[Removed user]

7 April 2017 at 17:07:08 #811311

Hi All,

In mid May (next month) we will be traveling from Murren to Zurich to catch a plane to Venice leaving at 13:15. I read that the earliest cogwheel cable leaves just before 8:00am. Will we be able to get to Zurich for a noonish arrival, or should we try to stay in Interlaken the night before?

Thank you for any advise!

Aniper

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[Arno]

7 April 2017 at 18:03:37 #861110

Welcome to MySwissAlps Aniper!

The cableway starts running well before 8:00 AM. You can reach the airport before 10:00 AM if you wish, so no problem there. You can find details in the timetable. I’d recommend to travel all the way by train though.

By plane you’d need more than 3 hours to travel north to Zurich to catch a plane back south to Venice. If you’ll do Mürren to Venice entirely by train you’ll have better views and reach Venice in 7h20 with 5 changes (you’ll need 4-5 changes to reach Zurich airport too, then change to a plane, and finally change to a bus into town). By plane it will take close to 7 hours too, if everything runs smoothly. If you have a rail pass for Switzerland you would only need a train ticket for the Italian leg of the trip. Tickets start at $36.

More information is here: myswissalps.com/traint ickets/italy.

Enjoy your trip!

[Removed user]

8 April 2017 at 16:45:36 #861111

Thank you so much for such complete consideration of our issue! I wish I had found this site much sooner!

After doing more research and talking things over, we are leaning toward taking your advise and going with train travel. We don’t want to miss out on seeing as much as possible of Switzerland in our 4 days.

[Arno]

8 April 2017 at 17:30:33 #861112

You’re welcome Aniper! One more tip: if you are willing to spend more time (I guess about an hour extra), you can take the local train on the Spiez to Brig leg (via Kandersteg) and see more of the Alps as it avoids the long tunnel for InterCity trains.

In any case: enjoy the ride!

[Removed user]

10 April 2017 at 17:50:31 #861113

Hi Arno,

We will be in Switzerland for a total of 5 days (not 4). We will be going straight to a home base in Murren for 4 nights. Do you still think a rail pass is a good idea (since we’d need to buy the 8 day pass instead of the 4 day pass).

We will be starting out in Switzerland from Basel (after a 7 day Rhine River cruise) then going by rail straight to Murren for 4 nights, then rail to Venice Italy on the fifth day. Do you think we will utilize public transport quite a bit if weather dictates we concentrate on lower elevations to spend our days? My husband definitely wants to stay in Murren and get a real feel for the Alps, and I am fine with seeing some interesting weather (coming from southern California). I just hope we see the beautiful panaramic scenery at least in the early morning!

We do like long walks, and exploring as much as possible. Do you think we would get enough use out of those 8 day rail passes if we stay in Murren? Reading that hiking trails will be very limited passed 2,000 meters means we’d be heading down from Murren rather than up for those long walks and expeditions.

Thanks for your insight!

Aniper.

P.S. This sounds like a good idea on our way to Venice!: “if you are willing to spend more time (I guess about an hour extra), you can take the local train on the Spiez to Brig leg (via Kandersteg) and see more of the Alps as it avoids the long tunnel for InterCity trains.”

[Removed user]

11 April 2017 at 7:19:43 #861114

Hi Aniper,

It is always tricky when choosing the best Swiss rail pass – click here for more help. It really does come down to you trying to decide what trips by rail you will probably do and compare costs for point to point tickets to the Swiss Travel Pass.

2 other less expensive options are the Jungfrau Travel Pass (to just cover trains in the Murren area – be sure to read the tab on areas of validity) and then you will just need to buy tickets separately to get to and from Murren at the start and end of your trip. This pass can also be bought for 5 days.

Another option is the buy the Swiss Half Fare Card. Once bought, you still must be tickets for all trips you take, but they are 50% off.

Have a read through those links and let me know if you need any more clarification!

Lucas