Hello! We will be flying into Zurich and heading directly to Appenzell for 2 nights... from there we will be heading to the Berner Oberland area (Not 100% sure which towns yet, but possibly Lauterbrunnen & Grindelwald) and then Zermatt... I am having a difficult time figuring out the trains, which ones to take from town to town; and the order in which we should visit the towns, to avoid a lot of backtracking. I am thinking Appenzell-Grindelwald-Zermatt-Lauterbrunnen-Lucerne-Zurich. Does the order of this route make sense or should we switch up the order of the towns? Also, what trains would be need to take to get between the different towns? Many thanks for your help!!
Posted by
Chicago
8124 posts
One way definitely to avoid some of the back tracking is to fly into Zurich and out of somewhere south like Geneva or Milan or vice versa.
This is the site to use to search
https://www.sbb.ch/en/buying/pages/fahrplan/fahrplan.xhtml
This is the map of all the lines so you can get an idea of where
https://cdn-doc.myswissalps.com/docs/default-source/rail-network-maps/swisstravelsystem.pdf?sfvrsn=7788603a_36
Posted by
Basel, Switzerland
8889 posts
All rail routes in Switzerland have at least one train per hour, so you can get from anywhere to anywhere at any time.
For your planning, look up times on the SBB (Swiss Railways) website: https://www.sbb.ch/en
You can also use this Swiss rail map for planning: https://www.sbb.ch/content/dam/sbb/de/infotexte/uebersichtskarte-sts.pdf
The red lines are rail routes. Not all stations are shown, there are 1838 stations in Switzerland, far too many to show, and all of them have at least one train per hour in each direction.
Note, there is no such place as "Grimmelwald". There is "Gimmelwald", which is a very small village near Mürren, on the side of a mountain. And there is "Grindelwald", a larger town one valley over. Do not confuse them!
Posted by
OP
11 posts
Oh my goodness, thank you for noticing my typo Chris! Yes, I know of the two different towns, my eyes are just getting crossed and mind jumbled from being on the computer so long planning this trip! :-)
Posted by
Green Bay
20947 posts
Grindelwald and Lauterbrunnen are in adjoining valley next to each other. No point staying in one, going to Zermatt, then returning to stay in the other. Per your other post, stay longer in Grindelwald and visit Lauterbrunnen from there.
You can get to Lauterbrunnen by going "over the top" on the Wengneralpbahn, or in the valley with a train change at Zweiluetschinen.
I might do it like this: Zermatt-Grindelwald-Luzern-Appenzell. You take the longest journey straight from the airport, then work your way back toward Zurich airport.
Posted by
OP
11 posts
Thank you all for the suggestions! Sam, I think that route sounds like a great idea!
Posted by
Rick Steves' Europe
16895 posts
The official departure of the Gotthard Panorama Express train no longer offers 2nd class train seating this year, so the rate of 127 chf is 2nd class on the boat and 1st on the train. Other regional trains following the same route do have 2nd class and tickets would be cheaper, or fully covered by 2nd class rail passes. The boat ride from Luzern to Fluelen takes more than 2.5 hours, which is too slow for some of us.