Most economical trip – Murren to Jungfraujoch?
-
FillierParticipant18 posts28 July 2017 at 5:40:30 #812768
We are staying in Murren, just above Lauterbrunnen & want to spend a day & travel by train & lifts from Murren to Kleine Schedegg to Jungfraujoch return to Kleine Schedegg where we would walk down to Grindelwald then trains and lifts back to Murren.
We see the Jungfraujoch is quite expensive but so want to do it we can put this whole one day trip together.
Many thanks for your help & suggestions!
Bryan & Susan
PS. We love Switzerland!!!!
-
SlowpokeParticipant7567 posts28 July 2017 at 14:27:20 #867512
Hi Fillier-
Hope you are enjoying Mürren. Great views in clear weather.
The only way to go is to get down to Lauterbrunnen, then ride up via Wengen and change at Kleine Scheidegg. Any other way is longer and adds cost.
By the way the walk from Kleine Scheidegg down to Grindelwald is over 1,000 meters descent. 2061 meters above sea level at Kleine scheidegg, 943 at Grindelwald Grund (1118 meters) then up a bit by walking or by train to Grindelwald ( 1034 meters).
If your knees have not been trained for that kind of substantial downhill walk, you will be so sore for few days afterward that you can barely walk. At least, that was my experience, when I was much younger.
Consider stopping at Alpiglen, having one of the overwhelming Käseschnitte, and riding the rest f the way.
http://www.myswissalps.com/fo rum/topic/alpiglen-rail-station-timetable
Scroll down in this link:
http://www.theglobeandmail.co m/life/following-wagner-through-the-alps/article18272761/?page=all
Slowpoke
Removed userParticipant72625 posts28 July 2017 at 15:40:54 #867513It is al long day and long walk. On Jungfraujoch you must also have time to walk to the Monchhutte and back. When the walk is to much it is indeed beter to stop at Alpiglen station and go by train to Grindelwald and Zweilutschinen and Lauterbrunnen to Murren
AnnikaModerator7116 posts29 July 2017 at 17:33:14 #867514Hi Bryan and Susan,
From your previous post I understand you’ll be using a Eurail Select Pass, correct? That will determine the costs of this trip. You’ll get a 25% discount on the trains you need for the proposed trip. Regular fares can be found through the timetable, so just deduct 25% to know what you’ll be paying. It’s still pretty expensive. Whether it’s worth getting an additional pass for more discounts (such as a Jungfrau Travel Pass) depends on your further travel plans in this region. Here’s how to calculate whether an extra pass would be beneficial: myswissalps.com/train/ ticketspasses/practica l/chooserailpass.
FillierParticipant18 posts29 July 2017 at 17:54:40 #867515Thanks Annika,
We will not have any days left on our Pass at this time so we will be paying full fair. We will be staying in Murren for 5 nights near the Schlithorn/Murren lift, starting Sept 14th & will be hiking that area. We are quite familiar with Murren & Gimmelwald from previous trips & are looking forward to the wonderful hiking, small swiss town atmosphere and of course your awesome food & wines
We have done the Jungfraujoch several times before and thought it would be nice to do it again. We realize weather can also be an issue so we have usually not booked it ahead. We heard from the people we are renting from that there was an early bird discount available from Murren to the Jungfraujoch, but were unable to find out anything on the websites regarding it? Are you aware of this?
Thanks again for you advise & assistance.
Bryan & Susan
FillierParticipant18 posts29 July 2017 at 18:04:18 #867516Thank you for all your links & suggestions. They are most helpful!
We have done the hike down from Kleine Scheidegg before and although it was quite down hill & long we seemed have done it with out any real effects the next day? This hike will be towards the end of our trip so our legs will be in pretty good shape, but we will consider going to Alpiglen. Are the signs pretty clear there to direct us to the Käseschnitte & can one get some wine to enjoy with the wonderful cheese?
Can you help us with a timetable & costs for the ride from Alpiglen to Grindelwald. We are having difficulties finding this.
Many thanks for all you assistance! Happy travels!!
