My daughter and I are planning to go to Lauterbrunnen. I see you have to fly into Zurich. What is the best way to get to Lauternrunnen? Train seems long. Also only have 4 days to spend there.
From what I have found it is best to make Lauterbrunnen home base and travel to Bergen, Grindelwald? Any suggestions and places to go or advoid are appreciated.
Thanks
Shanin
Posted by
Green Bay
21140 posts
Lauterbrunnen is only 2 hours and 45 minutes by train from Zurich airport. Only faster way is by helicopter.
Posted by
Nashville, TN
612 posts
The point of visiting places like Lauterbrunnen is to get out away from the city, so being next to an airport would defeat the purpose.
Don’t understand what you mean by Bergen. Do you mean Bern? You can stay in Lauterbrunnen or surrounding villages and visit the Jungfrau Region all by train/cable car. You’ll find plenty of posts on here with suggestions of what to do for your 4 days in the area.
Posted by
The Heartland USA
8965 posts
Places in Switzerland look close on the map, but the mountains make travel take longer than you might think. A good guidebook on Switzerland would help pin things down for you.
Posted by
Idaho, USA
7799 posts
Yes, the trains. I think our train route was Zurich airport, Bern, Spiez, Interlaken Ost, Lauterbrunnen….and we took an extra one to shortly be up in Wengen above Lauterbrunnen. We flew from Seattle and went directly to Wengen after landing at Zurich. Although expensive, their trains run like clockwork! And that area is always breathtaking; have a great time!
Posted by
Vernon, Canada
32350 posts
Flying inbound to Zürich is probably the easiest option for travel to the Berner Oberland. As the others have mentioned, it's only a bit more than two hours from the Zürich airport station to Lauterbrunnen. You can see all the details for that trip on this website - https://www.sbb.ch/de (there's a tab at the top to select "English"). That trip involves several changes, often at Bern and then Interlaken Ost.
When you've decided on where you want to go in that area, it would be a good idea to do some research on rail passes, as that can provide some savings. There are a variety of passes available so choosing the right one may save some money. You may find this helpful - https://www.ricksteves.com/travel-tips/transportation/trains/switzerland-rail-passes .
For information on "where to go", that will depend to some extent on what you're interested in seeing in that area. I would highly recommend that you pack along a copy of the current Rick Steves Switzerland guidebook - https://store.ricksteves.com/shop/p/switzerland-guidebook . If you're travelling with an iPad, E-book reader or smart phone, it's also available as an E-book in Kindle format (there's an app available which allows Kindle books to be read on just about any device).
A few thoughts on where to go might include....
- visiting the beautiful village of Mürren which is just uphill from Lauterbrunnen.
- visiting the small village of Gimmelwald, which has been featured in many of Rick's TV shows. You could perhaps hike down from Mürren along the small paved trail.
- visiting the famous Schilthorn / Piz Gloria, which was made famous by the James Bond movie, (On Her Majesty's Secret Service. There are James Bond displays at the facility as well as a revolving restaurant, where you can enjoy a fine meal while watching the Eiger, Monch and Jungfrau glide past the windows.
- visiting the Jungfraujoch which is on the other side of the valley. There's an observatory there as well as restaurants, shops, etc. It's a bit of an expensive trip so it's wise to check the local webcams before you go, to ensure that the weather is clear. One other point to mention is that the facility is at almost 12,000 feet, so if you might be subject to altitude issues, something to consider.
- If you're really adventurous, you could always try paragliding from Mürren!
Those are just a few ideas.