Berner Alpen Transportation

We went there by bus from Karlsruhe and had no problems getting around with the bus. Just the tour to the Schynigge Platte was by train. Public transportation is very well organized as well!

Have a look at this great overview of public transportation in the Bernese Oberland!

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In Meiringen, just a few km east of Brienz, you may see this great funicular, that will take you to the place, where Sherlock Holmes died. The Reichenbach-funicular dates back to 1899 and recently all of the old wagons and the whole track were modernized. The track is just 714 meters long, the height-difference is 244 meters.
Trains run ever 15 minutes and the ride will take 7 minutes. At the top-station you will find several paths leading up or down again. Zwirgi is a place above the Reichenbachfall - walking up there take 20 minutes, and from there you may drive down a "monster" - see my sporting-tip !

The funicular runs daily May till beginning of October:
09.00-11.45 a.m. + 01.15-05.45p.m. every 15 minutes
In July and August between 09.00a.m. and 06.00p.m. every 15 minutes !
There are lots of free parking-spaces at the station !
From Meiringen station you way walk there within 20 minutes

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Berner Alpen does not exist only of high mountains, but also of lovely alpine lakes and some of them are big enough for cruise-ships. Brienzer See and Thuner See are the largest lakes in the Berner Alpen and cruising them is a lot of fun because both of them 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 Spiez, Schloss Oberhofen or Huenibach, Thun etc. and continue by the next ship.
All of the ships have a 1st class : the total 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 belong to the swiss railway-system and are also included in the "Regionalpass Berner Oberland" !

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The Ballenberg Bahn, a lovely museum-steam-train, is another quite popular attraction in the Berner Alpen. During the summer you may still take a ride at special dates with that historical train, the rest of the time you may see it in a shed at the end of track #4 at the station Interlaken Ost.
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 :
http://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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An old-fashioned funicular is waiting for the cruise-passengers in Giessbach, taking them directely to the lovely Grandhotel Giessbach. The old funicular is just 345 meters long and takes you up 90 meters in height. This funicular dates back to the glorious time of 1879, when most of the noble tourists arrived by steam-ship and would never have thought a second about taking a little walk uphills....
Still today you will always have a connecting funicular going down to the ship-station 5 minutes prior to the arrival of the ships and afterwards again a funicular going up to the hotel . Such a funicular is always connected by a thick rope with the oncoming wagon and they will meet in the middle of the track. In case of Giessbach-funicular only that wagon will be accessible, that is going TO the ship or FROM the ship.

The one-way-ticket is 4,50 sfr / return is 6 sfr
For holders of a "Regionalpass berner Oberland"
the returnticket is 4,50 sfr.
the funicular will only be operated, when a ship is arriving or leaving,because the ship-station is a "cul the sac" a place with a dead end.

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First is another highlight of the Berner Alpen, although it is neglected by most of the tourists. From First you may take a fullday-tour to Schynigge Platte and get down again by another mountain-train to Wilderswil and from there it is just 1 station to Interlaken Ost with the ordinary train.
First is a mountain with a hight of 2168 meters above sea-level and it is a perfect point to start various mountain-hikes, from easy to energetic. At first you will have to take the train from Interlaken to Grindelwald and walk about 300 meters to the station of the First-cablecar.
The cablecar to First starts in the centre of Grindelwald, close to the Sunstar-hotel and there are 3 stations where you may leave the cablecar:
1)BORT in a height of 1570m : from here you may walk to Wetterhorn within 1:50 h or take an easy trail back to Grindelwald - hiking or by trotti-bike - see my sporting-tips about these funny vehicles
2)SCHRECKFELD in a height of 1955m is a great place to hike to Grosse Scheidegg
3)FIRST, in a height of 2168m : the starting-point for hikes to Bachalpsee, Faulhorn, Schynigge Platte etc.

The First-cablecar is included in most of the prepaid train-passes.

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Kleine Scheidegg is one of the most popular destinations for tourists, because the train to Kleine Scheidegg is free for holders of most train-passes and it is also quite a cheap and easy opportunity to see the alpine peaks of Eiger, Moench and Jungfrau from a short distance. The cog-wheel-train to Kleine Scheidegg existed already a long time before the first plans for the train to Jungfraujoch were made. Trains to Kl.Scheidegg will leave from Lauterbrunnen via Wengen and also from the other side, from Grindelwald. You may easily distinguish all of the different trains in that area by their colors and the trains to Kleine Scheidegg will always be yellow on top and have green stripes at the bottom.
At Kleine Scheidegg you will have to change the train on a big platform. The changing-time is long enough in order to be able to buy the ticket to Jungfraujoch, BUT of course you may buy this ticket already at any train-station in Switzerland, where you start your journey.
I came with a "Regional Pass Berner Oberland" and had the tickets untill Kl.Scheidegg included and needed to buy a seperate ticket to Jungfrau.
All stations of the train to Kleine Scheidegg will provide automatic lockers for your luggage !

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The Jungfraubahn is for most of the tourists certainly the main reason to come to the Berner Alpen around Interlaken. The trainline to Jungfraujoch will start at Kleine Scheidegg and will take you to the highest train-station in Europe: The jungfraujoch / Top of Europe. The tickets for Jungfraubahn will never be included in any Eurail-, Euro-Rail-, Interrail-tickets etc. , there will be ALWAYS be a minimum extra-charge of about 50 sfr (return-ticket). Jungfraubahnen-Pass and Regional-Pass Berner Oberland will give you a reduction of 50%.
In 1894 Adolf Guyer-Zeller had the idea of building a tunnel through the mountains in order to get from Kleine Scheidegg to Jungfrau. In 1896 he started to build the Jungfraubahn and it took 16 years to build it. The final costs were 15.000.000sfr and Guyer-Zeller had the clever idea to include the 2 stations inside the mountain (Eigerwand & Eismeer) simply in order to be able to earn some money already, by taking tourists there, while the rest of the track was not finished yet. The Jungfraubahn was opened in 1912 and it is still the highest train-station in Europe.