Zurich to Lauterbrunnen

1) I looked it up on www.sbb.ch Zürich HB to Lauterbrunnen, second class, full fare (NO half price card) is CHF 76.60 one way. There is no discount for advance purchase or two adults travelling together.
2) There is no discount for buying in advance or online. Just buy a ticket at Zürich station when you arrive, either at the automatic ticket machines or the manned ticket counters. Both accept credit cards, and Euros as well as Swiss Franks.
3) Yes. Where are you buying your tickets from Prague to Zürich? Maybe you can get a ticket from Prague to Lauterbrunnen and avoid having to buy a second ticket.
Prague to Lauterbrunnen is a very long journey (12+ hours). And not all the routes involve going via Zürich. I would consider stopping of en route, or flying on a discount airline from Prague to Zürich or Basel.

How are you traveling from Prague? If on the CNL train, you should get off at Basel and proceed from there. It is a Swiss ICE train to Interlaken Ost, then change to the train to Lauterbrunnen.

Thanks for the reply.

Yes i am taking the CNL night train hat i bought for 98Euro, it took 14hours which arrive Zurich at 0900hrs.

CHF70+ is way off my budget, any other alternative?

The CNL from Prague to Zürich runs via Basel, and Basel to Lauterbrunnen is CHF 67.60, so getting off at Basel and buying a ticket there saves both time and money.
This begs two questions.
1) Are you actually going to Lauterbrunnen, or somewhere further (like Mürren)? If yes, then what you need to buy is a ticket from Basel to wherever you actually want to go.
2) Where are you going after Lauterbrunnen (or wherever)? You need to buy a ticket for that trip as well.

What will you be doing in Lauterbrunnen (or wherever)? Going up mountains in cable-cars or mountain railways? You need to budget for that as well, Possibly a local pass (Berner Oberland pass?).
There is no real alternative to SBB prices; but you need to estimate whether a Swiss pass or a ½ price railcard will save you money.

And yes, Switzerland is expensive. Have you budgeted for accommodation and meals at Swiss prices?

Hi. Thank you for your concern.

1. Yes i will be going to L and will makenit as a base for my hike to Murren. Probably will explore the area on the day of my arrival on the 5th (or Wengen hike if time permitted) and do the Murren hike on the 6th before leaving to Munich on the 7th Morning (ticked booked).

2. Yes, i will be staying at Valley Hostel in L.

Can i ask more about the Basel thingy? The reason why i wanted to go Zurich is because i want to see the beautiful view from Zurich to Interlaken via Lucerne.

You mention that i will save time if i alight at Basel, how many hours do i save? Should i alight Basel or Zurich, i need an opinion.

movexz,
1) You are planning to hike UP from Lauterbrunne to Mürren or Wengen (opposite side of the valley)? To each their own. But most people would take the train / cable car up and walk down.
If you are talking about the Brünig pass railway from Luzern to Interlaken. That is neither on the direct (fastest) route from Zürich to Interlaken, nor on the direct route from Basel to Interlaken. In both cases it is a detour, but if you go on to Zürich it is even more of a double back.
Look at the map of the Swiss rail network here: https://www.swisspasses.com/railpass/overviewmap_en.pdf
Your train gets to Basel about 1 hour before it reaches Zürich, and in both cases (Interlaken or Luzern) you save time (about 1 hour) and money going direct from Basel.
Basel --> Luzern --> Interlaken is not the quickest route (the quickest route is via Bern), but (surprisingly) does not cost more (CHF 67.60).
You can look up times and prices for all these options on www.sbb.ch

It sounds like you want to take the Golden Pass Express? You should read up some more on that and figure out which version of the express you want/need.

Hi.

I will arrive on the 5th, will do wengen by taking a train up and hike down and then explore L area. On the second day, will do murren, same thing, take the train up and hike down.

If i alight at basel and take train to L, will i still have the Lake Sanersee view?

Hi Phred, anything that could save time or money or both. Considering im having only 1.5 days in L.

movexz, if you mean Sarnersee, that is the lake near the town of Sarnen. You can see it on the map I posted. It is on the Brünig pass route between Luzern and Interlaken.
As I said in the previous post, it is not on the fastest route from Basel to Interlaken. Neither is it on the fastest route from Zürich to Interlaken. You have to detour and take the slower route via Luzern.
You really need to print out a map and work out where all these places are, or your will be zig-zaging back and forth and wasting time.
The Golden Pass Express is an up-market tourist train which also traverses the Brünig pass route. The view is the same whether you take the Golden Pass Express or just one of the normal hourly trains.

Sure. I will printout the map and see which route and ill ask for advice again

As you return from Lauterbrunnen toward Zurich and Munich, you can take the Bruenig Pass route to Luzern. It is not really out of the way, although it is longer timewise with the climb over the pass.
Do you have your train ticket to Munich booked yet?

If your budget is tight, you can get Supersaver tickets on line. I see Basel-Lauterbrunnen for 40.60 rather than the 67.60 standard price. And I see Lauterbrunnen-Zurich via Luzern for 34.60 rather than 57.60 standard price. The catch (there always has to be one) is that you must buy the tickets now on line and they are totally unchangeable and nonrefundable. Miss your train and throw them away and buy a full fare ticket.

