Train or Plane from Paris to Murren Switzerland

Fly into Zurich. From there Murren is probably 3 to 3.5 hours by trains and cable cars. Paris-to-Murren is also feasible by rail and possibly quicker given you would not have to deal with security lines and other airport hassles.

The RS Switzerland guidebook has a complete run-down of the Swiss rail pass options. For your trip I would consider the Half-Fare Card or the Berner Oberland Pass.

My husband and I are also traveling from Paris to Murren in September. We elected to take the direct train from Paris to Basel. Travel time is a few minutes over three hours and we paid 58 euro for non exchangeable tickets with advance purchase for both of us. We plan to take take trains/cable car in Switzerland from Basel to Murren and are still working out if we will purchase half fare cards. We chose to stay in a small apartment so we did not investigate hotels. Have a great trip!

Train: Paris Gare de Lyon to Interlaken Öst ( where you catch the train to Lauterbrunnen for the cablecar to Mürren) takes 5 1/2 hours with a single change at Basel (9:53 departure from Paris).

To fly, you would have to go from Paris to the airport, arriving 2 hours ahead of you flight, then fly to Zurich, and ride the train 2 hours from there to Interlaken. That will likely take 6-7 hours and is a lot more trouble.

We stay in apartments in Mürren, but if we were going to book a hotel it would be a balcony room at Hotel Bellevue Crystal.

Basel is the most common connection point and an official border town, so a Swiss Travel Pass or Half-Fare Card would apply on the Swiss side of that border.

Do book ahead for your Paris-Basel roundtrip train ride on TGV Lyria. Tickets are on sale now with better fares than you'll find if you wait. I think both SNCF and SBB use the Verified by Visa security protocol, although SNCF accepts PayPal for some fare types. If those don't work with your credit card, then Rail Europe and Trainline.eu offer similar rates. (With a 2-country pass, the pass holder reservation fees are very high for this train and coverage around Switzerland is somewhat less.)

Hotel recommendation for Murren - Hotel Jungfrau. We just got home from our RS tour of Germany, Switzerland and Austria, and that's where we stayed. It's so very amazing. We had a room facing the Jungfrau, Eiger and Monck with a balcony and I swear I thought I'd died and gone to heaven.
Others in our tour had rooms facing the hills and they said their view was gorgeous as well.

A few thoughts.....

1. Definitelly travel by train on that route. On the first part of the trip from Paris to Basel, you'll be travelling via TGV which runs at up to 300 km/h, so a flight will probably take longer when all is considered (and flying will most definitely be more of a hassle!). From Basel it's not a long trip to the Berner Oberland, and the Swiss train system is amazingly efficient and punctual.
2. I normally stay in Lauterbrunnen, but it looks like you've received some good recommendations for Mürren.
3. best pass to purchase for traveling to the Mt and around the Berner Oberland area.... That's a question of the ages, and a frequently recurring question on the forum. It's difficult to answer as there are a wide variety of Swiss Passes and which one to buy will largely depend on where you plan on travelling and which mountain lifts you're going to be using. Some of us here have resorted to formatting an Excel spreadsheet to try and made some sense out of it. The Half Fare Card is often a good "general purpose" pass, but you could also look at the Berner Oberland Regional Pass or the Jungfrau Regional Pass. I'd suggest making a list of the sites you want to visit and then determine the ticket costs for each, both with and without each type of pass. You may find this helpful - https://www.ricksteves.com/travel-tips/transportation/trains/switzerland-rail-passes

One other question that comes to mind - are you clear on the route you'll be using to reach Mürren? There are two possibilities once you arrive in Lauterbrunnen.

Good luck and happy travels!

Thank you all for your replies. We are taking the train from Paris to Basel. Going to book our hotel in Murren using RS and your suggestions. I'm getting frustrated about what transportation tickets to buy when we arrive. How would we get to Murren? Are these tickets we need to buy ahead of time or can we buy them once we arrive in Basel?

99% of train tickets within Switzerland don't need to be reserved in advance. You might start by going to www.sbb.ch/en and find out the costs of getting to Muerren and what trains/lifts you want to take in the Berner Oberland, and finally, how you are leaving Switzerland. If the total amount of train and lift tickets exceeds 240 CHF pp, then buy 30-day Half Fare Cards for 120 CHF and all your tickets will be...half the list price.

From Basel, you get a train to Interlaken Ost, then change to a train to Lauterbrunnen, making sure to board the right carriages as half the train will split off and go to Grindelwald (they are well marked). At Lauterbrunnen, change to a cable car up the hill then take the short train ride to Muerren.

Thank you all for your replies. We are taking the train from Paris to Basel. Going to book our hotel in Murren using RS and your suggestions. I'm getting frustrated about what transportation tickets to buy when we arrive. How would we get to Murren? Are these tickets we need to buy ahead of time or can we buy them once we arrive in Basel?

Since nothing is reserved, just buy in Basel when you arrive. There is a train connection every 30 minutes. Most require connections at Interlaken Ost, Lauterbrunnen, and Gruetchalp. A few will also require a connection at Spiez. Once you have ticket, you are good, even if you miss a connection. There will be another train along shortly.

Where and how are you traveling after you leave Muerren?

First of all, you are going to have a lovely trip in a breathtakingly beautiful place. I've stayed in Murren many times and my favorite hotel was The Bellevue. Our room faced the Eiger, Jungfrau and the Monch & had two balconies. The common areas were warm and cozy, the breakfast and dinner outstanding! Try their Rosti for dinner one night.
The hiking there is amazing and staff at the Sportzentrum in Murren were helpful in determining which hikes we would enjoy the most.
You absolutely cannot go wrong vacationing here.

We liked Hotel Regina in Murren -- closer to the Schilthorn lift than to the train station. Our room looked out on the main street of Murren, but the breakfast room had a drop-dead-gorgeous view of the three mountains. And a good price for Switzerland.