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Train from Chur to Interlachen

What is the best way to go from Chur to Layterbrennan by train? Preferably, I'd like to travel on the Glacier Express.

Posted by
19275 posts

Well, you got Chur right, but the other town is Lauterbrunnen (loud fountains?). You could take the Glacier Express from Chur to Brig or Visp, then over the mountains to Spiez, then to Interlaken. However, you are going to have a hard time getting the German Rail or Swiss Rail websites to give you that route. The Glacier Express is not called the "slowest express train in the world" for nothing. It's very slow, so the websites will try to route you through Zurich and Bern instead of on the Glacier Express. It might also have something to do with the Glacier Express being a private line. You might have to book the Glacier Express from Chur to Visp separately and then Swiss Rail from Visp to Interlaken.

Posted by
32355 posts

William, One other point to note. There are two rail stations at Interlaken (East/Ost & West). You'll want to disembark at the Ost station, where you'll transfer to the small Berner Oberland local train for the short ride to Lauterbrunnen. Happy travels!

Posted by
19275 posts

But Swiss Rail will sell you a ticket online all the way to Lauterbrunnen (via Interlaken Ost).

Posted by
32355 posts

Lee, Good point! I wasn't sure how the OP was going to book his trip, so just thought I'd mention it. I'm planning to return to that area this year, so may have a few questions on booking online (something I don't usually do).

Posted by
6898 posts

You can easily see the Glacier Express run on the Swiss rail website www.rail.ch by typing in Chur on the From: line, Lauterbrunnen on the To: line and either Disentis or Andermatt on the Via: line. The Swiss site will then know your don't want to route via Zurich. If you put in 07:00 for the time, other runs on these same tracks will show first. Just choose "later" on the lower right until you see a run with the letter "D" under "Travel with". This is the Glacier Express. At this time of year, there only seems to be one run for the entire day. This run departs at 11:15. The run takes 4hr32min. I believe that there could be two runs in the summer. You can easily take any of the other runs since they are on the same tracks but you will change trains twice along the way if you do. But, Disentis and Andermatt are beautiful stops. When you arrive in Brig, you are actually arriving at Brig Bahnhofplatz which is where the cog train stops. You walk about 250 feet into the Brig train station and take the train from Brig to Lauterbrunnen. You will change trains at Spiez and at Interlaken Ost to the Jungfraubahn train (very scenic). Thus, you will be on 4 different trains for the this trip. The entire journey will take about 6.5hrs. Your entire trip will cost you about 59CHF ($63) plus you may pay an extra supplement on the Glacier Express (we did). You can see what I see on www.rail.ch (except for the supplement)