you can get with a car.

We do the trip Venice-> Murren almost every year and it's only about a 7.5 hour trip. Wherever you got the 18hour estimate is wayyyy off. Look at www.sbb.ch/en for the real train schedule. You'll travel from Venezia S. Lucia to Mürren BLM.

Anyone have a realistic drive time Venice to Lauterbrunnen? Any traffic snarls to expect?

We have observed some nasty traffic jams entering the Gotthard Tunnel when we were on the train. I think they are pretty common there.

Viamichelin says 6 1/2 hours from Mestre. Be sure to purchase a vignette as soon as you enter Switzerland.

It's been years since we drove from Murren to Venice (long before we learned how easy the train trip is), but I would think you should expect at least 8 hours, without too much stopping. You will need to negotiate traffic around Milan and the passes. And that's not counting the time to pickup a rental car at Piazzalle Roma in Venice, which depending on the time of day and how busy the rental car counters are, especially in season, can be a maddeningly long wait for your car. Driving will only get you to Lauterbrunnen, so from there you will still have 20 or 30 minutes via trains or lifts to Wengen or Murren. While the train trip is not stress-free since you have a number of connections to make, it is certainly less stressful than 8 hours on the autostrade and autobahn. When calculating your transportation costs be sure to include tolls, vignette, and parking for a rental car.

I agree with the others - if the majority of your hiking is going to be in Mürren, then it makes sense to stay on that side of the valley rather than in Wengen. That will save you the time and money it would take to travel back and forth from one side of the valley to the other. The most central location is Lauterbrunnen, as that's the transportation hub and has easy access to both sides of the valley. Both Wengen and Mürren are "car free" villages so I suspect you'll have to haul your luggage yourself. There may be delivery services to Wengen, but I don't know of any.

As you've already discovered, the travel time of 18 hours from Venice is grossly inaccurate. The shortest travel time between Lauterbrunnen and Venice is 7H:07M (on current schedules), with three changes. All of the changes are relatively short, so won't add appreciably to the overall time. Depending on which train departure is used, some segments will be via Freccia high speed train which travels at up to 300 km/h, which will be considerably faster than a car and will most certainly be more pleasant and relaxing. Cars in Europe tend to be smaller, so you'll need to rent a larger vehicle for five people plus luggage. Many vehicles are manual transmission, so hopefully you're comfortable with that.

As you're renting in Venice, note that each driver will require the compulsory International Driver's Permit, which is used in conjunction with your home D.L. The IDP can easily be obtained at any AAA office for a small charge and are valid for one year. For driving in Italy, you'll also need to be vigilant to avoid the dreaded ZTL (limited traffic) areas which exist in many towns, the automated speed cameras, tolls on the motorways, etc. For driving in Switzerland, you'll need to obtain the compulsory highway tax vignette as soon as you enter the country, or risk hefty fines which are often collected on the spot!

Thank you so much for the information. Our complete trip starts in London (to shake off jet lag). Then to Venice for a day, travel to Bernese Oberland (possible stop in lakes region on the way), Zermatt for a peek at the peak, then to Cinque Terra for 3 days, returning home via Nice. ( plan is to drop the car at La Spezia when we get to CT and train to Nice).

You didn't say how old your teenage daughters are but if they're < 16 years old they'll travel 100% free with you on transport in all of Switzerland (buses, boats, trains, gondolas, cogwheels) even on the super expensive private high altitude rails like to the Jungfrau and the Schilthron and the Gornergrat in Zermatt.

You're only spending 1 day in Venice - that's a mistake as Venice is a one of a kind city.

Thanks Tim,
Our daughters are 13,16,17, so only the youngest gets the freebies. With the exchange rates so favorable, it's like we all get a discount.
As for the short time in Venice, we aren't much on cities and crowds, hence our concentration in the Alps.

I appreciate all the advice.

I agree that it's a huge mistake to spend this small amount of time in Venice...yes, it's a city but that word doesn't translate to Venice the same way it would in most cities. Venice is unlike anything else and, even if you are not a fan of cities, it is not a place to see in a cursory way. Your choice, of course, but you're selling yourself short and I can arguably guarantee that you'll kick yourself for not spending more time there!
I also wonder why you are flying to Venice, renting a car, and then driving all the way to Switzerland and then all the way back to Italy? Why not fly into Switzerland, see what you want to see, take the train to Italy and THEN rent the car? You can easily see everything you have listed in Switzerland via their excellent public transportation system. You will waste two full days of your vacation driving to Switzerland and then driving back to Italy. Backtracking always wastes time and money.

1 kilometer is an easy walk. If we (at 63 and 72) rent a place less than 3km from the train station, we walk. You should all be packing light enough that each person can carry his/her own stuff including up-and-down stairs in train stations and on-and-ff the train. If I can do it, your 13-y-o can.

Thank you for the advice. We travel as lightly as we can, but we have some additional medical equipment (about 40 lbs) which accompanies us. It stays in the room, but it's a contributing reason for car travel from base to base versus train.

I appreciate the admonishment to stay longer in Venice, our trip there is at the request of our youngest. She wants to ride a gondola.

As you can expect, all trips have compromises based on resources and time.
Based on the information you all have provided, we're going to try to base in Murren and make excursions to Zermatt and possibly Lucerne.
Please keep those suggestions coming.

Ok, I need more info.
We booked an apartment in Murren, thanks to all who helped make that happen (Denise cannot accommodate our dates).
I've been looking at the option of travel by train and forgetting the car.

A few questions:
The OB regional pass seems cover less than it has in previous years posts- can anyone comment on this? I saw a post from a few years ago, but the official route map now covers a smaller area. It doesn't seem to cover going to Lucern, just in case we want to make a day trip there. How does this work if one travels beyond the edge of the pass?

The Jungfrau pass travel pass: Is there one site to get the costs for travel on the lifts/trains in the region? I have to crunch the numbers to see if this pass makes sense for us.

The Swiss Transfer ticket: Anyone run the scenario where using this makes the best sense?

From what I see on the Berner Oberland website (http://www.regiopass-berneroberland.ch/range-of-validity/ ), the trip to Luzern is covered.