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Travelling on The LÖTSCHBERGER Trains
These trains make one of the most incredible Swiss rail journeys as they travel between Thun and Brig.
Simon HarperShare
Since the opening of The Lötschberg Base Tunnel, the express train service between Brig and Spiez has been diverted away from the spectacular, older, Lötschberg Railway.
However, there are trains, which still take the fantastic older route via Kandersteg and this train service is known as ‘The Lötschberger’.
It operates hourly in both directions between Brig – Spiez – Thun, some trains continue beyond Thun to Bern and at the other end of the route, the trains every other hour have had their journeys extended beyond Brig to/from Domodossola in Italy.
Connections are available at Domodossola into and from the 'Centovali' service to and from Locarno.
Swiss Travel Passes and Saver Day Passes are valid on these trains between Brig and Domodossola and on the Centovali trains between Domodossola and the Swiss border, despite the journeys through Italy.
For Eurail and InterRai pass users, connections are also available at Domodossola with Regionale trains to/and from Milano, so taking a combination of Lotschberger and Regionale services enables the rail pass reservation fees on the EC trains on the Bern <> Milano route to be avoided, which is a saving of more than €10.
The journey:
Heading north between Brig and Kandersteg, the best views are from the left of the train, but between Kandersteg and Thun the best of the views are on the right.
The ticketing:
The train service is operated by BLS, though tickets can be booked on the SBB website; however, you won’t save if you book online, so it's not any more expensive to buy tickets last minute at the station.
If you will be using a rail pass to travel between Italy and destinations north of Spiez, such as Thun, Bern or Basel, then in good weather, jumping off the direct EC train, in order to connect in Brig or Spiez to the The Lötschberger is highly recommended!
You can then travel on from Brig or Spiez to your final destinations.
Cable car and ski resort access:
Mülenen station is adjacent to the base station of the Nisenbahn funicular.
The Lötschberger trains also call all at Friutigen station, which has bus links to the Adelboden skiing area.
The Saas Fee and Saas Grund skiing areas have bus connections from Visp station.
Simon Harper
I wanted to share my passion for train travel and explain how anyone can take the fantastic journeys I have taken.
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