Swiss Travel Cards: Travel into/out of Switzerland and 4 days in Lauterbrunnen Valley

Swiss travel cards "we're assuming they're well worth it" -- never assume! Run the numbers for point-to-point, Swiss Pass, Berner Oberland Pass, Half Fare Card for the four of you including all the train trips within Switzerland and lifts you anticipate.

For your one night between Venice and Gimmelwald I suggest Stresa
On a very pretty lake in Italy. It is on the rail route, before Brig and before the Swiss border.

Agree with Stresa for a night. It will be much less expensive than another night in Switzerland. Then you can take a Eurocity train to Interlaken from Stresa with a connection or two. However, you will need to have a Trenitalia ticket for the Stresa to Domodosolla leg, then the Swiss ticket or pass from Domo to Interlocken or Murren.

Coming back you will probably connect through Milan and will need to do the same thing. Swiss pass up to Domodosolla, then Trenitalia ticket from Domo to your destination. You need to make sure both tickets are on the same physical train.

You need to do the math to see if the travel passes are worth it. I believe if you decide on the flex passes, they actually have to be mailed to you. We purchased the 8 day pass for a seven day trip and it was. One thing that is good about the passes is that you have flexibility and are not tied to a specific train.

We spent last week in Muerren; my son is special needs (13-yo with cognitive and physical disabilities). We found the systems and the Swiss people to be delightfully accommodating for his needs; the trains and lifts were easy to access (even with short connections), and lift/train operators were always super helpful.

However, we did experience some oblivion on the part of other, non-Swiss travelers. Not to stereotype, but our experience was that the huge number of big, Asian tour groups were prone to crowding and being somewhat insensitive to the fact that my son (whose disabilities are apparent) cannot stand up for himself (literally). My family wound up standing around him in a protective circle on crowded lifts and trains to keep him from being shoved. Had we not done this, he would have been pushed down and run over — no exaggeration.

I am sure this is a survival technique and cultural norm for the Asian folks given the crowded conditions in their home countries, so we didn’t take it personally; however, it was something we definitely found to be a real problem.

So, be aware of crowding and similar situations where large tour groups may not give you space or awareness, but on the whole, the BO region was a great place to spend a week for someone with special needs.

I see that you are also spending time in Venice, where we spent the second half of our vacation. We found it to be just as wonderful for my son, maybe even more so because it doesn’t seem to lend itself to giant tour groups in tight situations like public transport. So, although it was crowded, the crowds were far more respectful and aware than in Switzerland (in our experience).

Have a great trip!

Thank you all for the advise! We will look in Stresa for a hotel for the night. We stayed on Lake Como last year (we loved it, kids not so much)...hence Gimmelwald! If they don’t love the Lauterbrunnen Valley, there’s something wrong with them...lol!

I’ll work out costs for the Swiss leg of the trains in and out and all of the cable cars/trains/buses I think we’d use to see if a Swiss pass, 1/2 off pass etc. is a good value for us.

Yes those tour groups can be awful! They are a growing phenomenon in this area and they keep getting bigger year after year. Tiny Murren used to be a haven , but even it has become victim to those huge groups.