Train, Car or Combo for Budget Travelers

Kay, First, this will not be easy. "Budget" and "Switzerland" do not mix, it is one of the highest cost places in Europe.

The good news is that you appear to want to do a lot of hiking, that is free. The whole country is covered in a network of hiking paths with no restrictions on use.
But, you have to get up the mountains first. You can hike all the way up from the valleys. Most people prefer to take cable cars and mountain railways up from the valley, and this is where the big cost comes in.

tried to balance public transport with the independence of driving/parking and getting to gondola and hiking locations.
Trying to decide between train only or drive/train combo.
how does one get from their housing to cable cars and/or the start of hikes if you don't stay in the core of a location? Taxi? Uber? Bus?

This is where Switzerland is a bit different. The national transport network (rail + connecting buses) gets you to the last settlement (either in the valley or half way up a mountain). From there cable cars and mountain railways take you the rest of the way, to high level hiking or the very summits. I can, If I want, walk out of my front door in the city tomorrow morning, and get a train all the way to the tops of the peaks. I could not do that by car, as at some point the road would end and I would need to switch to mountain railways.
Some famous places are only accessible by train, no roads to them (Mürren, Wengen, Zermatt and others).
"how does one get from their housing to cable cars and/or the start of hikes if you don't stay in the core of a location? Taxi? Uber? Bus?" - Answer: train or bus

And the concept of "core of a location" is a bit strange. You can hike anywhere, from end to end of the country if you want to. It is a matter of how high up the mountains you want to start.
This is a hiking map of Switzerland: https://map.schweizmobil.ch/?lang=en&photos=yes&bgLayer=pk&logo=yes&season=summer&resolution=250&E=2631750&N=1189000&layers=Wanderland
The green lines are hiking routes. I suggest you zoom the map, more green lines will appear. And then keep zooming, the more you zoom the more green lines you see. You can hike anywhere.

CONCLUSION: The only half-economical way to get around Switzerland is with a rail pass. Either the National Swiss Pass (click here), a Half Fare Card (click here), or a local pass like the Berner Oberland Pass (click here).
A car will not get you up the mountains and may not be any cheaper once you add in the mountain railways.

Sorry if that didn't answer specific questions, I tried to help.

Thank you, so much, for taking the time to reply and provide info. I'm a bit nervous about housing and food costs and didn't know if I could balance those by staying out of town and thus potentially needing a car to access cable cars. We do understand that Switzerland is expensive and trying to understand how to avoid $200/night stays and eating out with driving to a more remote place. Centrally located housing will provide more transportation access for sure as we can only walk a certain distance with our less-than-young bodies. I'm definitely spreadsheeting the costs. Thanks for putting up with what must seem to be silly questions!

Re eating out costs. One option is Coop, Migros or Manor. Coop and Migros are the two largest supermarket chains, Manor is a chain of department stores. The larger examples of all of them, in most towns, have a restaurant. This includes buffet style (pay by quantity) and fixed price dishes. You choose what you want, pay and go and sit down.
You can get a hot meal for CHF 10-25 per person.

For example, here is next week's menu from the Coop in Interlaken: https://contentimages.coop.ch/RestaurantMenuplan/pdfmenu_52_2079_de.pdf
And for Migros: https://www.migros.ch/dam/jcr:0b9d377c-cd53-41be-891b-e3745d2ce2ee/Men%C3%BCplan%20vom%2023.12.2019%20-%2028.12.2019.pdf
(that is this weeks links, they might not work in a few days)

Restaurants are generally cheaper at lunch time than in the evening, it is to do with labour cost.

Thank you for the tips on take-out food from grocery delis. That is up our alley. BTW, we have found plenty of lovely accommodations for around $100/night. That is within our budget. Less expensive than in the states.

