Lauterbrunnen to Mürren

For almost twenty years the railway to Mürren ran in summer only. Henry Lunn tried to open the village to winter sport in 1909, and a quarrel between the hotels and the railway held the season up; when the trains finally ran through the winter of 1910–11, the British came for the snow. Within twenty years Mürren had given ski racing the slalom and one of its oldest races. Henry's son Arnold Lunn set the first slalom on its nursery slopes in January 1922, founded the Kandahar Ski Club there in 1924, and in 1928 started the Inferno, a race from the summit of the Schilthorn whose first course ran along the railway for a stretch. In 1931 the first Alpine World Ski Championships were held in Mürren.

The village is still reached the way those skiers came. From Lauterbrunnen, a cableway climbs almost 700 metres up the cliff to Grütschalp, and a metre-gauge railway of 4.27 kilometres runs on along the top of the cliffs to car-free Mürren, facing the Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau the whole way. It is also the village's supply line: about 5,000 tonnes of goods a year ride up on low wagons that the trains push ahead of them.

Trains run every 15 or 30 minutes and the ride takes about 20 minutes. A single costs CHF 11.80, no reservation is needed, and the Swiss Travel Pass covers it in full. The line closes for maintenance twice a year.

The journey starts in Lauterbrunnen, at the valley station opposite the platforms of the Berner Oberland-Bahn from Interlaken and the Wengernalpbahn to Wengen and Kleine Scheidegg. A single cabin, painted in the railway's colours since its renewal in 2026, carries up to 135 passengers on its upper deck and up to six tonnes of goods below them, and climbs 686 metres to Grütschalp in four minutes. Below it are the remains of the funicular it replaced in 2006: the slope beneath that track had slid about two and a half metres sideways and three metres downhill since it was built, and the cableway was planned so that its pylons stand on stable ground.

The goods and the train

At Grütschalp the passengers walk across to the train, and the freight takes its own route. An electric transfer machine lifts each load from the cabin onto the railway's low goods wagons, which the trains push ahead of them to Mürren. Goods of every kind travel this way: on average about 5,000 tonnes a year, and more when Mürren is building.

The railway itself is a single track of 4.27 kilometres, never steeper than 50 per mille and worked by adhesion alone, with no rack. It runs almost level along the top of the cliffs, through woods and across open alp, with the Lauterbrunnen valley below and the Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau facing the train the whole way. Trains cross at Winteregg, the one intermediate station, and reach Mürren eleven minutes after leaving Grütschalp.

Three generations of trains

When the line opened on 14 August 1891 it was one of the first electric railways in Switzerland. Each train was a small locomotive and one coach, and the trains left both ends at once and crossed at Winteregg, much as the cars of a funicular do. Motor coaches took over before the First World War, and from 1967 three Be 4/4 railcars in red and cream worked the line for well over half a century. Between 2020 and 2024 the railway was renewed from end to end: new track, enlarged stations at Grütschalp, Winteregg and Mürren, and three low-floor Stadler Be 4/6 trains, with low-floor goods wagons to match.

Beyond Mürren

Mürren is the start of more mountain transport. A funicular climbs to the Allmendhubel in four minutes, and the cableway from Stechelberg continues up through Birg to the Schilthorn, where the Inferno starts. On the far side of the valley, the Jungfrau Railway climbs through the Eiger to the Jungfraujoch, and from Wilderswil, near Interlaken, the Schynige Platte Railway climbs to its alpine garden.

The cableway and the train run as one service, timed to connect at Grütschalp, every 30 minutes in the early morning and evening and every 15 minutes from about 09:00 to 17:00. The same timetable runs on weekdays and at weekends, and it is unchanged in the timetable that starts on 13 December 2026. There is one class, and no reservations: buy a ticket and get on. Allow about 20 minutes from Lauterbrunnen to Mürren, including the change of vehicle.

The line closes for maintenance twice a year. In 2026 it was shut from 13 April to 10 July, while the cableway was renewed, and from 26 October to 6 November. During a closure, and after the last train, Mürren is reached from Lauterbrunnen by bus to Stechelberg and the Schilthorn cableway, at a higher fare.

Times below are for the 2026 and 2027 timetables, read from the Swiss national timetable in November 2026. Check them before travelling on the Jungfrau Railways (opens in a new tab) site or at sbb.ch (opens in a new tab).

Lauterbrunnen to Mürren

Cableways leave Lauterbrunnen at :06 and :36 past the hour all day, with extra ones at :21 and :51 between 09:00 and 17:00. The 20:30 is the last.

Mürren to Lauterbrunnen

Trains leave Mürren at :28 and :58 past the hour, and every 15 minutes from 09:28 to 17:28. The last is the 19:28, or the 19:58 from 20 December to 12 April and from 11 July to 25 October.

Connections

Lauterbrunnen is reached from Interlaken Ost on the Berner Oberland-Bahn, and an underpass leads from its platforms to the cableway station. From Mürren the cableway runs on to Birg and the Schilthorn, and down through Gimmelwald to Stechelberg, for a round trip back to Lauterbrunnen by bus.

The line is part of the Swiss national fare network, so one ticket covers the cableway and the train. Lauterbrunnen to Mürren costs CHF 11.80 single, or CHF 5.90 with a Half Fare Travelcard; there is one class, no reservation and no supplement. Tickets are sold at the valley station, from machines and in the SBB app, and through tickets from anywhere in Switzerland include the line.

For a few days in the region, the Jungfrau Travel Pass covers this line together with the Schynige Platte Railway, Grindelwald-First, Harder Kulm and the lake steamers, from CHF 210 for three days. Fares read from sbb.ch (opens in a new tab) and jungfrau.ch (opens in a new tab) in November 2026.

Unlike most mountain lines in the Jungfrau region, this one is covered in full by the national passes. The cableway and the railway are public transport ordered by the canton of Bern for a village without cars, so they sit inside the national network.

Swiss Travel Pass and GA Travelcard

Free. The Jungfrau Railways state that the Swiss Travel Pass gives free travel to Wengen, Mürren and Grindelwald, and that the GA Travelcard is valid from Interlaken Ost to Mürren via Grütschalp. A Swiss Travel Pass Flex must have a travel day validated. A Half Fare Travelcard or Swiss Half Fare Card halves the fare.

Interrail and Eurail

Included. The Jungfrau Railways list Lauterbrunnen–Grütschalp–Mürren among the public-transport routes that need either a separate ticket or one validated day of an Interrail or Eurail pass. With a travel day in use, the ride is covered.

Is a pass worth it here?

Not for this journey alone: the single fare is CHF 11.80. A Swiss Travel Pass earns its keep on the way to Lauterbrunnen and on the region's other lines, where it usually gives a discount rather than free travel. For several days around Lauterbrunnen, the Jungfrau Travel Pass covers far more of the region's mountain railways.

Pass conditions checked in November 2026 against the Jungfrau Railways' own pages. Conditions change with each season, and the pass issuer's page is the one that binds.

The line links a valley of waterfalls with a village of skiers' history, and Mürren is the start of more: a funicular to its own small mountain, a walk down to a smaller car-free village, and a cableway to a summit restaurant above the clouds.

Lauterbrunnen, on the valley floor, has the most choice and the easiest connections to Interlaken, Wengen and Grindelwald. To wake up opposite the Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau, stay in Mürren: the village is quiet once the last train has gone down, and several of its hotels close between the summer and winter seasons.

The places below keep their own websites and take direct bookings.

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