My husband and I will be travelling for 33 days throughout the South of Germany along with Switzerland from Canada in September/October of this year. We are avid fans of Rick Steves and have used his books on 3 previous Europe trips. His tips have saved us a lot of time and money. We have rented a car for the entire time because we enjoy the freedom of having it and it was very reasonable. We will be spending 3 nights in Gimmelwald at Esther's Guesthouse but I am having a difficult time finding out exactly what we need in terms of lift tickets while staying. We will be parking our car at Stechelberg and need to get to the guesthouse to drop our luggage and check in. We plan to go up to the Schilthorn and Jungfrau on 2 separate days along with checking out some of the other towns and hikes. Am I right in thinking the 4 day Berner Oberland Regional Pass is our best option? I've been on the website and can't seem to find if that will cover us completely for our entire stay or if there are other added lifts. I'm trying to make sure I budget the amounts correctly. Any help would be greatly appreciated!!!!
Thanks!
Posted by
Nederland, CO
1530 posts
Everyone struggles with figuring out what the best option is for paying for transport in this area. The only way to know for sure is by doing the math. Some will create a spreadsheet for this. If I had to guess I would say since you are doing both the Jungfrau and the Schilthorn then the regional pass may be your best option, but note that the last legs of both of those trips are only covered 50%. With only 3 days there I personally would pick one or the other. IMHO the Jungfrau is totally over rated, and usually packed with many tourists. I think the trip up to Klein Schedegg then down to Grindlewald and up to the top of First is a much more fun / beautiful experience, and is completely covered by the regional pass. I recommend doing this by taking the gondola up from Wengen, then take the easy hike to Klein Scheidegg, train to Grindlewald then the lift to First. It's a really wonderful day!
Weather is the other problem you might run into doing this in the fall. I don't know where you have your Switzerland portion of your trip in your itinerary, but if it were me I would go there first hoping for the chances of best weather!
Posted by
Green Bay
21153 posts
There is a map of validity at http://www.regionalpass-berneroberland.ch/en/pass-and-infos/area-of-validity/
50% discount on the Schilthornbahn above Muerren, 25% discount on the Jungfraujochbahn above Kleine Scheidegg.
Posted by
Seattle, WA
17429 posts
I completely agree with Jill's comment about the Jungfrau ( highly overrated) and her suggestion for a nice transit over Manlichen and Kleine Schedegg, down to Grindelwald, and the gondola up to First. Walk out to the Bachalpsee for a classic view---Alps reflected in the lake if it is calm.
The ride up the Jungfrau, after Kleine Scheidegg, takes you into a tunnel through the Eiger. They stop once for you to look out the "windows" in the rock, but otherwise there are no views for 45 minutes. And the trains are generally very crowded. You arrive inside a building, and then can go outside to walk on the snow. That may be a great for people from Australia or Singapore where there is no snow, but as a BC resident you are probably not a stranger to snowy peaks, especially if you ski.
The ice palace carved inside the glacier is kind of cool, but the rest of it? Not worth the cost, IMHO.
Posted by
Knoxville, TN, USA
7209 posts
I agree the Jungfrau is probably a little overrated and PACKED with tourists. However, if you've never been there and you really want to go - then by all means go see it.
IF you choose to do the Jungfrau trip then the Swiss Half Fare Card will give you the biggest savings on that expensive trip - 50%. That savings alone practically pays for the purchase of the HFC and all of your other travels all over Switzerland are also discounted 50%.
Posted by
www
20 posts
as Jill says need to do the math, even the Swiss make spreadsheets since they dont all have half price cards. Look into the sbb website for swiss passes for around Swiss, they give you some discount on the mountain rails like Jungfrau.
I have been up the Jungfrau about 6 times with visitors, never is a trip the same!. Always there is something new to see. We stay regularly in LAuterbrunnen and when we decide to research a day trip to somewhere else, we can"t ever find something as beautiful as the Jungfrau region! DO you Geocache? that is also a lot of fun in this region as well as worldwide and takes you to a lot of fun places and trails you would never have found otherwise.
Take a walk to the Monch hut, take the zip line, the ice cave, look on their website for a start, there is far more than Dogeared has said. Also spend an hour or more at Kleine Scheidegg on you way back and take some walks, you can get to the top of the Lauberhorn, start of the world cup, in about an hour. Also get off the train for a few hours in Wengen to enjoy this postcard town and walk to the church on the point for a quiet romantic view of the Lauterbrunnen valley.
Be on the train in Lauterbrunnen by 7am to make the most of your day so that you can hike as well. unlike what Edward inferred.
There is LOADS in the Bernese Oberland area to do - a week itself is not enough in Lauterbrunnen/Wengen. So many special places to experience and enjoy. It is THE most special place in Switzerland. Other sites just do not compare.
Check with Stechelberg accommodation if you need to pay for parking there. Then take the cable car from the cShilhorn station just down the road from Stechleberg up to first stop Ginnelwald.
I also think both say at Schilthorn and Jungfrau are both worth it. There are new activities at Birg - glass walk and the Bond museum at Schilthorn has been re vamped. Lovely walk down to Birg, swim in the lake there - fantastic, 'wet edge'view....easy walk down to Murren & Gibmmelwald. Check with Tourism office in Murren in sports centre for their free trips like to the beautiful waterfalls where you stand under cascades & no one knows about them!
https://mymuerren.ch/de/sommer/
https://mymuerren.ch/de/sommer/see-and-do/#category157
need some more ideas ? please ask, happy to share my passion for this jewel of Switzerland