parkplace

I have one day to get to and from Luzern, Switzerland, up into the mountains around Interlaken and enjoy as much as I can while there. Is this itinerary do-able in a day?

Train Luzern to Interlaken Ost
Train Interlaken Ost to Grindewald
Cable car Grindewald to Mannlichen
Walk Manlichen to Kleine Scheidegg
Train Kleine Scheidegg to Jungfraujoch
Train Jungfraujoch to Interlaken Ost
Train Interlake Ost to Luzern

If so, can you advise on these:

1. Is there a pass that makes more sense than buying point-to-point tickets for this exact itinerary? If individual tickets make the most sense, can I buy them all in advance at the Luzern train station (including the cable car tickets in Grindewald), or do I have to wait and buy each ticket at the station of each departure? (And if the latter, should I be concerned about any of them selling out? We will be there next week).

2. Can I buy ALL tickets with a Visa credit card?

3. Where can I see a timetable to make sure we know departure and arrival times for each leg?

4. Is there a great place in this itinerary to stop for lunch? There are 6 of us. We are happy to eat outside if the weather is nice.

5. If the weather is not clear on that day, I've seen advice to NOT go up the Jungfraujoch, but I've also seen advice to do it anyway. It's the only day we'll have there, so we can't wait for a sunnier day. Have you been there on a not-clear day, and what did you think?

6. If timing allows, is there a great place for dinner in Interlaken you'd recommend before a very late train back to Luzern? We'll be in our hiking clothes.

Many, many thanks to the nice people on this forum who have helped me with planning this trip. Your help really assisted me in focusing on what we want to do. Thank you mokka4, PalenQ, Melnq8, bvlenci, Dukey, Christina, Mimar and all others who were nice enough to give advice!

PalenQ

Probably the Half-Price Card - good for 50% off all transports in Switzerland would be a good deal - the savings on the Jungfraujoch train alone will pay for much of the card - do you have other Swiss trip plans (I forgot!) - if so investigate various passes.

For Half-Fare Card info and general Swiss trains check www.swisstravelsystem.com; www.budgeteuropetravel.com and www.ricksteves.com.

Yes IME you can buy all needed tickets including Half-Fare Card at Lucerne station with a ccard (I think - things can change but cards are usually accepted for large purchases). buy all of them at once - a return ticket.

parkplace

Thanks. We have changed our plans for the day before and no longer will be taking a train to Luzern, but instead going by van. The only other train travel we'll do is the day after, the hour ride to Zurich. So it doesn't look like the half-price card makes sense anymore.

I'm trying to figure out whether it makes sense to include the Jungfraujoch trip into the very busy day we do have. Maybe I should just give that up, and enjoy a more leisurely day with everything else we have planned that day.

That will certainly cut down the expense, too...

PalenQ

That will certainly cut down the expense, too...>

Yes the Jungfraujoch train alone costs over $200 with no discounts available that I know of except an early bird special leaving Interlaken on the first train. and yes it could always be funky weather up top even if clear down below.

You could easily drive to Grindelwald or Lauterbrunnen and park and spend a few hours at least seeing this amazing panorama- the finest in Switzerland I've seen - much more expansive than the Matterhorn at Zermatt.

parkplace

Thanks - we won't have the van after arriving in Luzern; strictly traveling by public transportation.

bakerstreet

I'm back and we did it -- it was so incredible I posted the details in case anyone else is ever in Luzern and has only a day to devote to the Berner Oberland area and wants some tips on seeing as much as possible in a short time. I'm copying below that post in case anyone comes across this one and wants to know the outcome. So:

"Magical day seeing Berner Oberland area from Lucerne base"

I'm posting this because we had one -- ONE -- day to experience the Berner Oberland area and hit the highlights (including going to the Jungfraujoch) and we had to do it while based in Luzern, and it all worked beautifully for us so I'm sharing what we did in case it's helpful to anyone else.

