[Removed user]

31 January 2017 at 22:35:54 #810704

Our family is planning a trip and will be in Switzerland (Interlaken, Grindelwald, Zurich) area for 3 days. We are planning on/hoping to doi Jungfraujoch (top of Europe); First (First flyer/mountain cart/trottibike scooter). Other than that we are not sure. We have a rental car as we will be coming from another area. What we are wondering is if we need to purchase a rail pass and if so, which one…..it is way confusing!

Thanks!

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[Arno]

1 February 2017 at 12:43:10 #858605

Hi Yankees,

Welcome to MySwissAlps! To be 100% sure about the best rail pass it helps to have a (tentative) list of what you are planning to do during your stay in Switzerland. Which a list of day trips you can do the math as explained here. However, you mentioned Jungfraujoch, which by itself is almost enough to break even on the purchase of a Swiss Half Fare Card. The Swiss Half Fare Card is option preferred by most drivers as it will save you money even if you don’t do the longer town to town transfers by train.

In summer, there are also regional passes like the Regional-Pass Bernese Oberland and the Jungfrau Travel Pass. These work very well if you travel a bit more: i.e. keeping the car parked and take the trains for all your day trips (recommended).

By the way, I’m not sure if you have planned to stay in both Interlaken and Grindelwald, but I’d recommend to pick one of them, not both.

I hope this was sueful!

[Removed user]

1 February 2017 at 15:58:39 #858606

Thanks for information. We are planning on Jungfrau, and Grindelwald/First and also some time in Interlaken. Don’t think we will have much time for anything else as we will only actually be there for 2 full days. We are flying out of Zurich. Does the Jungfrau Travel Pass cover transportation to Zurich? Wondering this, as if it does, we can drop off rental car earlier and save some cash there!! If not, where would we find information on train tickets from Interlaken to Zurich and costs? If it is cheaper to take the train, than to keep the car, we may do that. Any $$ saved, can be spent elsewhere…right???

[Arno]

1 February 2017 at 19:36:15 #858607

Hi Yankees,

The pass pages I linked to include maps of what is covered, so you can best have a look there for the details. The Jungfrau Travel Pass is for the Jungfrau region only. The Swiss Half Fare Card covers the entire country, including Zurich. That card could be a good option even without a rental car. A car isn’t really an advantage in Switzerland, often even a disadvantage. The Jungfrau region is largely car free, so for your day trips it won’t be required anyway. This page might be of interest: myswissalps.com/ carversustrain.

Note that if you have children under 16 they will travel for free if the parents have Swiss Half Fare Cards, or Swiss Travel Passes for example. The first link in my previous post helps to compare prices of all options in detail.

[Slowpoke]

2 February 2017 at 22:47:43 #858608

Hi Yankees-

What time of year?

First may not be accessible because the lift does not run all year round. And, seasonal weather really affects the mountain destinations.

Slowpoke

[Removed user]

3 February 2017 at 16:09:05 #858609

We are heading there in August

[Slowpoke]

3 February 2017 at 16:28:36 #858610

<<“We are heading there in August”>>

That is “high season.” All services will be operating.

There will be a lot of tourists there; a lot of vacation periods are scheduled in August in Europe. You may still run into cloudy days, but , since the weather can change quickly, it will be good to keep track via your hotel, the train station staff, or the tourist office. The weather comes in layers….could be cloudy in the valleys and clear up top, for example.

It seems that you have some pretty clear idea of what you plan to do. However, you might consider one quite special and rather easy walk. It is the trail from Männlichen to Kleine Scheidegg (in that direction). Easily accessible from Grindelwald.

http://www.myswissalps.com/hi king/maennlichen-kleinescheidegg

Slowpoke

[Removed user]

3 February 2017 at 21:09:10 #858611

So – now the question for anyone out there……

About how long or how much of a day does the trip from Grindelwald to Jungfraujoch (top of the world) take? We would also like to do the First Cliff Walk . We are also considering doing the First Flyer (zipline), mountain carts and trottibikes and did not know if this was a whole other day or if one or two or all three are easily done in a day? Any thoughts or help on this would be much appreciated.

Looking at things and railways, it looks like we would take the Grindelwald Gondola to First to do the First Cliff Walk, but is that the same way to get to the First Flyer/Mountain Carts/Trottibikes Adventure?

It also looks like you take the rail from Grindelwald to Jungfraujoch – is this correct?

Sorry for all the questions, but want to make sure I am looking at things correctly. Thanks in advance for any help!!!!!

[Arno]

3 February 2017 at 21:32:59 #858612

Hi Yankees,

You’ll find all Jungfraujoch details including a route description and map on the page I linked to before. This takes half a day at least.

As for First: you’ll first take the gondola from First all the way up and explore the Cliff Walk. On your way down you’ll use the other modes of transport. I believe it the zipline to Schreckfeld comes first (short bus fast ride). Then the carts further down to Bort and finally the bikes down to Grindelwald. Half a day should be sufficient if everything is operational.

[Slowpoke]

3 February 2017 at 21:48:41 #858613

Hi Yankees:

All good questions. Keep them coming.

Here is a start.

The timetable will help a lot on journey times:

http://www.myswissalps.com/ti metable

Please make sure to read the instruction page.

Combine it with this map and you can get an appreciation for the geography:

map.search.ch/index.en .html

Zoom in and you can see the rail lines and the cableways:

map.search.ch/.en.html ?pos=645684,163752&z=12 8&poi=default

The menus let you display transport stops – Points of Interest/Traffic

You take the cograil from Grindelwald Grund to Kleine Scheidegg, then transfer to go up to Jungfraujoch.

Don’t buy tickets until close to departure day, because of weather changeability. Night before is OK.

Do Jungfrau in the morning. You areles likely have clouds that block the views. They tend to get thicker in the afternoon.

For details about specific locations, try a search on My Swiss Alps. It won’t always work, but many people have asked the same questions, and the answers are often available in the threads posted. for answers.

Here is something I found by searching for “First”. Not a complete answer…

http://www.myswissalps.com/fo rum/topic/cost-of-cable-car-ride-to-and-from-first-flyer

Search for Jungfrau and you can get:

http://www.myswissalps.com/ju ngfraujoch

That will help you understand how much time would be involved in that trip and what you can do there.

Slowpoke