Hello friends, I will be in Lauterbrunnen with several friends in mid September. My question is what would be the best options in train travel. We have train tickets from Zurich to Lauterbrunnen and from Lauterbrunnen to LaSpezia Italy, which are paid for . I am wondering should we do point to point tickets or buy some type of pass? We will be hiking in the area for 3 full days, but taking transportation to and from the trails. We would like to do the North Face hike, the Mannlichen to Kleine Scheidegg hike perhaps a couple other easier hikes. So our travel will be in the general area and looks to be short trips. Thank you for any advice you can give me.
Posted by
Citizen of the World
3455 posts
With those planned hikes, you’re better off just buying tickets as you go. It’s about $15 to take the train up to Murren, $75 to get from Murren to the Schilthorn ( one-way) and about $15 to get up to Wengen from Lauterbrunnen. The hike from Wengen to Männlichen and Kleine Scheidegg is easy and takes about 3.5 hours.
Another beautiful hike is from Murren to Gimmelwald— an easy, mostly flat 45-minute hike.
If you were to add more train or gondola/cablecar trips like the Grindelwald-First gondola, you might find the Berner Oberland Pass a plus.
Posted by
Green Bay
22557 posts
The Jungfrau Travel Pass would work.
How did you buy your other tickets? Saver Day Passes, SuperSaver Tickets?
Posted by
Nashville, TN
1098 posts
Kenko's numbers are off, but the advice that a pass will not be worthwhile for you is probably correct.
It costs 47 chf to do the Northface hike from Lauterbrunnen (roundtrip to Murren + 1 way on the Allmendhubel) -- that's roughly $60usd
It costs 82 chf to do Mannlichen to Kleine Scheidegg (Lauterbrunnen > Wengen > Mannlichen > Kleine Scheidegg > Wengen > Lauterbrunnen) which is roughly $102usd
If you hadn't already gotten your tickets from Zurich and to Italy, it probably would have benefited you to get the half fare card, but since you already purchased those, you're not at the benefit level unless you do Schilthorn or something like that. If you just want to stay around Lauterbrunnen/Wengen/Murren area for hiking for 3 days, you'll probably spend somewhere around 150-175 chf, which isn't enough to justify a pass.
And to clarify a couple other things -- Mannlichen to Kleine Scheidegg is a 1.5 hour walk, not 3.5 hours. You can extend it to 2-3 hours if you want to stop a lot for photos or a picnic, but actual hiking time is around 90 minutes. And Murren to Gimmelwald is not flat. It's 900 feet of decline. It's easy, but flat it is not.
Posted by
2 posts
We did the Mannlichen to Kleine Scheidegg walk last week. You will love it. When you get off the gondola, instead of turning right and starting off toward Kleine Scheidegg, turn left and walk to the observation area - you can see it from the gondola station. It is a bit further than it looks, but well worth the short detour. My advice and what saved us was downloading the SBB app. You can buy tickets instantly on this app - charge to your credit card - no wait, works great - and you can also see schedules when you buy the ticket - so that is so helpful. It just gives you a QR code after it charges your Apple/Google Pay app. You don't need a SwissPass card to use this app, just credit card.