Is a 1-day trip to Interlaken/Grindelwald-First possible from Lucerne?
A family of four is visiting Lucerne from June 10-14 and wants to take a day trip to Interlaken and Grindelwald, focusing on the cliff walk and moderate hike to Lake Bachalpsee. They’re looking for advice on train schedules, suitable rail passes, and logistics for making this day trip work.
- Take the Luzern-Interlaken Express to Interlaken Ost, then switch to a local train to Grindelwald village; plan for about 3.5 hours of travel.
- Consider getting the Swiss Travel Pass for best value on public transport and discounts, especially since your teenage boys can travel free with a Swiss Family Card if they are under 16.
- Make sure to leave Grindelwald by 19:17 to catch the last train back to Lucerne at 20:04.
AI-generated summary-
Family of four who will be in Lucerne June 10-14. We would like to take a day trip to Interlaken and Gridelwald to Mt. First. We would like to do cliff walk and some of the activities, along with a moderate hike to Lake Bachalpsee. Is this possible in one day? What trains should we take, what rail pass and can you offer advice on booking and logistics? Thank you!
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Also wondering if we need a guide? Traveling with teenage boys, not little ones so we can endure long days.
Hello Christina
Welcome to MySwissAlps
Great to see that you are staying in my favourite Swiss city, Lucerne. I first stayed there back in 1971! It is a wonderful centre for exploring almost the whole of Switzerland.
Trip to Grindelwald
From Lucerne to the to the top of the FIRST cable car will take around three hours and 30 minutes. You take the Luzern-Interlaken Express to Interlaken Ost, and change there to a local train for Grindelwald VILLAGE. Do NOT get off at the (misnamed) Grindelwald Terminal station.
Walk up the main street in Grindelwald village, and the bottom station for the long cable car up to FIRST is on the left.
Public Transport Passes
The regional pass for Central Switzerland is the ‘Tell Pass’. This pass would take you to Interlaken Ost. From there you would have to pay full fares on the local train and the cable car.
https://www.myswissalps.com/travel-ticket/tell-pass-summer/
The Case for Investing in Swiss Travel Passes
The STP gives you the freedom of the world’s best public transport system. Only high mountain lines are excluded from its scope. If you are staying in the Lucerne area there are two additional reasons for investing in STPs.
The first is the central location of the city, with through trains to places as far away as Locarno and Lugano, Geneva, and St Gallen in the north-east of the country.
Secondly, and by way of exception to the general rule, there are a number of high mountain lines in the Lucerne are which ARE FREE with the STP, notably the lines up the Rigi and the Stanserhorn.
https://www.myswissalps.com/travel-ticket/swiss-travel-pass/
The Teenage Boys
If they are under 16, get a Swiss Family Card to go with the parents’ STP. This family card is FREE. And, if you have the SFC, the boys when travelling with you will go FREE on all Swiss public transport including the high mountain lines.
If they are over 16 at the date of travel, you should invest in the (cheaper) ‘Youth’ version of the STP.
STP and the trip to Grindelwald First
The STP (and SFC for an under-16) will give you free travel to Grindelwald village.
For the cable car up to FIRST the STP will give you a 50% discount for everybody over 16. An under 16 will go free with the Swiss Family Card.
(In response to your ‘guide’ point you do not need a human guide!)Kind regards
Roger
Hi Christina,
In addition to Roger’s useful information, you can find further details on how to get to Grindelwald First with public transport here: https://www.myswissalps.com/activity/grindelwald-first/
Information about the trail from First to Bachalpsee is available here: https://www.myswissalps.com/blog/hike-bachsee/
Regards,
Anna
Thank you! Do you know when the last train leaves Interlaken back to Lucerne for the day? Or where I can go to find this information? We would like to maximize the day trip as much as possible.
Hello again Christina
Schedules for all Swiss public transport (not just the trains) can be found at https://www.myswissalps.com/travel/public-transport/timetable/
Details of the various public transport passes which I referred to in my previous reply are on this website: https://www.myswissalps.com/travel/tickets/
For the record, the first train from Lucerne to Interlaken Ost is at 06 06 and it gets to Interlaken at 07 54. After that the trains are every hour at 06 past the hour.
Trains Back from Interlaken (and Grindelwald) Trains back from Interlaken Ost are at 04 past each hour. The last through train is at 20 04 (Arrive Lucerne 21 55). To catch the 20 04 you would need to leave Grindelwald (village station) at 19 17 ( 7 17 pm).
Very best wishes
Roger
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