Visit Jungfraujoch from Luzern and trip to Paris

Hi,

I am Mitesh and I am travelling to Switzerland for 9 days from the 30th of June till the 9th of July with my family, children 13 and 9 years old. I have booked a chalet in Luzern for 9 days. During our stay we want to see as many places as possible.

My question is can I visit Interlaken and Jungfraujoch in a day trip from Luzern or should I check out from Luzern and stay at Interlaken for the last two days as we will be going to Paris later.

Also would appreciate if you could help me with my travel to Paris from Luzern or Interlaken.

Thanks and regards

Mitesh

Hi,

If you want to visit the Jungfrau, I'd recommend staying as close to it as possible and taking an early train and not plan on doing anything else on that day. Grindelwald is a more convenient base for this than Interlaken, you can take the train from Grund to Kleine Scheidegg which will save you a lot of time compared with starting out from Interlaken. The altitude at the Jungfraujoch can be very tiring for children (and adults) so having a shorter trip back to your hotel will be a bonus.

Grindelwald has a some neat things on offer to entertain the Kids. There's Mini Golf in the village, the Rodelbahn (Toboggan track) at Pfingstegg and big scooters called Trotti Bikes that you can hire and ride downhill from Grosse Scheidegg, visiting the Alpine Bird Sanctuary on the way down.

Have a great Trip.

Sorry, I didn't quite answer your question. It's not really doable to go from Luzern to the Jungfrau and back in a day

Hi Allan-

<<" It's not really doable to go from Luzern to the Jungfrau and back in a day">>

I disagree.

Not that I recommend it.

See attached -

and- actually, it is possible to start at 0456 or 0605..all you have to do is get up early.....;-(

Slowpoke

Interlaken to Grindelwald is only 35 minutes by train. You can also stay in a hotel in Interlaken.

Also possible:: Interlaken>Lauterbrunnen>Wengen>Kleine Scheidegg>Jungfrau> Kleine Scheidegg>Grindelwald> Interlaken.

I know technically it's possible, but it would be a very long day and probably not that much fun with children. I guess I'm only looking at it from my point of view. When I'm on holidays, I like to leave as much stress behind as I can, slow down and enjoy the view.

Thank you Allan,I agree with you being on a holiday I would like to keep the stress behind and travel at a leisurely pace and specially with children it's not possible to take the early morning trains.Its a good idea to move to Interlaken for the second part of the journey .

Hi Brahms that makes sense .

Hi Slowpoke ,Thank you for the train time table like you said it's doable but stressful and even I would not like to get so early :( being on a vacation .I think staying somewhere close in Interlaken for a couple of days is a better option,so as to enjoy that part of Switzerland as well :)

Hi Mitesh -

<<"I agree with you being on a holiday I would like to keep the stress behind and travel at a leisurely pace and specially with children it's not possible to take the early morning trains.">>

Certainly. I completely agree with you and Alan. You'll note that I did not recommend it. ;-).

In fact, it has been many years since I was willing to get up to catch an early train. Probably, if you did take an early one, you would fall asleep on the train and miss some very nice scenery between Luzern and the Interlaken area..

My main point was for you to learn to make use of the timetable. Please read about it in the My Swiss Alps link....

www.myswissalps.com/ti metable

In it, there is a tremendous amount of useful information about travel in Switzerland. The timetable defaults to the fastest route, so sometimes you have to enter an intermediate point on the slower, scenic routes to force the timetable to display them.

This map will help you visualize the parts of your journey(s) that are in Switzerland:

map.search.ch/

Under the menu item "Points of Interest/ Traffic" you can force the map to display the stations for public transport. You will wish to zoom in when you do that, or else the map will be invisible beneath a multitude of blue spots. ;-)

Also, if you zoom in, you can see the rail lines.

The timetable will get you from Interlaken (or nearby) to Paris, also. The trains at xx30 from Interlaken Ost have only one change of train, at Basel. If you expand the journeys by clicking on the "+" sign to the left of a journey, you will get the list of train changes, and the times allowed. At Basel, you will have 5 minutes.

