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Zurich to Grindelwald - Recommendation for a Driver?

DRIVING from ZURICH to GRINDELWALD: We are looking for information about hiring a driver to drive 5 people from the Zurich airport to Grindelwald, one way. I know the train is easy and efficient, but we are interested in the experiencing the drive. Any suggestions?

Posted by
8889 posts

A) It will be difficult to find someone to do this, because it is just not done in Switzerland. Everybody takes the train, which is more comfortable and scenic than the Autobahn.
B) Being Switzerland, it will cost a lot of CHF's.

For 5 passengers + driver + luggage you will need a big "people mover" or a mini-bus.

P.S. I found one quote on the internet: http://www.happybus.ch don't know if they are any good: CHF 721.00 for a minibus
I warned you it would be expensive. Train is CHF 84.00 per person second class

Posted by
33818 posts

When I saw the title of your question I thought, here's going to be somebody who wants to drive and I will have to tell them that it is much better to take the train even though you like to drive.

But now I see that you don't even want to drive but you want to experience the drive.

Now your post and profile don't say anything about you or where you are from.

I will assume that you are perhaps from rural India or perhaps southeast Asia, or maybe rural Africa, and are not used to driving on modern motorways or interstate highways.

The fast road route from Zurich to Interlaken and then up the hill is a very busy motorway towards Bern and then a narrow but very busy motorway towards Spiez and then just inland from Lake Thun into and then through Interlaken, and then the road up through the woods to Grindelwald.

What you will mostly see is lots of cars and trucks and typical motorway scenes as you go along.

You may get a glimpse of the mountains as you approach Thun, and a few peeks of Lake Thun.

You can do the same fast route by train, but faster and with much better views by taking the train. The train on that route starts right at Zurich airport and is a double decker. If you sit upstairs in the really comfortable seats (that's in second class, I don't use First) you can see over all sorts of things, and you can see out big windows on both sides of the train. You will go through the countryside and not along the roads for most of the journey and if you look out the left side window after Bern and especially after Thun and Spiez you can see the mountains and then the lake of Thun.

When you change to the narrow gauge train at Interlaken Ost the train goes up along the river rushing down from all the waterfalls and then divides in two. Your half goes to on up to Grindelwald, and the other half goes to Lauterbrunnen from where a cable car goes towards Muerren and Gimmelwald and a train towards Wengen.

The connections are easy.

Just follow the crowd, they are going where you are.

There is also a very scenic route, but a little slower, from Zurich to Interlaken which can be done by car or train, over the Brunig Pass.

The car takes a busy motorway towards Luzern where it goes into a very long tunnel, coming out at track level near Titlis.

The road and the train run parallel but the road (one lane each way, no passing for the vast bulk) uses a lot of tunnels and the views keep decreasing year by year as more tunnels open. The train go up and over because it is a cog wheel narrow gauge mountain train all the way from Luzern (an easy connection from the train from Zurich) to Interlaken Ost where you change to the train up the mountain.

The train through the Brunig Pass stops at little mountain villages and climbs very steeply in parts, right through the woods, with absolutely incredible views of lakes, mountains, waterfalls and forests. The train on the cogwheel goes basically straight whereas the car needs to use switchbacks and hairpin turns.

Personally, unless being on a Motorway is a new experience for you, I would seriously seriously recommend the trains, and if I had enough time I would take the Brunig Pass route.

You can search youtube for videos of the Golden Pass which is a marketing name for a few fancy trains on that route which call at all the same places that the normal train does but marketed at foreigners. The Golden Pass goes beyond Interlaken Ost by changing trains and their gauges twice more and winds up in Montreux. You would want to watch the Luzern - Interlaken segment.

Posted by
7209 posts

"Experience the drive"...what does that even mean? It's a drive. Concrete, asphalt, traffic. What exactly are you "hoping" to experience? Maybe that will shed some light on the question.

Posted by
32350 posts

jg,

As the others have mentioned, taking the train will be an easier, quicker and less expensive option than "experiencing" the drive. You'll need a larger vehicle for five people with luggage, and that won't be cheap. If you have a large budget, I'm sure it will be possible to find a Limo service that will transport your group.