Gimmelwald Transportation

Getting to Gimmelwald from Interlaken requires many steps and hops. This is the journey as I did it :

1.Train from Interlaken West to Interlaken Ost
2. Train from Interlaken Ost to Lauterbrunnen
3. Bus from Lauterbrunnen to Stechelberg
4. Cable car from Stechelberg to Gimmelwald

Sounds complicated ? Certainly does and as I was on a fairly tight schedule, I was dreading wasting loads of time queuing for tickets, waiting for trains etc. To my absolute delight, the owner of the hotel I stayed in at Interlaken booked the entire thing for me in about 30 seconds flat and all I had to do was not lose my ONE ticket which covered every step listed above, for the journey there and back.The price for all of this, a very reasonable CHF 30.40, the advantage, a totally carefree journey to Gimmelwald and back. This is an absolutely wonderful service and even if it costs a few francs to book, it is worth it over and over. So if you plan on making this journey, check with the hotel or train station before you set off.

Get to Interlaken however you choose, then get on the train to Lauterbrunnen at the FRONT END of the train! The train splits half way and only the front end goes to Lauterbrunnen!

In Lauterbrunnen, exit the station, cross the tracks and walk about 75yds to the bus stop (next to the station). Take the yellow PTT bus to the Schilthornbahn gondola in Stechelberg.
You can also take an hour and a half walk to Stechelberg if the weather is nice. It's a scenic walk!
Take the gondola up to Gimmelwald (the first stop). This is a neat experience, and is the only way in and out of Gimmelwald... unless of course you're up for a steep climb!

4 more images

The Muerren - Schilthorn Ferienpass / Holiday-pass is the very best of the pre-paid transportation-passes for Gimmelwald during the summer-season !
It is 135 sfr / 90 Euros and entitles you for unlimited rides for 6 consecutive days with all means of transportation available from and to Gimmelwald :
1)All of the sections of the Piz Gloria / Schilthorn-cablebar :
Stechelberg - Gimmelwald - Muerren - Birg - Schilthorn
2)The funicular Muerren - Allmendhubel
3)The funicular Lauterbrunnen - Gruetschalp
4)the train Gruetschalp - Muerren
5)The postal bus Lauterbrunnen - Truemmelbach - Stechelberg
_____________________________
This ticket makes sense MAINLY for people who spend their time in Gimmelwald & surroundings and e.g. for paragliders, who intend to fly down from Schilthorn several times. In case that you also plan to see Jungfrau, Kleine Scheidegg, First etc. you better choose the "Regionalpass Berner Oberland" !!!

4 more images

This ticket does NOT make sense, when you like to spend just a few days in the quiet area around Gimmelwald or when you just want to take the cablecar to Muerren or the bus to Lauterbrunnen...
Just in case that you really choose Gimmelwald as your base in order to explore the wider area of Berner Oberland, including Jungfrau, Brienzersee and Thunersee etc. the so-called "Regionalpass Berner Oberland" is in my opinion the best deal in many cases :
This transportation-pass is valid 7 (220,-sfr) or 15 days (265,-sfr) and during 3 (or 5) days you may use that ticket for unlimited travels in that reagion, only for Jungfraujoch you pay 50 sfr extra and for Schilthorn 30 sfr extra.
The tickets are for 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...
It includes also Brienzer Rothorn and Stockhorn.
I had this ticket with 7 days and could save a lot of money, although I had only 3 days with excellent weather.

4 more images

The cable-car to Muerren and finally to Schilthorn / Piz Gloria is the ONLY public transportation in order to get to Gimmelwald.
That cablecar starts in Stechelberg, at the very end of the public road through the Lauterbrunnen-valley and there is a cable-car leaving each half hour.
Between Stechelberg and Muerren you may use your ordinary train-tickets, Eurotrain-, Interrail-tickets, Jungfraubahnen-Pass, Regional-Pass Berner Oberland etc.
Take that same cablecar for ayour excurions to Schilthorn, BUT in my opinion a visit to Schilthorn makes sense only in really perfect weather-conditions !!
Even when you travel with any of the pre-paid train-passes, you still have to pay 32 sfr extra for the last 2 segments of the cablecar (Muerren-Birg and Birg-Schilthorn).
The ordinary price Muerren-Schilthorn is about 65 sfr !!
You may also get a "Muerren-Schilthorn-Ferienpass" - for 135 sfr you may use the following means of transportation without restrictions for 6 consecutive days:
the cablecars between Stechelberg & Schilthorn, betweeen Muerren & Allmendhubel, and all the trains between Lauterbrunnen & Muerren + the postbus Lauterbrunnen to Stechelberg !
Lockers for your luggage are available at the station of Schilthornbahn in Muerren !

From our hostel it's about a 15-20 minute walk to the Interlaken Ost train station. There we caught a train to Lauterbrunnen. It's one train but only until Zweilütschinen where the train splits in two, the first part going to Lauterbrunnen and the second part going to Grindelwald, a touristy resort under the north face of Eiger. The views kept getting better and better and from the windows of the train I could already see the snowy mountaintops of the Alps, which were invisible from Interlaken. 20 minutes later we arrived in the village of Launerbrunnen at the bottom of the valley of the same name. We then took the bus to Trummelbach falls from outside the station. After finishing the Trummelbach falls we faced several transportation choices and we chose the least expensive-walking. It was a beautiful sunny warm day in the Alps. There was no reason not to take advantage of it.
We walked for about 25 minutes and reached the cable car junction at Stechelberg. There are two ways to get from Stechelberg to Gimmelwald--a 5-minute gondola ride or an hour and a half hike (a gain of 500 meters in altitude). We decided to take the gondola.