Traveling from Murren to Chamonix in the summer by train/bus

First, this is why you don’t use Google for transportation details. Use the official site SBB.ch/en because the cable car to bus isn’t the quickest way out of Mürren and you don’t need to take a bus to Chamonix, there is a train.

You don’t purchase all these train changes separately, it’s all one ticket purchased via SBB from Mürren BLM to Chamonix (type in Muerren) . You don’t need to purchase ahead of time, but you’ll be able to see various time options with what the change times are to plan ahead on SBB.

Trains are marked with their final destination, not necessarily where you are going on that train, as it could be just a stop on a longer journey. I’d suggest watching some YouTube videos on how the Swiss trains work to familiarize yourself with them. Getting to Mürren is a bit of a commitment, so watching videos on how it’s done will ease some of your anxiety.

In regards to what your best ticket option is, are you getting any sort of pass or Half Fare Card for your time in Switzerland? That could affect your best option.

Thanks for your reply.
I'm using Google maps because it's easier at least to get it started. :-) For instance, if I type Murren on SBB, it doesn't show up. Only after I copy and paste your text with correct character, I can actually get Murren.
From SBB, I am seeing the similar itinerary, except for the last leg being train instead of bus. Still same number of transfers. It seems you still need to transfer from Vallorcine to get to Chamonix, whether we are taking the train or bus. Am I wrong? Would there be more train options in the summer? Schedule for Aug wasn't available yet, so I used June date.

Hi jyoonyang. Essentially, you need to get from Murren to Martigny and then take the Mont Blanc Express, a very scenic railway trip from Martigny to Chamonix. This is a pretty straightforward trip. Use the SBB app and select the via option and add Valorcine as a via option. It might be easier if you break the trip into two parts, first from Murren to Martigny and then from Martigny to Chamonix.

We took this the Mont Blanc Express two years ago but we started in Sirre/Siders so the trip was a little more straight forward. The SBB portion of the Mont Blanc express is from Martigny to Vallorcine. At Vallorcine, you transfer to a French SNCF train to Chamonix. You can book the entire trip on the SBB app or book the French portion (from Vallorcine to Chamonix) using the SNCF website or app. You will save a few $ if you book each separately with SBB and SNCF. The trains from Martigny leave every hour at 14 minutes after the hour. The transfer to a French train at Vallorcine is coordinated so no worries about making the transfer. Just walk accross the tracks and get on the French train when it arrives. I recommend sitting on the left side of the train when you board at Martigny. The very first portion has better views of the Rhone Valley on the right but most of the trip is on the west side of the Trient valley so you will have better views on the left side. We got off at Chamonix-Aiguille du Midi rather than the Chamonix-Mont-Blanc station because it was closer to the Aiguille du Midi teleferique.
Enjoy the ride.
Karl

It’s showing you the bus option from Mürren in June because the quicker route is closed for construction April 13 to July 10. It will reopen by the time you’re there in August so the quicker option will be Mürren > Train to Grutschalp > cable car to Lauterbrunnen > train to Interlaken (and in reverse when you’re arriving in Mürren).

The SBB site uses German spellings and the U in Mürren has the umlaut over it. To type that out without an international keyboard you do ü=ue, hence why you type “Muerren” for what is actually Mürren.

The route is
Mürren BLM > train to Grutschalp > cable car to Lauterbrunnen > train to Interlaken Ost > train to Spiez > train to Visp > train to Vallorcine > train to Chamonix
It takes 4 hrs 47 min to 5 hrs 17 min depending on when you leave Mürren.

If you do the 4 hr 47 min option, these are your changes….
Grutschalp - everyone from the train enters the cable car together (you can’t miss it, you’ll understand when you see how it’s laid out, just follow the crowd off/on)
Lauterbrunnen - 14 minutes to make a 5 minute walk
Interlaken - 5 minutes to make a 2-3 minute walk (this will be the most rushed one)
Spiez - 15 minutes to make a 1 minute walk
Visp - 5 minutes to make a 1 minute walk
Martigny - 21 minutes to make a 3 minute walk
Vallorcine - 5 minutes

Changin trains is a normal and expected feature of train travel. It is all very trivial really. You walk off one vehicle and on to another.
A lot of these transfers are coordinated. Think of it as a relay race, and you are the baton. For example, if you take the cable car down to Stechelberg, then the bus to Lauterbrunnen and then the train to Interlaken you will notice that you just walk from one vehicle to another and that the services wait till everyone made the transfer.

Which route is the best to take out of Mürren depends on where you are staying. The BLM station is on the Northern end of the Village, and the Schilthornbahn station is at the Southern end. So pick what is convenient.

The transfers may appear short, but they aren't. They are efficient. And if a delay causes you to miss you one you just take the next one. Services run at least hourly along the entire route. If you book this on SBB you will probably get two tickets: A Swiss one for Mürren - Vallorcine, and a French one for Vallorcine - Chamonix. The important thing to remember is that tickets are for a route, not a train. So you do not buy tickets for each train or bus separately. You buy tickets for a route. Because the Swiss and French ticketing systems are bit different you often do end up with tickets split at the border though.

As to finding the correct train: If you look up train times on www.sbb.ch one of the things that will be mentioned on each train is "train direction of...." and that tells you what the final destination of a train is, and together with the departure time that should allow you to find your train.

