TRAVELING FROM ZURICH TO GRINDELWALD BY TRAIN
After spending an exhausting Layover in Zurich, we decided to call it an early night in preparation for our journey the next day to Grindelwald.
Our first night in Europe was perfect until the jet lag kicked in and Mishi and I were wide awake at 4:30 a.m.
So instead of waiting around for our 8:00 a.m. departure time, we decided to bump our train ride to 6:30 a.m. Upon hitting the “change request” button on our phone, we quickly washed up, packed, performed an obligatory room and luggage inspection and headed towards Zurich HB (short for Hauptbahnhof which is Zurich’s main train station). Admiring the architectural wonder and size of the train station, we wandered a bit and perused for some snacks and drinks for our upcoming three-hour train ride. We found our train cart and sat next to some locals on their commute to work. Coming from the U.S., it’s always a spectacle and joy, riding local transportation in Europe, especially Switzerland: it’s clean, on-time (freakishly on-time, and we even noticed that if the train is late even by a minute or two, there will be PSA’s everywhere notifying of the delay), and thankfully, quiet.
The train ride was simply amazing — we saw the sun rise over different Swiss cities and as metropolitan buildings began to leave our sight; mountains, hills, and pastures of green fields started to fill the scenery. Listening to our favorite music and snacking on our treats from Zurich HB, our short one-hour train ride to Bern went by quickly and just like that, we already completed our first of three transfers to Grindelwald.
Unfortunately, as we got on the next train to Interlaken, we realized it was no longer quiet and peaceful.
The train from Bern to Interlaken was full of locals and tourists heading to the Swiss Alps for their weekend ski trip, week-long getaways, and in our case, honeymoon. We opted not to reserve any seats for this portion of the trip since it was only for 45 minutes, but that was quickly a mistake I instantly regretted. With the train being completely packed, Mishi and I had to maneuver through the narrow passageway with our rolling suitcases accidentally bumping into unbothered passengers, trying our best to find a couple of open seats. We didn’t even bother looking beyond two carts because of the overwhelming amount of passengers and decided to stand in between the carts near the entrance/exit. But as we stopped by each city between Bern and Interlaken, endless amount of passengers were somehow getting onto the already full train, and soon our little space became overly crowded.
Note to self and tip for others - Do reserve a seat for the train ride between Bern to Interlaken.
Don’t be like us.
But not all was lost and misery; the views we got to see between Bern to Interlaken was somehow even more amazing than the one from Zurich. There were more mountains, valleys, and green fields but as we approached Lake Thun, everyone in the train quickly turned to the left side to see one of the most picturesque and beautiful lake I have ever seen. The aquamarine water, the iconic Swiss houses and lodges ever so gently plotted throughout the hills surrounding the grand lake; it was a view that I will never forget.
It wasn’t long after we passed the enormous lake that we reached Interlaken which was our third and final transfer to Grindelwald. With only five minutes to get to our last train before it departs, we quickly got off and ran to our cart, huffing and puffing, barely making it with seconds to spare.
Another tip: Little did we know, and we found out a couple of days later, as long as you have a train ticket for the day, you can take any other train whether it’s 5 minutes or 5 hours later. So no need to panic and run like hysterical Americans missing their flights.
Don’t be like us.
After catching our breath, we boarded our last train from Interlaken to Grindelwald. I have to say, this was by far (I know I keep saying it, but it’s true!) the best view I have ever seen in my life so far. The short 25-30 minute ride goes through the most beautiful valleys with rivers running in between, and trees that seemed to grow infinitely up to the mountain tops. It was such a dramatic Swiss welcome and, little did we know, a sneak peek for something grander.
As we finally arrived in Grindelwald train station, our mouths dropped instantly. We stepped off our train and found this cute little town surrounded by three massive and iconic mountains: Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau. There are no words to describe that first step into Grindelwald — it literally looks like a fairy tale town from a children’s book. After our initial shock by this beautiful city, we felt incredibly happy and validated, choosing this place as our home base for the next four days. During our preliminary planning phase, we were hesitant on whether to explore this region by car and what city to decide as our home base to explore the Swiss Alps. Based off our initial observation and glee, Grindelwald was the perfect choice and secondly, we immediately noticed having a car here would definitely be more of an inconvenience than useful. Then add to the fact that this city is very walkable for most people and if I had to guess, most can walk from one end to the other in less than a couple of hours. Lastly, most of the mountain peaks in Switzerland are connected by road but also by gondolas and trains. For those reasons, we ultimately decided to snag the Swiss Pass before our arrival. The Swiss Pass allowed us to utilize both the trains and gondolas for our day trips from Grindelwald, but we were also able to use it for our morning ride from Zurich. We highly recommend you have the Swiss Pass while exploring the Swiss Alpines: With this pass, you can easily travel from mountain to mountain as if you were commuting on a local train back at home.
Also, if you haven’t had a chance to read our post Why we chose the Swiss Pass and How it works — we highly recommend reading it, just so you understand the different types of passes Switzerland offers and which one will work best for you and your journey through the Swiss Alps. The train system in Switzerland is incredibly fast, efficient, and on-time BUT also incredibly expensive compared to most parts of the world and the different types of passes being offered is more complicated and convoluted than the American tax system.
Feeling excited and anxious to see our hotel, we quickly routed our Google Maps to our home for the next four days, Hotel Glacier. We enjoyed the short and scenic five-minute walk from the train station to the hotel. Even though we were jetlagged, surviving off of little to no sleep, and physically drained from all the excitement and movement from the morning’s travel, we were still fully satisfied and energized to begin our exploration of the Swiss Alps.
Since we left Zurich so early, we arrived at our beautiful hotel at 9:30 A.M. which was too early to check in, but thankfully they offered to hold our luggage and move it to our room once it was ready. By the way, Hotel Glacier is one of the nicest hotels we’ve stayed at. Since it was our honeymoon, we opted to splurge and got one of the four rooms that had a personal hot tub that faced the Eiger mountain. Hotel Glacier had everything for our trip — the location was perfect for our day trips, the views were unbeatable, the complimentary breakfast buffet was insanely delicious, and the hospitality was immaculate. We highly recommend this hotel for your next visit to Grindelwald.
After checking in, we met with our friend from back home, who was patiently waiting in the hotel lobby for our arrival. We quickly changed into our trekking outfit, grabbed a few sandwiches and water bottles at the local COOP (supermarkets all over Switzerland), and officially started our Four Days in Grindelwald.
