Barcelona to Grindenwald area
 

Hi. My family and I will be traveling next June to Spain, Switzerland, Germany and France. I have been having trouble finding a way to get from Barcelona to the Grindenwald area. We do not want to fly. Should we rent a car? I would love to take a night train. Any help would be great.

I would love to take a night train. Any help would be great.>

No more night trains -used to be one Barcelona to Geneva but no more.

Train route though is fairly simple - Take direct train Barcelona to Lyon and change for trains to Geneva and then there for Swiss trains to Interlaken-Ost station and change there for trains to Grindelwald.

Best connection is to leave Barcelona daily around 9:25am and getting to Grindelwald at 20:39 or 8:39pm - that's the quickest if you want to go straight thru - or do you want to break your journey?


Barcelona Sants dep 09:25
Valence TGV arr 13:38

Valence TGV dep 13:57
Geneve arr 17:00

Geneve dep 17:12
Bern arr 18:56

Bern dep 19:04
Interlaken Ost arr 19:57

Interlaken Ost dep 20:05
Grindelwald arr 20:39

Book tickets early for discounted fares - www.renfe.com or www.thetrainline.com or www.voyages-sncf.com. For lots on trains check www.seat61.com - great insights on booking your own online tickets; www.budgeteuropetravel.com and www.ricksteves.com.

Again this is the quickest possible by train. Check schedules at www.bahn.de/en - where I copied this schedule from - put in dummy date if yours is not on yet as these trains rarely change much.

If you wanted to break up the train journey somewhere Avignon, where the train stops I believe, would be a natural - lovely old city with famous Palace of the Popes and many easy day trips by train or bus or excursion tours into one of the most popular holiday areas of Provence.

Will you be traveling elsewhere in Switzerland by train -if so a Swiss Pass or Half-Fare Card is often a great deal even for a handful of train trip - either could save tons in the Grindelwald area if taking say the expensive mountain trains or aerial gondolas. In any case any child under 16 traveling with a parent goes free with the free Family Pass you can get at any Swiss train station (thus no need to buy such kids any train ticket from Geneva to Grindelwald.

>>We do not want to fly<<

But sometimes flying makes the most sense. How many days do you have for the journey?

Barcelona to Grinde<red>l</red>wald is nearly 700 miles and more than eleven hours straight car time w/o any stops.

Car rental in one country and dropping it off in another country could result in very steep drop-off fees and since once in Grindelwald cars must be parked at lots at entrances to city and can't be used to tour the area taking a train is just as fast - about 11 hours - anyway to drive 11 or so straight hours to me is more tedious than relaxing on a train and you have to use autoroutes to make any time and they are a real drag.

Car travel could also be more expensive than a train (or plane) - France has predatorily steep autoroute tolls and Switzerland demands a vignette costing about $40-50 just to use their autoroutes (like our toll roads or freeways).

and train and car let you see some fairly cool scenery in between Barcelona and Grindelwald - with planes you see little but airports and tarmacs.

Train travel in Europe is so reliable and comfy , I would definitely go by train. The scenery will be fabulous and you end in stunning Grinelwald. Yay! Enjoy!

<<once in Grindelwald cars must be parked at lots at entrances to city and can't be used to tour the area>>

Not so. We used Grindelwald as our base and parked our car at the hotel, then used it for touring around. There are towns in Switzerland that are car free, but Grindelwald is not one of them

>>Train travel in Europe is so reliable and comfy ,<<

True . . . but for <i>eleven</i> hours. Not me.

Me neither - love trains but 11 hours (with 5 changes of trains) no way as comfy as trains are - why not break up the trip and spend a few days say in Provence area of France?

At least with 4 changes of train required you can stretch your feet for a while and snag snacks from station snack kiosks.

<<once in Grindelwald cars must be parked at lots at entrances to city and can't be used to tour the area>>

Not so. We used Grindelwald as our base and parked our car at the hotel, then used it for touring around.>

Where did you tour around Grindelwald -I was talking about above Grindelwald so maybe a matter of wrong word choice - above Grindelwald or beyond there are just footpaths, trains and gondolas - no roads for private vehicles.

But yes you could drive to Lauterbrunnen and Interlaken and of course around Switzerland.

As you suggested, we drove around Grindelwald town, and on the roads to other towns as well. I read your post to mean that one cannot drive IN Grindelwald.

We had a car in Grindelwald but also took some trains from there.