Cost effective travelling 4 days Zurich-Interlaken

Hi,

I am planning on visiting Switzerland with my girlfriend in Feb. We will be staying in Interlaken for 3nights/4days. We fly from London to Zurich and back to London from Zurich.

We will be staying in Interlaken so on our arrival will need to travel from Zurich to Interlaken, and vice versa to fly back home on our return. Apart from Zurich airport to Interlaken and back, the furthest place we plan on visiting is Grindelwald for a day trip. The rest of the time we will be visiting sights and attractions near or within Interlaken.

I have had a look at the Swiss Rail Pass and it will be £399 in total for the both of us in total which seems very expensive and possibly not suitable considering the places we plan to go.

Considering the places we will be traveling to and from mentioned above what is the best way to travel? would it be cheaper to get point to point tickets or a pass?

Thanks in advance

Ash

Hello,

I can not see what your plans are around Interlaken or in Grindelwald.

Interlaken is a small city, you can do it in one or two hours.

Grindelwald is a small mountain village with one main street with some shops and restaurants.

For a good advice for your travel pass we need to now what you are doing this days.

greetings from the Netherlands, Brahms

Hi asshnasiri, thanks for joining MySwissAlps!

As Brahms pointed out, you can only tell which pass is best if you have a pretty detailed list of plans. The procedure is explained at myswissalps.com/train/ ticketspasses/practica l/chooserailpass. Based on what you've described so far, a rail pass will definitely help you save money, but the Swiss Travel Pass may indeed not be ideal price wise. Mind that it does provide lots of flexibility and allows you to travel throughout the country for free in case weather near Interlaken is bad. I suggest you compare this to the Swiss Half Fare Card, which will probably turn out to be cheaper if you focus on short regional trips.

Hi,

Thank you both for your replies. Yes I see your points and I think I was quite vague so I will try to be clearer.

From the research I have done I have made a shortlist of things we would ideally like to do or places to visit:

· Harder Klum

· Lake Brienz on the way to Giessbach Waterfalls in Brienz and then a train to the top of Brienzer Rothorn

· St. Beatus Hoehlen caves

· Lake Thun and old town castle (is it’s feasible to go to St. Beatus Hoehlen caves on the way to Thun? Or is it best to do this separately?)

· Jungfrau Railway AND Eiger Trail Gringelwald

· Day in old town Bern

We will only effectively be able to do these in 3 days as day 4 we fly home mid-day , so I am wondering whether it will be feasible to do all of these and if not, which would you recommend the most? Also I am conscious that it will be winter in Feb so do you think that could prevent us being able to do any in the list?

With the info above in mind what do you think the cheapest way to travel would be?

Thanks very much for your advice and help.

In february 2017 it is winter in Switserland.

Harder Kulm Interlaken is not posible / closed

Boat on Brienzersee is not posible / closed (also no boat to Giesbach Falls)

Brienzer Rothorn Bahn is not posible / closed

Beatus hohle caves is not posible / closed

Hi asshnasiri,

The links Annika provided should help you to pick a pass. But first you'd better do a thorough check on your day trip plans, as much of it will indeed not be possible. Visiting waterfalls, for example, is either not possible or not very interesting because water in the mountains will be frozen. Carefully check opening dates so you'll end up with a realistic do to list. There is still plenty to do, including (short) walks on winter trails, like Grütschalp to Mürren. Do come back in summer for other activities!

Thanks for the info, that's very useful information and it does seem like we will have to return again for a summer stay.

The winter trail you have suggested does look good and is the kind of thing we enjoy.

Can you suggest anything else like that that you think we could enjoy and would be accessible from Interlaken?

Also would it still be possible and in your opinion worth visiting the town of Thun and Bern? or will the weather limit what we can do their and the sights we could see?

Many thanks

Yes, a visit to Thun or Bern (much bigger) is worth it. You can visit the Schilthorn, make a boat trip on Lake Thun (limited schedule), walk other winter trails or go sledging (ask the tourist office).

A nice Wintertrail is to go from First to Bachalpsee and back. On First you can also do the (free of charge) Cliff Walk with nice views on the mountains.

First is the mountain station of the cablecar from Grindelwald.