Arriving on the CNL at Basel, I would suggest picking a late afternoon departure. Night trains do run late sometimes and you will not have a sympathetic ear if you miss a tight connection. The tickets are not linked in any way. So take a morning stroll in Basel before heading to Lauterbrunnen to give yourself plenty of cushion if the CNL arrives late.

Here is the link to buy supersaver tickets.
https://www.sbb.ch/ticketshop/b2c/adw.do?sprache=en&artikelnummer=4004&WT.ac=sparbillette-11-en

Hi Sam,

Yes. The tickets is already booked and paid on the 7th from Lauterbrunnen to Munich.

As for on the 4th April, it is a direct night train to Zurich that cost me 98Euro for 2 from Praha hn.l.

Its a 14hrs journey with sleeper bed. Never took thia kind of train before but i think its a direct train right? Am i able to alight at Basel?

So if you want to do the Zurich-Luzern-Interlaken-Lauterbrunnen, it is your trip. You can still get those Supersaver tickets, for 34.60 chf pp. Take the 11:04 or the 12:04 departures to protect yourselves from a late arrival.
Make sure you specify dep: Zurich, arr: Lauterbrunnen, via: Luzern to get the routing over the Bruenig pass.
To kill time, the Swiss National Museum across the street from the main Zurich station is worth a couple of hours if the history of Switzerland from the stone age to banking center interests you.

Yes yes! Thats better! Will book it, maybe i take the 11:04. I want to get to L as early as possible. By the way for this kind of ticket, can i hop and on, feels like to spend an hour in Lucerne instead of Zurich.

No, if you want to do that, just buy the 57.60 chf full fare ticket. Then you can hop on and off. The route via Luzern is about 10 chf cheaper than the fast route through Bern. You can buy that at Zurich station.
The idea of the Super saver is you are absolutely committed to a certain train routing.
You could get a Supersaver from Zurich to Luzern, then a Supersaver from Luzern to Lauterbrunnen, but once you buy the ticket (and they will not last forever, they will disappear as you get closer to your travel date), you must follow that exact train schedule. So it is a trade off, freedom to go as you please and pay full fare, or save money and stick to a preset schedule. Just like airlines.

Its okay then, not a priority. I would still get the supersaver tickets, would want to get to L as fast as possible.

The CNL train will stop at Basel right for alighting passengers?

There is no problem with getting off at Basel. Let the conductor know to get your breakfast croissant and coffee early and you'll be getting off at Basel.
And the train will stop at 2 stations in Basel, Basel Bad, and Basel SBB. You want the second one, Basel SBB.
Scheduled stop is at 7:20.

Then i should get a train supersaver ticket maybe around 9ish if theres any.

Just asking, do you think the view from Basel to Zurich abd Zurich to Interlaken is something that i can compromise on or should u just go to Zurich so that i can see the view?

Hard to say as beauty is in the eye of the beholder. If you went on a big detour to go over the Bruenig Pass, and it was totally fogged out, would you be disappointed? The peaks of the Berner Oberland will come into view on a clear day from the left side of the train shortly after Thun, if you decide to get off at Basel and go that route. That will be the way to go if, as you say, you want to get to L ASAP.

Hi Sam,

As mentioned, i will arrive Basel SBB at 0720 Do you think 0817 train to L (BASEL SBB - LAUTERBRUNNEN
via OLTEN - LUZERN - BRÜNIG - INTERLAKEN OST) is safe enough if let say CNL did not arrive on time?

Also i see, there are 2 change train and 3 change train.

One is Basel SBB-Luzern-Interlaken another one is Basel-SBB-Olten-Luzern-Interlaken

I reckon, the 2 change is better?

Also i checked it is cheaper to get to L from Zurich (ZÜRICH HB - LAUTERBRUNNEN
via LUZERN - BRÜNIG - INTERLAKEN OST) , costing 69.20CHF for 2 (compared to from Basel SBB which is 81.20CHF). If i take the train at 10.04 (CNL Schedule to arrive Zurich at 0905) will be arriving L at 13.25 . This way, not only i could see more, but also i pay cheaper.

Opinion please.

In the first case, take one of the single connection routes that leave at 59 min past the hour. 8:59 would be safer.
In the second case, that works, but I would take the 11:04 departure for extra safety factor. You probably will not be able to check in your lodging in Lauterbrunnen until after 15:00. So when you get off the CNL, if it is on time, relax, stretch your legs, have a nice breakfast. 14 hours is a long time to be on a train.
Make sure you have the correct date when you buy Supersaver tickets.

Thank you Sam.

Hi,

Need an opinion again,

Basel SBB - Interlaken OST for 60.00CHF . Spend a few hours in Interlaken and then take the 22min train to Lauterbrunnen for 7.50CHF. Is this good?

Also why is it Basel SBB to Lauterbrunnen is expensive by 13.70chf?

Hi, i have booked train tiket from Basel SBB to Interlaken OST at 0859hrs. If i am not tired will explore Interlaken for a few hours and take a train ticket to L for 7.50CHF per person.