Giessbach Transportation

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When staying in Grandhotel Giessbach, cruising on Brienzersee & on Thunersee is a lot of fun and both lakes could easily be done within a single day, especially when you always stay on the cruiseships or choose the stations carefully, where you are leaving the ships, explore lovely places like Ringgenberg, Iseltwald, Spiez, Schloss Oberhofen or Huenibach, Thun etc. and continue by the next ship.
All of the ships on Brienzer See and Thuner See are devided into 2 classes :
The 1st class on the entire upper deck, and a 2nd class in the lower decks.
Normally on mondays and at special days during the lower season day-tickets are available for both lakes for just 20 sfr / 13 Euros for both lakes.
All of the ships on Thunersee and Brienzersee are also included in the "Regionalpass Berner Oberland" - read more about it in my other transportation-tip !!

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Ballenberg-steam-train used to go on a regular basis between Interlaken and the Brünig-Pass some decades ago. Nowadays the museum-steam-train will go only several times a year, but at least you may see the train also in Interlaken :
At the end of track #4 at the station Interlaken Ost you will find an interesting shed with the old steam-train : Ballenberg-Bahn is a museum-steam-train that used to go east of Brienz on a regular schedule many years ago. When you are lucky, there will be someone there to let you inside the shed, otherwise you may see at least the old wagons in front of the shed or you return on any friday at 02.00p.m., because every friday afternoon the shed is open for visitors !!
In summer the steam-train will make special tours according to these timetables :
www.dampfbahnen.ch - you may use the link below !
for prices click on "Preise" - it is a pity that everything is just in german, but I guess you may understand most of these infos anyway.
Several train-rides are done each year in July, September and October between Interlaken Ost and Giswil ( that is halfway between Brienz and Luzern - with a scenic ride going through Brienz and over the Bruenig-Pass)
Be careful, I spoiled one of my jackets , when I touched the steam-train in order to make the picture of the driver's place - coal-dust is everywhere and it will be hard to clean your clothes again !!

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Driving by car to Giessbach is a bit tricky : When you arrive via Bruenig-Pass from Lucerne, there is no problem, when you arrive from Interlaken you have 2 possibilities :
1)take the road at the north-side of Brienzersee, passing through the centres of all the small villages between Ringgenberg and Brienz and you need a lot more time
2) Take the highway at the south-side of Brienzer See and you need a highway-sticker !!
When-ever you want to use Swiss-AUTOBAHN /highway - you will have to pay a " vignette " - a ticket to be attached behind your windscreen. There are only 1-year-tickets available for the price of 40 sfr / 32 Euros ! There are high penalties, when they catch you without it. Buy them at newspaper stands or directely at the border. When arriving ON the Autobahn already from another country, there will be an exit for all those NOT WILLING to buy a vignette... I may highly recommend to buy this sticker, simply because many of the fast roads like the road along the southern shore of Lake Brienz are included in the highway-system, although there is only 1 track in each direction and only a very few places, where you may overtake others. And still you save 30 minutes driving-time between Brienz and Interlaken. Also in other parts of Switzerland you may get on a highway without realizing immediately !!

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Just opposite of Giessbach, at the other side of Brienzer See, you may take a ride with one of the most scenic and most interesting mountain-trains in Switzerland :
Brienz Rothornbahn dates back to the year 1891 and many of the trains of that time are still in use today. In the 19th century it was the highest train-station in the world. On top of Rothorn you may enjoy 2 restaurants , walk up to the peak of Rothorn and go down to Soerenberg at the north-side of Rothorn by cablecar. On the way to the top of Rothorn there are 3 stations with passing-places for the oncoming trains, and at the 1st such station ( Planalp) the trains get fresh water and oil and you may get out for 5 minutes in order to take pictures ! Try to be at the station 20 minutes before the trains are leaving ! The seats at the left will offer the best views in my opinion ! The 1st and maybe 2nd train in the morning are Diesel-trains ! Don't forget rain-gear and good walking-shoes !! The weather may change all of a sudden on top of Rothorn ! The trains run between may 21st and October 23rd in 2005 for other years : take a look at the web-page below ! An ordinary return-ticket is 62 sfr / Halbtax: 50 sfr ! , and it is 100% included in the "Regionalpass Berner Oberland" (that means : it is totally free at the days of unlimited rides and you pay just 50% at the other days)

In case that you choose Giessbach for your your base to explore the wider region around Brienzer-See and Thuner See from there, it certainly makes sense to think about one of the many possibilities to save some money by a pre-paid train-pass :
When you stay for at least 3 days with a perfect weather in the area , it really makes sense to buy the "Regionalpass Berner Oberland" : It is valid 7 (220,-sfr) or 15 days (265,-sfr) and during 3 of the 7 or 5 of the 15 days you may use that ticket for unlimited travels, only for Jungfraujoch you pay 50 sfr extra and for Schilthorn 30 sfr extra - the Brienz Rothorn is included !! The tickets are for 7/15 consecutive days, BUT you may choose any 3 (or 5) days of unlimited travels by yourself - you simply stamp your ticket at any trainstation into a machine on these days. During the rest of the days you pay half of the ordinary prices. This ticket includes also all trains and ships around Brienzersee and Thunersee, trains till Brig, Lenk i.S., Adelboden, Meiringen, Gstaad and halfprice all days to Zermatt, Luzern, Bern etc... I had such a ticket with 7 days and could save a lot of money, although I had only 3 days with excellent weather-conditions !!. See more details about that ticket on my link below !!
At the funicular in Giessbach you have just a small reduction !!