Bryan & Susan
AnnikaModerator7116 posts29 July 2017 at 18:31:32 #867517Hi Bryan and Susan,
If you still have 5 days of hiking and using public transportation without any pass discount, it’s definitely worth it to look into either the Swiss Half Fare Card or the Jungfrau Travel Pass. It will make the Jungfraujoch journey significantly cheaper and will also provide discounts on further traveling in the region. Just the Jungfraujoch journey is nearly sufficient to break even with the Swiss Half Fare Card.
If you don’t use any pass then yes, there’s the Good Morning Ticket for your Jungfraujoch visit. Please find information at myswissalps.com/jungfr aujoch/tickets.
ArnoModerator15483 posts29 July 2017 at 18:33:56 #867518Hi Bryan & Susan,
The Swiss timetable gets you all schedules and regular ticket prices (CHF 16 one way in this case).
FillierParticipant18 posts30 July 2017 at 3:38:46 #867519Hi Annika,
Thank you for you help & replies! They are very much appreciated.
Can you confirm the following pricing just so I know I am doing this right. I can buy a 3 Day Jungfrau Travel Pass for 135 CHF per person which covers all travel in the Jungfrau region & as a holder of the Jungfrau Travel Pass, I receive the connecting ticket from Eigergletscher to Jungfraujoch – Top of Europe for CHF 61 (return). 61 CHF per person. (from the Jungfrau-Top of Europe site)?
Can I buy this at any of the rail stations in Murren or Lauterbrunnen on the first day of my 3 day travel? If I can this would seem to be the most economical option.
Thanks again for your help!
SlowpokeParticipant7567 posts30 July 2017 at 20:09:37 #867520Hi Bryana bnd Susan-
<<“We have done the hike down from Kleine Scheidegg before and although it was quite down hill & long we seemed have done it with out any real effects the next day? This hike will be towards the end of our trip so our legs will be in pretty good shape, but we will consider going to Alpiglen. Are the signs pretty clear there to direct us to the Käseschnitte & can one get some wine to enjoy with the wonderful cheese?”>>
Good for you. I wish that I had been in that good shape when i took that walk. To much time behind a desk, I guess.
I don’t recall details about the trail markers, but it would be a major surprise if the trail was not marked. I’d expect a sign from the inn itself, pointing the way, too.
I any case, a look at this map can guide you:
And, Swisstopo has a free smartphone app, or you can use Google maps. The Swiss one is likely to be mpre acurate.
shop.swisstopo.admin.c h/en/products/maps/Swi ssMapMobile_Abo
If you look at the links I provide, you will see that you want to be guided to the inn or Gasthof.
“Die Käseschnitte” is translated as cheese slice . It is a lot of cheese in the version at this restaurant.. …at other places it can be a simple slice or two of cheese melted over toast, but the bread is usually soaked in wine. Smilar to pizza, their are a lot of ways to make it.
It comes melted over wine soaked bread, and can have ham or mushrooms in/on it.
I am sure you can get wine. Did you ever have trouble finding wine on your other trips to the Jungfrau region? 😉
Slowpoke
FillierParticipant18 posts30 July 2017 at 20:52:43 #867521Thank you so much for this information!
We have never had issues finding wines on our trips to the Jungfrau or anywhere in Europe. It is so much easier to get wines there in your hiking areas than it is in the USA. We once forgot out wine on one trip going to the Jungfraujoch, but we was able to purchase a bottle at the outdoor bar area at Kleine Scheidegg. We could never do that here when hiking at home. My wife & I have a special tradition where we would take a bottle of Swiss wine, some cheese, meats & bread for a picnic & go out onto the glacier just near where they ski on the Jungfrau in the summer, sit down, put the bottle in the snow, let it cool & then sit back & enjoy! For us life does not get any better than that!
We own a very small vineyard in North Central Washington State & we make red & white wines.
Can you confirm the following pricing just so I know I am doing this right. I can buy a 3 Day Jungfrau Travel Pass for 135 CHF per person which covers all travel in the Jungfrau region & as a holder of the Jungfrau Travel Pass, I receive the connecting ticket from Eigergletscher to Jungfraujoch – Top of Europe for CHF 61 (return), per person. (seen int the “Jungfrau-Top of Europe” website)?
