Transit Pass ? for Berner Oberland

I don't claim extensive knowledge in any particular area, but Muerren has definitely been my stomping ground for several trips. We just took 14 high schoolers there last June, and they loved it. We all piled into the Chalet Fontana and had a marvelous time...all 20 of us!

Hey there John,

I was just in the region this past summer - I was in Interlaken, Lauterbrunnen, and I stayed in Gimmelwald as well. I travelled on a EuRail pass instead of a SwissRail pass, but I am familiar with the gondola service in the area so I can help with that.

The train from Interlaken to Lauterbrunnen is on a private rail line so it is not included with any pass, but you do get a discount for having any kind of pass (EuRail or SwissRail). With my EuRail pass it was still only about $5 one-way. Once in Lauterbrunnen, you need to take a bus to get out to Stechelberg where the gondola is (the walk is a little too far to be done reasonably, in my opinion). This again you need to pay for and there is no discount based on the pass that you have.

The real discounts here come from the gondola up the Schilthorn, with a discount for a EuRail pass and a bigger discount for a SwissRail pass. The passes will get you a discount on everything from gondola travel just up to Gimmelwald, to the top of the Schilthorn, to even taking a bicycle with you up the gondola. With a EuRail pass, you get about half off whereas with a SwissRail pass, you get more than half off! Some of the tarifs for the gondola are at http://www.schilthorn.ch/en/timetable-tariffs/

I guess at this point I should be asking if you are going to be travelling anywhere else in Europe that you will be getting a EuRail pass for? If you are looking at getting a European rail pass, I would strongly advise you look at just including Switzerland instead of buying a separate one for Switzerland. Let us know what your plan is and we will try to go from there.

By the way, while you are in the area, make sure you see the Trummelbach falls!

Hey Steven, sorry to disagree, but I've been to this area many times and the train from Interlaken to Lauterbrunnen is indeed covered 100% by Swiss Pass. Actually it's 100% covered all the through Lauterbrunnen on to Stechelberg. Also covers up to Gimmelwald and Muerren on one side and all the way up to Wengen on the other side.

Swiss Pass is a wonderful thing.

I am sorry to have been misleading. I re-read the Schilthorn website and on http://www.schilthorn.ch/?uid=29 it appears to indicate that it is indeed free to take the gondola up to Murren. Not too clear on there, but fortunately we had a more knowledgable person to correct me!

John,

My wife and I spent 3 nights in Lauterbrunnen and did all the sights in your itinerary. We used the Swiss Card and saved a lot of $$. We flew into Zurich, stayed in Lauterbrunnen 3 nights and then took the train out through Basel Bad on our way to Rothenburg. The Swiss card gives you one inbound trip from any airport or border station and one outbound trip to any airport or border station within one month. In addition, it gives you 50% discounts on all swiss railways, postal buses and high mountain lifts for $159 2nd class.

This definitely saved us a couple hundred dollars as we went up to both the Schilthorn and Jungfrau and they are expensive! Everything we used in the valley transportation-wise was 50% off. For our outbound trip, we had bought a ticket from Basel Bad to Rothenburg via DB website and used the Swiss Card from Lauterbrunnen to Basel Bad. No problems using it at all. You could probably just buy your ticket from the border station to Amsterdam.

For the day you do Jungfrau I highly recommend the hike in Rick's book from Mannlichen to Kleine Scheidegg. We got up early, did that hike (about 2 hours) and then took the train up from Kleine Scheidegg to Jungfraujoch. The scenery on the hike was spectacular (make sure you go up to the lookout that Rick talks about).

Have a great trip!

Steven,

The stop in the Berner Oberland will be only part of a much longer first time European experience. I will be purchasing some form of EUrail Pass.

My questions would be whether purchasing a Swiss pass would be more cost effective for the regional discounts than just the discount for the Eurail pass.
I know that many of the trains, lifts and funiculars in the area are private and aren't inluded on any passes, and some give a disount( a higher one for Siss pass in some incarnation).

I am planning on:
1)using the lift to Gimmelwald/ Murren several times (hiking and eating at a restaurant in Murren)
2) going up the Schilthorn for morning

breakfast
3) doing the bike circle route including Murren/Gimmelwald/Trummelbach Falls/ Lauterbrunnen/ back to Murren
4) one full day on the Wengen/ Klein Scheidegg/ Jungfrau side of the Lauterbrunnen Valley

I will arrive via night train from Paris in Interlaken and depart via night train to Amsterdam.

I will most likely arrive day 1 in am, spend day 2 in Berner, day 3 in Berner and leave in pm via night train. I may add an additional day if I just can't get enough of the Alps.

Any suggestiona or info on prices and discounts with the Eurail or Swiss Pass would be much appreciated.

