Drive or train to Muerren, Switzerland (from Germany)

Brandi,
You have lots of good questions and I only know the answers to some of them. I'm sure others on this site can provide more details. I took the train to Lauterbrunnen last summer with my wife, 5 year old and 2 year old. I know what you mean about the train transfers. It can be challenging dragging your kids and luggage to make a quick connection, and the connections in Switzerland are quick. But we did it successfully several times. I prefer the train to car, the kids like it and is less stressful for us than driving. My recollection of the transfer stations, places like Bern, Interlaken Ost, Lauterbrunnen, is that they all had nice ramps where you could roll your luggage (or stroller). If you arrived on track 5 and needed to get to track 7, you just had to roll your stuff down to the end of the track, roll under to #7, and then roll back up, no escalators. Also, if you miss the connection there is usually another train taking the same route in 20 or 30 minutes. Also the car park in Lauterbrunnen is big, I think it has plenty of spots if you decide to drive. Hope this helps. Mike

It should be fairly flat and not much mountains all the way to Interlaken from Germany. From there to Lanterbrunnen is a nice two lane road in the valley, no real hills to even mention. DB does run ICE trains all the way to Interlaken. But if you want to drive. You'll park your car in Lanterbrunnen and take the gondola up and then the small train over to Murren. They do help with luggage on both transports, but there will be steps, elevators, escalators and such. But there were people on wheelchairs, so its not all that tough. Murren itself is pretty flat, but anywhere else you want to walk, expect to have some hills. Hope you have good weather, its raining in Gimmelwald today.

The 9::11 and 11:11 train from Stuttgart only requires one change at Karlsruhe before you arrive in Interlaken Ost. 7 minutes to get onto the ICE from Berlin shouldn't be much of an ask for somebody with a little self-contained luggage but as Mike has said you can adjust your connections. If you are concerned about being able to make the ICE because of your stuff you could take the previous train from Stuttgart and have a cup of coffee while waiting. You'll probably want to have a few minutes in Interlaken Ost to get your mountain tickets and that will give you plenty of time to get onto the little train up to Lauterbrunnen. From Lauterbrunnen the car and the train are tied - the carpark and the train station both go over/under the street to the cable car up to Grutschalp. Parking at Lauterbrunnen is at a multi storey car park which can accept any sort of car. I haven't checked headroom but everything parks there and I wouldn't think you'd have much trouble parking. The spaces are not too small. They are certainly not free. I'd take the driving times from Google and ViaMichelin with a bit of pinch of salt. The shortest one routes you Zurich - Luzern - Brunig Pass and around the back of Brienzersee. My experience is that you will lose time getting the Vignette at the border, and even though Switzerland participates in Schengen they often take a few minutes at the border. Not always but probably 50-50 in my experience. Traffic around Zurich can be fun. Not to the extent of Stuttgart but fun. Luzern can also back up and you will be turning right in the middle of a tunnel complex. The route towards and over the Brunig Pass is very scenic and you may want to stop on one or more lookouts at the hairpins, of which there are several. Those hairpins can be quite slow too... The longer routes via Bern are predicted and are slower.

You can get the vignette at any ADAC office in the area. The one in Sindelfingen in Breuningerland is really helpful and speaks English.

Hi all. I guess I didn't make it exactly clear why I am hesitant of the train -my husband won't be with me on the trip which is why I was worried about transferring all of the baby stuff plus the baby from train to train by myself. Thank you all so much for the information. I still haven't decided yet, though!!!

I would drive. As you said traveling with a 4 month old is more like moving an army. It is an easy drive. You go through the mountains, not over them. Most times we have bought the vignette at the border crossing going into Switzerland but they are also available at gas stations near the border. Get a routing from viaMichelin and a GPS is always helpful but should not be needed fot this trip. There are two ways to get up to Murren from the Lauterbrunnen valley. If you go through Lauterbrunnen all the way down the valley to Stechelberg there is ample parking in the lot at the base station for the cable car. The parking for the cable car from Lauterbrunnen is not so handy. Traveling with a stroller and a bassinet will be somewhat of challenge at either place but I would leave you with two thoughts;
1) Take your time and if you miss a tram, there will be another one in 30 minutes and you can just take in the great scnenery while you wait. 2) It has been our experience that the people in the region are polite and helpful. I hope you have a great time. I'm sure you will want to go back again.

Here's another suggestion, if you're looking for a town high in the Swiss Alps- Flumserberg. It's closer to Stuttgart, and you can drive all the way up to your hotel. The last part of the drive involves a winding ascent high up the mountain, but it's any easy drive in the summer (different story in the winter...). A major advantage for your particular circumstance is that if you want to do some hiking with the stroller, you can take a ski gondola close to the summit, and from there, walk along miles of relatively flat, packed gravel trails. I've seen few areas in the Alps that offer such family-friendly hiking conditions.

tom, she is meeting up wiht friends form the US in Mürren, so Flumsenberg will not work unless she can convince them to change. Brandi, I love the Swiss trains but in your case I think the car works better, due to the hassle of transfering. And I suggest you follow Irv's suggestion and drive to the end of the valley and park at Stechelberg, taking the cablecar up from there. Here's why: the cablecar up from Lauterbrunnen takes you up to Grutschalp, where you would have to transfer again, to a train. It is a little old train that you board from ground level, no platforn, at least the last time we were there. So you have to ascend the steps. You might be able to put your baby gear in the luggage transporter they use, but you'll still have to manage the baby. The cablecar up from Stechelberg also has one transfer, at Gimmelwald, but it is a floor-level transfer from one cablecar to another. You could easily do it with the baby in a stroller. And why lug along the bassinet? You could ask your hotel in Mürren for a baby cot.