Can I buy the 3 Day Jungfrau Travel Pass at any of the rail stations in Murren or Lauterbrunnen on the first day of my 3 day travel?
Again thank you for all your help!
We are so very much looking forward to opening a nice Swiss white wine & putting it into the snow on the Jungfrau & being back in our most favorite place in the world!!!
Cheers!
Bryan & Susan
SlowpokeParticipant7567 posts30 July 2017 at 21:47:33 #867522Hi Bryan and Susan –
<<“Can you confirm the following pricing just so I know I am doing this right. I can buy a 3 Day Jungfrau Travel Pass for 135 CHF per person which covers all travel in the Jungfrau region & as a holder of the Jungfrau Travel Pass, I receive the connecting ticket from Eigergletscher to Jungfraujoch – Top of Europe for CHF 61 (return), per person. (seen int the “Jungfrau-Top of Europe” website)? Can I buy the 3 Day Jungfrau Travel Pass at any of the rail stations in Murren or Lauterbrunnen on the first day of my 3 day travel?”>>
I don’t do rail passes. The subject is complex enough to cause me to call on Arno or Annika when questions arise.
Although not a Swiss resident, I have a Swiss address, and I hold a Swiss Halb-Tax ( 3 year version) and simply do half fare everywhere. I do not find it a burden to buy tickets, and I also rent a car for part of my trip. So the half-fare works for the way that I travel.
Wine-
In the past decade, or perhaps a bit more, the Swiss market for cheap wines became oversaturated. Too much pleasant but uneventful Fendant and Chasselas, or Dole for a red. There has been an up-market switch to more good reds than used to be the case, because the vintners need to make money. Not only in the Bündner Herrschaft (Maienfeld, Jenins, Malans, Fläsch, and thereabouts, but elsewhere.
Good reds from “la Côte” have become more available. Also, I stay routinely in Sugiez, where the red wines of several local vintners growing on Mt. Vully are outstanding. In particular, M’sieur Simonet, of Motier and South Africa, makes superb reds.
The best part of the Swiss red wine revolution is that most good ones are still available unoaked ( “Barrique” = “oaked”). “Barrique is trendy but the Swiss have not yet mastered the subtleties, in my opinion. But good unoaked Pinot Noir (surely among your Washington State growths) is still routinely available , especially from the Ostschweiz regions named above.
(Avoid the famous “Gantenbein” wines from Fläsch, not because they are not good – they are- but because the Gantenbein family led the revolution, are famous, and command a price well above their relative value…for me any way and in the minds of the discerning cellar masters that I know.)
You wil not tend to find those reds in the Berner Oberland. “Too pricey” or not what they a er used to.
If you would like to find our abit mor about them, I can offer to random observations. Not a winemaker, but an organic chemist with a certain amount of practice sniffing and drinking wines.
Slowpoke
FillierParticipant18 posts30 July 2017 at 22:35:03 #867523Awesome reply!!!!!
Please do ask Annika or Arno to follow up on our Jungfra Travel Pass questions when they have a minute.
We are starting our Swiss trip on Sept 1st in Lausanne in the small town of Epesses & will do the wine walk there along with some wine tasting. We are staying a week in the alps in Villars Sur Ollon for some hiking & will do the wine walks there along with traveling back to the Lausanne area to see more wineries & tastings of course! Then onto Zermatt for 5 nights, Murren for 5 nights, Golden Panorama Train back to Montreau staying in a vineyard in another small town “Cully” with a wine maker & his wife then return to Paris for 5 nights before we head back to the USA.
Any suggestions on wineries to see & do tasting or any wine events that might be on at this time would be so much appreciated!
We live in an area with its own AVA, on a glacier fed lake with large deposits of glacier till. This makes for a unique & wonderful terrior. We have a very arid almost desert like area where red grapes flourish very well. Syrah, Cab Savignon, Cab Franc, Barbera & Sangiovese, to mention a few of our reds. Our vineyard is at 2,200 feet or 670 meters where several whites love the cool evenings. Riesling, Gewurztraminer, Marsanne, Viognier, & Sav Blanc which we grow as well.