John

John,

On the Rick Steves Railpasses tab you can see the comparison of pass discounts. Go here:

http://www.ricksteves.com/rail/ausswitz.htm

Scroll down toward the bottom. Many will say (me included) to check the point to point cost of all your tickets and compare that to the price of a pass, especially a multi-country one. You can often find the savings with point to point to be considerable. It's a lot more work to compare, but can save lots of money!

Looking at the link you see that you only get a 25% discount past Interlaken, but you don't get a discount to the Schilthorn. Compare the costs of all the different options to see what works best.
If you do have a rail pass you can always not include Switzerland in it and buy one of the Swiss passes to take advantage of the discounts they offer on the high mountain trains and lifts.

Hi John, we we're in Berner Oberland in last september.
I suggest you buy a 4 day swiss pass, even better if you are with someone a 4 day swiss saver pass (but you have to travel together at all times.) the swiss pass will cover all your train travels from your entry in Switzerland all the way to Murren for no extra charge, lifts included and as many times you want per day. Then it will save you 50% on the Jungfrau, and Schilthorn train rides. This alone will save you hundreds of dollars. For the Jungfrau and Schilthorn go only if it is a nice day, they have web cam at most of the train stations. I agree with Steven's suggestion about Trummelbach falls it is a nice place to see and it is not to far of a walk from Stechelberg. I loved Gimmelwald, i tought it was a lovely village, but I would not spend 3-4 nights there, i prefer Launterbrunnen or Murren, since there is more restaurants/shops etc. You will have a super trip! enjoy!

"swiss saver pass (but you have to travel together at all times.)"

Well actually you don't HAVE to be together traveling at all times. One traveller can take the train while the other stays in the hotel. The ticket still works for the traveler on the train even though the companion is not there. There is only 1 paper ticket pass which has the names of ALL the travelers on it. Whoever has the pass in their hand can go wherever they want. But you don't "HAVE" to be together to travel.

tim thanks for the info, i read that from this website/railpass/switzerland, ¨Available for 2 to 5 people traveling together at all times¨ it was not a issue for us, since we always travelled together.

John, Steven above is basing his comments on his experience with a Eurail pass. A Eurail pass in Switzerland is not as good as a Swiss pass in the Berner Oberland. It only provides 25% inside the valley and it's not good on the bus to Stechelberg. Here's the scoop on alternatives. 1) A full Swiss pass is great if you are staying for longer periods. They will cover all bus, train and gondala fares throughout Switzerland, into the Lauterbrunnen Valley and up to Wengen, Gimmelwald and Muerren. Even Grindelwald if you go up from Interlaken. For the train to the Jungfraujoch and gondola to the Schilthorn, the Swiss pass provides a 50% discount. A Eurail pass only provides a 25% discount to the mountain tops. This is described on their website.

What we purchased was a Swiss 1/2 fare card. It costs 99CHF and is good for 30 days. Public trains throughout Switzerland are 1/2 fare. Gondolas and trains to the mountain tops are 1/2 fare. CLICK HERE for the scoop on 1/2 fare cards. Note that the full fare to the Jungfraujoch is 181.80CHF ($156) and full fare to the Schilthorn is 91.80CHF ($79). Since you are going to both, the 1/2 fare card pays for itself. It also covered half our fare from Lauterbrunnen to Zurich. A great value.

The pass that Jed mentioned is a special Swiss pass from an airport location to one location in the country. It's for traveler's who will only be in one general location and not touring the country. It's really a round-trip ticket for the two locations. It's not as useful overall as the 1/2 fare card.

Larry,

Not completely true. The Swiss card is valid from an airport OR a border station and then for a journey out of the country to an airport or border station. It also includes 50% off of rail and other travel within your entry/exit dates and is good for a month. Here's the info from Rick's railpass link.

"The Swiss Card includes one roundtrip within a month as above, plus 50% discounts between those two trips on all Swiss railways, lake steamers, postal buses, and high mountain lifts for $222 in first class or $159 in second class."

For our trip it was more economical than the 1/2 fare card as our roundtrip tickets cost almost the same as our card ($150 at the time I think) and were completely covered by the Swiss Card (we didn't have to pay more like with the 1/2 fare card). With the 1/2 fare card we would have had to pay the 99CHF, plus 1/2 the fare ($75), so it was cheaper to use. We got the 50% off all the transport in the Lauterbrunnen Valley in between our travel legs into and out of the country. Similar to what John is doing, that's why I recommended it.

Best if he prices out what the cost (on the Swiss Rail site) would be from the border entry to Gimmelwald and then out of the country when he leaves to see which makes more sense. Definitely one of the Swiss options will save him more money if he plans to go up to the Schilthorn or Jungfraujoch.

Hi all,

Is there a URL which shows which are the border stations?

I'll be travelling into Switzerland from Venice.

My destinations in Switzerland will be Interlaken, Murren, Lauterbrunnen, Gimmelwald and a rail ride to Jungfraujoch