Hi, first time poster here... We're doing a number of train trips around Europe in June, and I wanted to find out the fastest way to get from Mürren to Munich. I figure we'll have to leave from Interlaken, but wanted to minimize the number of stops in between. Also, I am guessing there is no night train, so we'd like to take the first train out...sorry, I haven't seen timetables yet. One more thing, we planned on getting the five-country Eurail pass (6 travel days over 2 months), can we use this for the connection from Interlaken to Munich? Thanks in advance, we can't wait for our trip!
Posted by
washington
837 posts
Looks like Lauterburnnen to Munich is 7 to 8.5 hours, 3 to 6 changes. Many trains leaving so whatever time is convenient should work. Some of the transfer times will be very short, less than 10 minutes. No problem so long as you can easily carry all your luggage. Some changes will be across a platform; some will involve going down stairs, a few yards up a corridor, and up stairs to the correct platform. You can find arrival and departure platforms prior to trip so that you can plan your transfers. Swiss and German trains VERY efficient.
Posted by
Seattle, WA
17435 posts
The fastest trip and the one with fewest changes are different. From Interlaken Ost, you can go to Munich with a single change at karlsruhe, but that takes 30-40 minutes longer than th eroute with changes at Bern and Zurich. That one, departing INterlaken at 7:00 (you can get there from mürren in time) has you arrive in Munich at 13:29. The karlsruhe train leaves Interlaken Ost a bit later, and take a bit longer, so you arrive just after 15:00. As for the pass, each day on your proposed 6-day Select pass (saver) costs $93 ($556 divided by 6 days). You can buy discounted tickets in advance for less than that. I did not check the price on bahn.de, but on the Swiss rail site (www.rail.ch) they are 60 CHF for the Karlsruhe route, or 72 CHF for the Bern-Zurich route. Which brings up the question of how much good that 5-country pass will do you in Switzerland. The answer is "not much" if you are spending some of your time riding the high mountain lifts (like Jungfraujoch and Schilthorn). A Swiss pass or Half-Fare card will give you a better discount on those than the Eurail pass. So, depending on what the rest of your travel loooks like, you might do better with discounted P2P tickets and a Swiss pass or Half-Fare card. Or leave Switzerland and one or 2 days off you pass and use the money saved to buy the Half-Fare Card or a 3-day Flex Pass. It is not easy to figure out, and we give considerable attention to convenience, so we like the Flex Pass. But if you are going up the Jungfraujoch, the Half-Fare Card will almost pay for itself on that trip alone.
Posted by
OP
New Orleans, LA, United States
22 posts
Thanks for all the advice! We're also doing France, Germany, Austria and Italy, so debating between Eurail pass and individual tickets. Thanks once again!
Posted by
Lake Forest, CA, USA
1633 posts
In deciding on whether or not to get a railpass, you need to be aware that many trains in Italy require seat reservations. The seats can be reserved once you arrive in Europe and will cost you additional Euros. When checking train schedules online, a circled R means compulsory reservation. If you board the train without reserved seats, you will be fined by the conductor. You can check and print off train schedules for your trip using the DBahn site: http://bahn.hafas.de/bin/query.exe/en