Right now, SBB is not showing the complete route to Chamonix, only as far as Valorcine. Beginning July 3, there is apparently some work on the line from Valorcine. If you look at the French site, https://www.sncf-connect.com/en-en/tgv, you will see that trains go from Le Buet to Chamonix in early August. Le Buet is only about 2 km from Valorcine. There is a short tunnel between Le Buet and Valorcine, so I guess they need to do some maintenance on the tunnel. They are not going to make people walk 2 km between stations, so I would assume a replacement bus will be scheduled. French are not as quick as the Swiss in providing the details, but your trip is 5 months away, so give them a little time.

Thank you so much for all your replies. This helps a lot. Now I think my anxiety is dying down. Lol

One follow up question. WengenK mentioned that the tickets purchased are for the route and if we miss a transfer, we can take the next one. I see ticket prices are slightly varied even for the same route. Given that they are different, is it ok to take a different train?
Thank you!

With full fare tickets, you are freely able to take any train on the specified route that day. so you can do stopovers. If you see other fares, they are probably SuperSaver fares, meaning you must use the trains specified. This would revert to open tickets if one of the trains is late due to SBB's fault, but that does not happen very often. Probably your best ticket is called a Saver Day Pass, but it needs to be bought way early to get the low price of 52 CHF. It is for a specific day, so had better be sure of your travel date, as it is nonrefundable. With the Saver Day Pass, you can ride any trains in Switzerland for the specified day. So it is completely flexible for the day it is purchased for.

For your information, a full fare point-to-point ticket costs 109 CHF. A Saver Day Pass is only valid to Le Chatelard-Frontiere the stop just before Valoricine. The cost from there to Chamonix would be only about 8 EUR.
https://www.sbb.ch/en/offers/saver-day-pass

I see ticket prices are slightly varied even for the same route.

The planner shows the cheapest available ticket. There are generally three types:
- Point to Point: That is fully flexible. Has a fixed price and will be the same regardless of the departure you choose. So you can easily decide to leave earlier or later.
- Supersaver: Discounted. Requires you to take the trains listed on the ticket. However if a delay makes you miss a connection you can just take the next available service, and you do not need to exchange your ticket for that.
- Saver Day Pass: Will be offered if it is the cheapest option available at the time of booking. Is a good option generally.

Thanks. That makes sense.
I am a bit confused by the terms. When I try to buy tickets, I see 3 options:

• Regular offer
• saver offer flex
• saver offer

Is Saver Offer Flex same as Saver Day Pass?

In SBB website's help page, I see both terms are used and I am not sure if one is just outdated. Also, it says
"You can always get Saver Day Passes 6 months in advance, as they do not depend on the timetable."
Is there a different way to buy these tickets other than entering the destination and date/time?

Thanks again!

I found the answer to my question. I see there is a separate web page to buy the Day Passes. This says it's valid only in GA routes. It looks like in the map, this route is covered. Please tell me if I am wrong. Thanks!

I will just add that the low fares you may be seeing also assume you have a Half Fare Card. This card can be purchased for 150 CHF and is good for 30 days. Whether that makes sense for you depends on how much other travel you intend. You need at least 300 CHF worth of train tickets per person for it to save any money.

For instance, the Aug 3 9:58 am departure from Muerren initially shows a 44.20 CHF SuperSaver price, but without a Half Fare Card it is 84.40 CHF.

The Saver Day Pass can be bought for a specific day at the web page I previously sited. But it is not valid all the way to Valorcine because Valorcine is in France and outside the GA area of Switzerland. It is good to Le Chatelard-Frontiere, inside the Swiss GA area, so you could buy a separate flexible ticket from Le Chatelard-Frontiere to Chamonix for about 8 EUR or the equivalent in CHF.

The Saver Day Pass is not for any specific route. It is good for all travel for the day in the Swiss GA area. So you could travel from one end of Switzerland to the other and back again on the day specified.

The SuperSaver Flex ticket allows you to cancel the ticket for a 50% refund.

PS. Valorcine does show up on the map of Validity for the GA Travel Card, but the Saver Day Pass is not offered at the ticket purchase website for travel from Muerren to Valorcine. That is a bit of a mystery, but you have to buy an onward ticket even from Valorcine to Chamonix, so we are only talking a few CHF. Could be cleared up at time of travel at a ticket office.
https://www.sbb.ch/en/tickets-offers/travelcards/ga-travelcard/ga-travelcard-area-validity.html

Thank you! I totally missed the link you sent me in the earlier post for the day pass. I thought the website design was stupid not giving the day pass option from the ticket selection section, but I see what you mean that Vallorcine doesn't seem to be included in GA area. If I choose the destination to Martigny, day pass option is also given. I will double check with SBB travel office. Day pass option is so much cheaper than point-to-point and even cheaper than saver, and yet so much more flexible. We know the exact date of travel, so this will be perfect. Thank you for letting me know.

Like I said, the Saver Day Pass is offered to Le Chatelard-Frontiere, the last stop in Switzerland on the line from Martigny to Valorcine. So you would only need an onward ticket for there to Chamonix.

The GA Validity Map shows Valorcine as part of the GA area, so a Saver Day Pass should be valid to there. I don't know why it is not offered for the trip. Perhaps the Swiss are not perfect after all. Only 99.44%.

I checked with an SBB agent and was told that Vallorcine is covered. Just in case someone else is curious in the future.

Overall, I feel pretty good about dealing with the transfers. The SBB app and website do excellent job showing how to navigate through the transfer points. No more frantically searching for the platform to rush to. :-)

Thanks all for your help!