/Switzerland Travel Centre
The STC can offer a wide range of holidays from weekends to longer stays in any resort in the Bernese Oberland and also help you put together packages including flights, accommodation, rail travel, motorway vignettes and admission to various attractions, such as Interlaken’s Top of Europe Ice Magic or Jungfraujoch – Top of Europe.
Price: call for a quote.
0207 420 4934
/The Swiss Ski Company
The Swiss ski company has 30 years experience of providing skiing holidays to the top resorts in Switzerland, including Adelboden, Grindelwald, Gstaad, Kandersteg, Mürren and Wengen. Call an expert to get individual advice on the resorts, hotels and travel options best suited to your requirements – even down to what platform your train will leave from!
Price: call for a quote.
0800 619 1400
/Inghams
One of the UK’s leading tour operators, with more than 80 years experience. Holiday packages include Grindelwald , Interlaken, Wengen, Mürren and Kandersteg, with flights from Gatwick, and Heathrow, plus many regional airports, including Luton, Bristol, Birmingham, Manchester, Edinburgh, Liverpool, Newcastle, and Leeds-Bradford.
Price: from £619 for 7 nights in Grindelwald.
01483 345 736
/Getting about
The Swiss Transfer Ticket (cost from £119) is the most cost-effective solution if you are staying at a single permanent holiday location. It takes you from the airport to and from your destination.
For many visitors, a Swiss Travel Pass, from £150, is a better option, allowing you greater flexibility to travel by train once in the Bernese Oberland, plus free travel on public transport in 75 towns and cities, free admission to more than 490 museums, and 50% discounts on most mountain railways.
A Bernese Oberland Regional Pass allows you to explore many outstanding attractions, including the Jungfraujoch Top of Europe - a ‘must’ for most visitors to the region. You can also follow in the footsteps of James Bond by taking the trip up to the Schilthorn, or relax on a gentle cruise on Lake Thun or Lake Brienz. Cost: from CHF 250 (approx £200) for a four-day pass.
If you are staying in Bern – even just overnight - you will receive a Bern Ticket for your whole stay, which lets you travel for free on public transport in zones 100/101 operated by the LIBERO Association. It also includes the famous Gurten funicular, the funicular Marzilibahn, and the elevator to the Cathedral Platform, as well as travel to and from Bern Airport.
By car
If using Swiss motorways, you will need a vignette (motorway toll sticker) for your vehicle. This costs 40 CHF (about £32) and is valid from 1 December of the previous year to 31 January of the following year. These can be obtained from border posts, Swiss post offices and petrol stations.
By air
The nearest airport to the Bernese Oberland is Bern, a small airport compared to Zurich or Geneva, but a fast, efficient hub for getting to Bernese resorts. Swiss airline Skywork is the only airline flying direct to Bern from the UK, with flights from London City Airport. An airport bus takes passengers to Belp train station. From there, you can take an S-Bahn to Bern main station.
Switzerland’s national carrier Swiss offers direct flights from various airports in the UK to Geneva, Zurich, Basel and Lugano. swiss.com
Other carriers, including Easyjet, British Airways and Ryanair, offer varied routes to Geneva, Zurich and Basel. Onward travel to resorts in the Bernese Oberland is best done by train using the Swiss Rail network.
By rail
Switzerland has excellent links to the continent’s high-speed rail network. Whether from neighbouring Austria, France, Germany or Italy, or from the Netherlands and Spain, international trains operate daily to Swiss cities.
But it’s once inside Switzerland that the scope of the Swiss Rail Network reveals itself. You can travel by train from, say, Zurich Airport to Interlaken and pick up local trains to the Jungfrau resorts of Grindelwald, Wengen and Murren.
Rail travel times
- Zurich to Bern 1hr 15mins
- Basel to Bern 1hr 15mins
- Geneva to Bern 2hrs
Typical road transfer times
- ZÜrich – Interlaken 1hr 45
- ZÜrich – Adelboden 2hr 20
- ZÜrich – Gstaad 2hr 40
- Basel – Interlaken 1hr 45
- Basel – Adelboden 2hrs 10
- Basel – Gstaad 2hrs 30
- Geneva – Interlaken 2hrs 15
- Geneva – Adelboden 2hrs 30
- Geneva – Gstaad 2hrs
- Bern – Grindelwald 1hr 10
Bike rental
You can rent bikes at 200 locations throughout Switzerland, including over 50 railway stations.