That seems like it might be difficult....but the trains routinely enter Basel on track #6 and depart on track #5. Those are on two sides of the same platform. Even with luggage, that time is possible.

You can see that on a station map. The SBB website has so-called "Trafimage" plans of major stations. Here is Basel.

plans.trafimage.ch/bas el-sbb?lang=en&WT.ac=textimag eteaser-trafimage-basel#?layer=basel_innenplan& x=611397&y=266318&r=0. 13

Also, if you expand a journey in the timetable by clicking on the "+" you can access a map of the route by looking in the footnotes that appear.

Where to stay near Interlaken:

Interlaken Ost is the major connection point for trains between the Jungfrau region and the rest of the world.

Interlaken has few tourist attractions of its own. If you plan muliple journeys with a town in the rgion as a base, Interlaken is a good choice.

However, for a real feeling of the Swiss Alps, it is better to stay south of Interlaken in one of the key mountain towns -

Lauterbrunnen (in the Valley), or Wengen, Grindelwald, or Mürren - which are higher, and/or have better views.

Look at -

www.myswissalps.com/ju ngfrauregion

and-

www.myswissalps.com/be rneseoberland

If you are interested in details, this report will give you lots of them:

www.myswissalps.com/fo rum/topic/tips-about-wengen-and-the-jungfrau-region-by-kim

You are arriving at the start of the busy summer season.

Slowpoke

Hi Slowpoke,

Yes you did mention that doing the one day travel was a bit hectic .

Thank you for the details and the travel time table as well ,that could be very useful .

Cheers !Mitesh

Hi Mitesh,

We did Luzern - Jungfrau in a single day last week (28/05/2016). We are a family of 4 with 2 kids 16 and 13 Most laid back people. We took the 10.10 a.m train from Luzern to Interlaken OST and reached at 11.55. .We went up thro' Lauterbrunnen and came down via Grindelwald back to Interlaken OST and took the connection to Luzern. We had good/clear visibility and the boys had a wonderful time with the skies.

Children will enjoy the trip as we move from one railway to another. The sights on both sides are breathtaking too. No platform change or running around and hence quite comfortable journey. With Swizz travel pass only adults pay and children under 16 travel free with Swiss family card.

Have a great vacation !!!!!

I stand corrected. A fantastic day!

Hi Subaark-

<<"We did Luzern - Jungfrau in a single day last week (28/05/2016). We are a family of 4 with 2 kids 16 and 13 Most laid back people. We took the 10.10 a.m train from Luzern to Interlaken OST and reached at 11.55. We went up thro' Lauterbrunnen and came down via Grindelwald back to Interlaken OST and took the connection to Luzern. We had good/clear visibility and the boys had a wonderful time with the skies.">>

It would help to understand the details better if you filled in a few other data.

After you got to Interlaken Ost at 1155, how long did it take to get to Jungfraujoch? Did you eat along the way? What time did you arrive at the top?

How much time did you take to explore and enjoy the activities that you mentioned? When did you leave, did you spend time in Wengen on the way back down, and when did you reach Luzern on your return?

Thanks for any such details as you can provide. They will help give a better picture of the complete experience.

By the way, you must have reached Jungfraujoch in the afternoon. Conventional advice is that clouds may start to obscure the views as the day progresses. Were you lucky enough to have clear visibility in the afternoon?

Slowpoke

Hi Subaark,

Thank you for your inputs but I have already changed my bookings so would be doing Jungfraujoch from Iterlaken.

Also need some advice as to how much money should I carry for the trip or credit cards are widely accepted .

i also want to do the Cholocate and cheeze factory visit any advice on that wether should I take the Chocolate train or do the Golden pass ?

Kind regards

Mitesh

Hi Slowpoke

I tried to fill in as much i can recollect . Hope its is helpful for someone .