Kay, I'm right there with you. There are definitely ways to do Switzerland cheaper, I'm still in the researching phase myself, but here is what I've found so far: Buy food at the grocery stores already mentioned and stay away from restaurants. Do not buy bottled water, you can refill at springs. Airbnb or B&B's seem a good choice for me since you can cook your own food, but hotels usually include breakfast, so could be worthwhile. If you are not camper-adverse, you could rent a small RV-type in Germany, I saw a few for $50/night, and then you can usually park most places for free. I'm usually a big fan of having a car and being independent, but am starting to be convinced of the rail-pass, especially with discounts on cable cars. We'll be spending most of our time hiking, so am not planning on spending alot of money on museums and souveniers or staying in the large cities.
Here are some good youtube videos, check out the comments too for more money-saving tips: https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__youtu.be_dfuSw86-2Djw0&d=DwICAg&c=MrQrGL4Bt1iC3sN_evS3dQ&r=BVg0G0TWnRMx5sKNfqLvZKzDlxxEgdAGzPOV35KjKHM&m=5vAQaYDJ1gAER3Qs7LwP9-B6TjnBNwteDN-uiT-OHzY&s=xNyXahYGRMtLYokbeyzYL3nZ5KzMkoX75mPN93950JA&e=

https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__youtu.be_kKsDdWJSNGU&d=DwICAg&c=MrQrGL4Bt1iC3sN_evS3dQ&r=BVg0G0TWnRMx5sKNfqLvZKzDlxxEgdAGzPOV35KjKHM&m=EQRpGA1QQaEUzN3PVbsCU-Vol9xN3drsL2X1PU-7Zrw&s=1dm3mOLIr861i_rBkFDGQW53-O_V2NzkhiHrQP30jjw&e=

I'm also wondering if staying in smaller towns away from tourist-heavy areas would be cheaper. Or having a central hub for the entire stay (assuming you get discounts for week-long stays) and making day trips.

Good luck to you on your trip, I think if you have the mindset for staying thrifty, you can usually make it happen for less!:)

As I continue my research into making a trip to Switzerland affordable (at least on our budget), we have a car rentals average $10/day. We'll buy a Half Price Swiss Pass for the cable cars and lifts. We'll definitely stay outside of town in an AirBnB or VRBO type rental which we can find for about $100/night. We'll also stay longer in each spot and take day trips. We might leave our car parked and take transport into the lift stations. We won't be eating out but will check out supermarkets and take-out. I got a kick out of one of the Youtube videos listed above where the kid slept in his car to save money. We won't be doing that!

Kay, is that car price of $10 (US, I guess?) a day before or after the insurance and other fees?

How many is "we"?

If you are looking at Airbnb is that $100 a night including the Airbnb fees and cleaning fees, etc.? If you are new to Airbnb those extra fees can really pile up.

This forum amazes me - once again someone has asked a question I am researching! Looking for ways to make Switzerland less expensive.

Chris - Thanks for the links to the Migros and Coop menus. That suits our style perfectly.

We have decided to drive. Since we are planning to ski, I don’t think trains are the way to travel. There are parking lots in Grindlewald, Lauterbrunnen and Steckleberg which provide easy access to skiing. I don’t think getting a bus to the train while carrying skis would be fun. So I’m looking for lodging near Interlaken either with breakfast included or with a kitchenette. (Also another place near Visp.) Then we will drive to different ski areas each day.

When transferring between our main bases driving on Switzerland’s excellent highways seems reasonable. We do plan to use the car train at Kandersteg. I’m excited to ski in Switzerland.

So I don’t think trains are always the right answer.

Enjoy the planning and the trip!

Beth, your last question confused me because of your reference to skiing, but I remembered that the OP was for August and September - clearly not ski season.

I tried to figure out when the trip time changed - and then I figured out that you aren't Kay!! LOL

Oh well, I'll make sure to read the name of the poster next time. Sorry to confuse you.

About driving in ski season from Interlaken to the ski areas - do you know that not only you can reserve a (non-changeable and non-refundable) space at the Lauterbrunnen multi-storey car park but on many days you can't just rock up and park because the reserved places fill the car park? The prices are higher in ski season. It is CHF 10 or so in the summer.

Car, but the truth of it is that you will most probably need a combo.

Reposting from a previous post:
I am not disparaging Swiss rail travel when I suggest that someone get off the beaten path by renting a car. The Swiss transportation system is second to none, as I have said before, however there are some places it does not go, or at least, on my schedule.