Should you ever travel to the USA & to Washington state, we would be very happy to show you our wine area & the wonderful wineyards & tasting rooms here… :~)
Cheers!
Bryan & Susan
SlowpokeParticipant7567 posts30 July 2017 at 22:48:30 #867524Try the better Swiss Pinot Noirs from Maienfeld, Jenins, Malans, Fläsch, ….That region in the Ostschweiz is called the Bündner Herrschaft.
You won’t find them in the regions you are visiting, although near Epesse maybe you can get some special reds (their whites are famous). You might find some special ones from St. Saphorin…just guessing. . Maybe somewhere else on la Cote..nearby.
I’ll see if I can find something more definite about vineyard names and locations. It might take me a couple of days, but you can go back again next year…;-)
Gasthof zur Bündte in Jenins has famous access to reds from Herr Cristoph Jenny…his Pinot Noirs are “würzig” ….and also from another vineyard (name escapes me) that surround the hotel. Family relationship there.
Slowpoke
Slowpoke
SlowpokeParticipant7567 posts31 July 2017 at 1:03:01 #867526<<“Should you ever travel to the USA & to Washington state, “>>
I live in Connecticut, one of the original 13. Lots of vitis labrusca on the right coast. Some pleasant hybrids in the Finger Lakes region. Have visited Whidbey Island and Seattle many times, Portland once, mouth of the Columbia once and Vancouver for several days. Ferry from British Columbia to Anacortes.
Stayed at Salt Spring Harbor on Vancouver Island, as well as other nice places.
Appreciate Pinot Noirs from you part of the world, and wonder why you grow Barbera?
Slowpoke
FillierParticipant18 posts31 July 2017 at 4:24:33 #867527I was born & raised in Toronto, Canada, learn how to make wine with grapes from Niagara Falls area & visited the Finger Lakes a few times. I once stayed in a castle their that had a working wine spigot that ran up the middle of the three floors. You just went out your door to the hallway & filled your wine container to fill it with what they happen to be serving at the time. Usually a nice Riesling or Gewurztraminer, but occasionally a nice red.
We travel to the Okanagan wine country in British Columbia a few times each year & have a few favorite vineyards & wineries there. They even have a few unique Pinots. We love the Oregon Pinots especially from a vineyard called “Lemelson” who have 5 very different & excellent Pinots.
Walla Walla in Washington is also another wonderful wine region to explore.
Barbera is a nice juicy red that grows well here & is unique for this area. Oaked properly & left to rest it can be a hardy European red when made in the traditional European style. Fun to make one of the European reds here.
Bryan & Susan
FillierParticipant18 posts31 July 2017 at 4:26:23 #867528Awesome! Perfect picture that is very similar to the vineyard B& B we will be staying in…. :~)
Removed userParticipant72625 posts31 July 2017 at 6:09:00 #867529Hi Fillier,
The price of the Jungfrau Travel Pass varies a little depending on where you buy it.
You can find links to online retailers to buy the pass here or buy it at any staffed rail station in the Jungfrau region (Interlaken or Lauterbrunnen for example).If you have the Swiss Half Fare Card or Swiss Travel Pass you get 25% off the cost of the Jungfrau Travel Pass (135CHF) Otherwise the price is around 180CHF for 3 days.
Be sure to check our page on where the Jungfrau Travel Pass is valid here (and open the PDF map).
Lucas
SlowpokeParticipant7567 posts31 July 2017 at 9:21:21 #867530<<“Awesome! Perfect picture that is very similar to the vineyard B& B we will be staying in…. :~)”>>
Thanks. It is of Villete or more likely the western end of Grandvaux village. Maybe looking at the houses on Chemin de Lallex. There is a nice simple walk down through the vineyards starting several meters west and well up on the hill on the street leading up from the station at Grandvaux ( probably the Route du Signal) , going under the tracks in a small tunnel, and along the top of the wall shown in the picture. Once in Grandvaux, there is a downhill walk to the station at Cully.
That was taken about 20 years ago, so my memory of the details is a bit skimpy.
map.search.ch/?pos=544506,149767&z=51 2
Slowpoke
- The thread ‘Most economical trip – Murren to Jungfraujoch?’ is closed to new replies.