<<"After you got to Interlaken Ost at 1155, how long did it take to get to Jungfraujoch? Did you eat along the way? What time did you arrive at the top?">>

We took the 12.05 connection from Interlaken OST and reached at 14.22. Timetable attached that was collected from SBB Interlaken.

Being Vegetarian we purchased sandwiches / Lays / Coke / Mocha all from COOP at Luzern . Boys carried it in their backpack. Could eat very comfortably on the way .

Reaching the top , super piping hot coffee from the cafe at the top. While returning Hot Masala Chai ( Tea) They have noodles /burgers too. Pure Veg was a difficulty.Hence packed.

<<"How much time did you take to explore and enjoy the activities that you mentioned? When did you leave, did you spend time in Wengen on the way back down, and when did you reach Luzern on your return?">>

We started at 18.00 hrs from the top . Connection as per timetable. Onward Journey we had time at Wengen and Lauterbrunnen but on return we were not in the exploratory mood after jumping in snow. I think my sons had enough time and rolled max in the snow.

<<By the way, you must have reached Jungfraujoch in the afternoon. Conventional advice is that clouds may start to obscure the views as the day progresses. Were you lucky enough to have clear visibility in the afternoon?>>

We saw the earlier day that weather was sunny only at 2 pm and mornings it was snow /cloudy . Hence tried our luck with afternoon.Confirmed at Interlaken too if the weather was ok at the top. It was super great.Visibility was good. We reached Luzern at around 9.45 pm .

Have tried to attach timetable/pics.All are in HDR which i have tried to reduce to a smaller file.

Cheers!!

Hi Mitesh ,

On Chocolate factory -

We visited the Lindt & Sprüngli headquarters in Kilchberg, Zürich, Switzerland. No factory tours . We get all types of Packages, flavors and can pick and choose from the mounds of chocolate which are displayed. Children are free to sample the open pieces of chocolate displayed. They had introduced Mango flavor which was good and we picked those bars. The rates for assorted chocolates was 4.50CHF /100gms.

We did not make any train reservations and all 2nd class compartments in trains are excellent. We wanted more time out. So less factory and tours but more on the Alps or in a boat.

On Cash

You need to pay cash like 10 CHF /person for Ski rides or for any activities at the mountain tops or at entrance to the Rhine falls (5 CHF, boating in Rhine 12CHF).

On card

If you purchase your swiss pass online and if your hotel accommodation is covered, you will have to work out your day wise itinerary. All mountain railways have a ticket but a discount for pass holders. Kindly follow Myswiss Alps links. For Jungfrau it is 133CHF/person (adult ) from Interlaken roundtrip . Mt.Titilis it is 44CHF /person (roundtrip from Engelberg). You will have to calculate for groceries shopping (if you are cooking) too and accordingly arrive at a figure on your card. Switzerland is costly. We purchased our Groceries from Migros and Coop which accept cards. Please do let us know in which Chalet your are staying. We stayed at zihlmattweg 44.

All other places Cards are good. We just carried 200 CHF which we exchanged for smaller denomination from SBB office at Luzern Bahnhof .

We traveled to London /Paris.Swiss and used Thomas cook currency card. Cards are accepted everywhere. We loaded one card with Euros and another with CHF. Euros were also accepted but at 1:1.(euro value is higher than CHF).We took the TGV lyria (10.20) from Gare de Lyon to Basel and 14.10 connection from Basel to Luzern.

Hope this helps you in your planning .

Cheers !

Suganthy

Sounds like a full day, and a well timed one. it was a good idea to check the weather for Jungfraujoch at the last minute.

It was a long day, too. ;-)

Thanks for the details.

Slowpoke

Hi Suganthy ,

This is the address I will be staying in.

Family Küng

Chalet Rieder

Schwandstrasse 5

6390 Engelberg / OW

Dont how it is but communication with host has be excellent .Like you said most of them are good.

Nice picture of the falls and Lauterbrunnen. It is hard to get a good angle, and you did nicely.

Slowpoke