Zurich to Interlaken
Gateway to the Jungfrau

Direct trains to Interlaken Ost leave from Zürich HB, Switzerland's largest station, right in the city centre. There are no gates, no security lines and no boarding cut-offs - arrive a few minutes early, find the platform on the departure boards, and board. Coming straight from a flight, Zurich Airport has its own station beneath the terminal: frequent trains reach Zürich HB in around 10–15 minutes, and some airport services run toward Bern, letting you change there instead. Either way, airport to Interlaken is typically around two and a half hours.

The train leaves Zurich westward across the Mittelland - the settled plateau between the Jura and the Alps - running fast through farmland and small towns. It is pleasant rather than dramatic; the drama is being saved for the second half.

Roughly an hour in, the train calls at Bern, the federal capital. You will not see much of it from the platform - the station is buried below the city - but it marks the turn: from here the line swings south, aimed directly at the wall of the Bernese Alps, which begin to fill the windows on clear days well before Thun.

Bern is also the route's insurance policy. If you miss a direct train, or you are coming from the airport on a Bern-bound service, connections toward Interlaken are frequent and tightly timed - Swiss changes of five to ten minutes are designed to work, and generally do.

One hour of tidy Mittelland farmland, then the Alps stand up on the horizon and the train drives straight at them.

After Thun - castle on the hill, river pouring out of the lake - the train reaches Spiez, one of the prettiest railway junctions in Europe: a small town stacked above a vineyard-ringed bay, with the Niesen pyramid rising behind. Then comes the stretch everyone remembers: the line runs along the southern shore of Lake Thun, water on the left, cliffs on the right, the peaks of the Bernese Oberland closing in ahead.

It lasts barely twenty minutes, and it is the reason to take this transfer in daylight if you can. In summer the lake is full of sails; in autumn the light comes low across the water; in winter the peaks above are white while the lake stays dark.

Interlaken means "between the lakes", and the town sits on the flat mile of land separating Lake Thun from Lake Brienz. The train calls at Interlaken West first - closer to some of the hotels along the Höheweg - and terminates at Interlaken Ost, which is the station most visitors actually need: it is the departure point for the Berner Oberland railway toward Lauterbrunnen and Grindelwald, and for the Lake Brienz boats. The two stations are ten minutes apart by rail, half an hour on foot along the river.

Interlaken's real job is as a base and a junction. From Ost, the mountain railways climb into one of the most famous Alpine landscapes anywhere - Lauterbrunnen's waterfall valley one way, Grindelwald beneath the Eiger north face the other, with connections onward and upward from both. That network deserves its own planning; the point here is that this two-hour train from Zurich puts all of it on your doorstep.

Swiss trains reward the unprepared: there are no compulsory reservations on domestic services, no operator confusion - it is SBB and its partners, one timetable, one ticket system - and no boarding procedures beyond walking onto the platform. Buy a point-to-point ticket for the day you travel, or use a pass. Interrail and Eurail are fully valid on this route with no supplement; only Switzerland's premium panoramic trains, like the Glacier Express, work differently, with booked panoramic cars.

The pass question is really about what happens after Interlaken. The Swiss Travel Pass covers this train, the Lake Thun and Brienz boats, and gives substantial discounts on the mountain railways above Interlaken - which are priced separately and add up quickly. If your trip is Zurich–Interlaken and several days of Jungfrau-region excursions, run the numbers on a pass before buying individual tickets.