There is a time and a place for every tool in my toolbox, car and train. Usually (read: almost always) a car is the tool I reach for. Sometimes it is because of my destination alone, but usually things like luggage security (security=peace of mind), ability to change my schedule and direction at any time (meetings and time schedules change), ability to buy and carry a meaningful amount of groceries due to having to cook a lot (celiac),

Sometimes the destinations demand it. Because many of the locations that I go to, if not more than 1/2 to 2/3 or higher, cannot be reached easily through the Swiss transportation infrastructure of rails & postbuses. I use places like Luzern and Grindelwald and Fiesch and some others as easy rest and (personal) refueling stations--nearby food, entertainment, and, yes, rail. But they are not my destinations these days. I end up in the Alp Krachtal at a queen bee mating station above Matt in Glarus or a parking lot below Capanna Corno Gries in the south repacking a little daypack so I and a small child can make the climb to the hut. I think these places are unique and beautiful and, without the right tool, a car, there is a large additional layer of...hassle...associated with getting there or there is no readily available rail(/or sometimes even postbus) option. In my case I found that a postbus that I needed only came by the tourist office at 8:30 every morning. The tourist office failed to mention that it only stopped if I made a reservation. They couldn't make it for me and the language was french (not my language). Maybe it is my fault for not knowing French/Romansch/Italian but, somehow, the car lets me circumvent these issues.

Keeping your stuff safe is an ever present worry while traveling for me. I my case we get our luggage from ZRH and head to the rental office. We get our car, pack it, and head back in to grab a few things: Coop/Migros groceries/water/sodas, a booster seat one year, a SIM card at SALT, maybe some ice cream before we leave for the little one, maybe hit the observation deck for 5 CHF (best bloody deal in Zurich), and sit down outside at the observation deck and look at our route on our iPhone. Then we get in the car and go. The whole time our luggage is safely packed away and we only carried an empty (then full) daypack to put our groceries and such in. I HATE to keep track of luggage (read: I hate having to worry about people robbing me...). I hate to think about first timers, over-packing because they don't realize what they can leave behind, and then having to keep up with that luggage the whole trip. I have been there in Luzern when our front desk guy had to tell a scream of four Japanese girls that they had walked about 4 miles to the WRONG hotel. He told them where their hotel was, back to the rail station and across town; they whined to each other and started off for about an 8 mile walk--with all of their overpacked bags (two or more each). I guess carrying all of that luggage around (two adults and a child) makes me feel like a never left the airport--HA!

Typically I don't drone on about the cons of rail travel so much as I try to talk about the pros of car travel. If I am there in winter it is perfect. We are planning an upcoming trip and plan to use rail for some or all of it. I like rail travel in Switzerland, I just like car travel more.

Some nice information here. Thanks, everyone!
@Nigel, you are quite correct about the bottom line pricing of AirBnBs and those additional fees. I've noticed that there can be multiple places priced at, say, $100/night. But the bottom line price after the fees can be all over the board which makes those initial prices seem like a bit of a scam. I definitely pay attention to that and we probably won't end up with something that is truly $100/night. As far as the car rental, I quizzed the hubbs about that price again (he's usually pretty careful) and he thought it included all the fees. Of course, we'll be taking a closer look at that.

@Cabalist, you had some awesome thoughts about transportation and I know it will help other people in the future. I felt a little support for leaning toward driving despite all the wonderful Swiss transportation. Thanks for the hint for the Diablerets....I'm certainly curious about the queen bee mating station. But yes, these all contribute to unique trips and the kind of things that I look for as well.

If you can spend $100 a night, then you should check out the trailers or bungalows at www.campingjungfrau.swiss.

There are two advantages there: you are AT the location AND you get a kitchen, which save a LOT in food costs. Also, Lauterbrunnen is a transportation hub.

If you want to see the scenic walks in that area, click on my name to find the link to our dozen favorite hikes in the area.

If you are into the hiking ALL of the SAC-CAS huts are possibilities--and they say they never see Americans, or at least very few. For easier hikes look at their list of Familie Friendly huts--easier routes and whatnot. Gute Reise!