Salzburg to Grindelwald - Train or Fly?????
 

I'm looking at the time tables and realizing that a train from Salzburg to Grindelwald will take an entire day. Leaving Salzburg on a 8 am train to Zurich, then transferring 2 or 3 more times get me to Grindelwald at 6 pm- ish.
Should we just fly from Salzburg to Zurich?? Then we still have to take the train for 2 and 1/2 hours to Grindelwald.
I found direct flights on InterSky Luftfahrt - anyone used this before???
Also Air Berlin - but not direct.

I'm not sure I understand why you are asking the question. You are obviously not happy with the rail travel time from Salzburg to Grindelwald so why WOULDN'T you fly?

You can do the train in about 8 hours -- 8:02 departure and 16:09 arrival via Zurich, Bern, and Interlaken. It is a long ride. With flight, you still have 3 hours train rides from ZRH to Grindelwald. The flight-train combination would then be 5-6 hours in duration from city to town. There are different ways to frame this travel time. One can leave it as an unproductive day or a rest day. One can also catch up with the journal, review the upcoming itinerary, manage the photos, catch up on email, etc.

its true that it takes 8-9 hours by rail...see:

http://fahrplan.sbb.ch/bin/query.exe/en

perhaps others can pipe in with cheap european airlines,eg:
Ryannair or Cheapoair--start there to compare prices and to see what mode of travel works best for you!

Why not break it up?

bob - how so???

"Brreak it up" means to spread the travel over two days, with an overnight in some nice place in between. Lots of possibilities for this if you have the time.

Don't forget that the flight will take the best part of 4 hours to Zurich.

And the train would be PART of your holiday, whereas a flight is an interruption to it - through the scenic Arlberg pass with a glass of wine and a good book, see video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KV1G58ot71k

You can get train tickets Salzburg-Switzerland from just €29 at www.oebb.at

Man in seat 61: If this were my trip, your video would convince me.

I like the idea that the train would be part of your trip, whereas the plane flight would be an interruption.

I also like the idea of breaking the trip, at Innsbruck perhaps.

I would try to see Luzern, only because I love Luzern.
But, I would give it 2 nights.

Seat61- Great video!!1 I'm going to check out premium tix - that
looked really nice!!!!! I have ther Swisspass for 2nd class - maybe an upgrade will help. And still be a lot cheaper than flying.

Bob - We are doing Lucerne (2 nights) after Grindelwald.

Peg - I can check out Innsbruck. Thx!!

Salzburg to Grindlewald is a beautiful train trip

If you like to fly:
Salzburg dp by train 14.09 - Munich airport ar 16.55, dp by plane 18.50 - Berne airport ar 19.50, dp by bus 20.20 - Belp ar 20.28, dp by train 20.54 - Grindelwald ar 22.35
or all by train:
Salzburg dp 12.02 - Grindelwald ar 20.35

I suppose you know that Grindelwald is a somewhat remote place even for Swiss people. The famous glaciers of Austria (Stubaital, Oetztal, Pitztal) and Eastern Switzerland (Bernina) would be much closer to Salzbuerg than Grindelwald.

BTW: Lucerne is situated between Zurich and Interlaken, 6 1/4 hrs by train from Salzburg (last departure at 18.02).

Train it is! Will have to buy lots of snacks before we board!!

Yup as Bob and Seat 61 bloke say - break up the trip and not miss some of the loveliest scenery along any rails in Europe - all of Austrian route is awesomely scenic - break it up with a stop in say Innsbruck or farther along Zell-am-See or Kitzbuhel or At Anton - all renown Alpine resorts. And if traveling around Switzerland much then get a Swiss Pass which would cover you from the Swiss border in full to Wengen and then all around the area or country.

For lots of great stuff on trains in Switzerland and Austria check out these IMO fantastic sites - www.seat61.com -= Man in Seat 61's increasingly commercial - man the bombardment of banner ads is exploding - but still great info and www.ricksteves.com and www.budgeteuropetravel.com. For Swiss trains www.swisstravelsystem.com.

http://www.oebb.at/en/

check the Austrian Railways official site for tickets - have some nice discounts at least to Zurich - if you do a pass the pass would cover you from Buchs on but it could be as cheap to buy a Salzburg to Zurich ticket or even to Grindelwald, not sure.

Anyone have experience with train wifi? Wondering how much it is??? If the strength is any good?

My recent rides on the RailJet provided mixed wifi service. Sometimes nothing (especially in stations), sometimes steady but slow. So, it's there, but I wouldn't want to count on it.

IME Wifi is often free in first class and if available in 2nd class there is a charge of varying amounts.

Railjet 2nd class wifi was free.