I knew I wanted to do the hike PalenQ and others raved about -- the 90-minute walk from Mannlichen to Kleine Scheidegg and I knew we wanted to try to go to the Jungfraujoch; we had to figure out a route and fit it all in while going out of and back into Luzern on the same day. It worked. Here's what we did:

We (two families of three each, with our 17- and 18-year old daughters) took the 6:05 a.m. train from Luzern to Interlaken Ost, arriving around 8 a.m. Then we took a series of trains up the mountains, going via the Lauterbrunnen route, to Kleine Scheidegg where we got on the Jungfraubahn to the Top of Europe, arriving there around 10:30 a.m. (We stopped in the mountain tunnel one time, not two). We had plenty of time up top, went outside to see the lovely views and take photos, sampled champagne and hot chocolate at the Top of Europe, and then took either the 12:30 or 1 p.m. train out (I think they left every half-hour). We then made our way by train to Wengen. While our train was stopped for a few minutes in Kleine Scheidegg on the way to Wengen, we dashed to the outdoor bar and quickly ordered sandwiches, chips and drinks to go so we could have a picnic on our hike. We got back on the train with the bags of food and continued to Wengen, where we got off and took a gondola up to Mannlichen. I think the gondola ride took about 10 minutes and it was fun. At Mannlichen we began the 90-minute glorious walk to Kleine Scheidegg and enjoyed the spectacular scenery and easy downhill (mostly) stroll amid the spectacular scenery, wildflowers, snow-capped mountains and beautiful skies. We were lucky in that the trail, which had been closed just the week before, was open. That day was Friday, June 24 and we were some of the only people on the trail going our way. We passed maybe 10 other people going the opposite way, which was uphill most of the way and I was glad we were going downhill. I turned around a few times to see the view from the other direction, and I preferred the view going in our direction -- it was simply magnificent. We stopped partway down and enjoyed our picnic and the incomparable views.

When we arrived at Kleine Scheidegg again (our third time there that day, but necessary to do the hike in the direction we wanted), we boarded the train back down to Interlaken Ost but took the OTHER route, on the Grindelwald side, so we could see the other side. At one small train stop we got off of the train to hike down to the next station and see cows along the way -- that downhill hike was much, much steeper than we realized it would be, and the footing was more dangerous. It was also tough on aging backs. I probably would not do that again, but it was an interesting experience. At the next station we enjoyed a glass of wine at the local establishment while we waited for the next train down the mountain, and then arrived at Interlaken Ost in time to have a quick dinner in Interlaken before boarding the last train out to Luzern at 8 p.m., finally arriving back at our hotel in Luzern at 10:30 p.m.

It wasn't easy to figure out in advance what the best train pass/ticket situation would be, so I'll give the information we learned, again in case it helps anyone.

The night before we went to the Berner Oberland area, we went to the train station in Luzern to buy the train tickets. Because of brilliant help poster mokka4 had provided, I was able to suggest to the train ticket seller to look at the option of our buying half-fare cards, and that proved to be the key. We also did all travel by second class, and did not buy any seat reservations. The cost for my family of 3, including the half-fare card, for the entire day of travel (including the train to the Jungfraujoch), was somewhere around $850; just under $300 each. And because we bought the half-fare card, any other train travel was half-price (such as our trip to Zurich). The gondola in Wengen was something like $12 per person.

Note: you need passports for each half-fare card you buy. The people don't all have to be present in the train station ticket office when buying the half-fare cards, but the passports do. And you need to have the half-fare card on you when you are traveling on the train. You can buy a half-price ticket at the vending machines in the station without showing the half-fare card, so when you're on the train and the ticket collector comes along asking for your ticket, he (and they were always "he") will usually want to see your half-fare card as well.

If you're headed to that area and want to see the Berner Oberland but don't have multiple days, know you can see quite a lot in just one!

PalenQ

If you're headed to that area and want to see the Berner Oberland but don't have multiple days, know you can see quite a lot in just one!>

Wow - even for me that was an energetic day but sounds like a sweet sweet day - though bet you were glad to be back in lovely Lucerne finally.

Cheers!