How to take the beautiful rail journey from Basel to Grindelwald

Interlaken Ost station is where the network of mountain railways in the Bernese-Oberland connect with SBB's national rail network.

You will often have around 8 mins to make the connection between trains at Interlaken Ost station, but again the connection is virtually guaranteed; in terms of the arrival and departure times of the trains.
You can be sure of making this connection, if you book tickets that are valid for the end-to-end journey.
Eight minutes may not be enough time to buy a ticket for the BOB train on to Grindelwald from the staffed ticket desks at Interlaken Ost station.

Optimum onward connections at Interlaken Ost:

The timetabling of the trains from Basel to Interlaken doesn't follow a set pattern.
Trains depart from Basel at either 31 or 59 mins past each hour; in some hours there are departures at both these times.
Typically it is the trains which depart Basel at 59 mins past each hour during the day have the optimum connections with the other trains on from Interlaken Ost.

So if you will be travelling on from Interlaken try to target the trains which leave Basel at 59 mins past the hour, particularly if you will be travelling with a ticket valid for the end-to-end journey.

Though if on arrival on in Interlaken, if you'll need to buy a ticket for your onward connection, you won't have to purchase it against the clock, if you can take the trains which depart Basel at 31 mins past the hour.

Booking Tickets:

Tickets can be purchased online for end-to-end journeys which involve taking a SBB train + the BernerOberlandBahn train on to Grindelwald.

Online bookings open: up to six months ahead of the travel date

‘Point-to-Point’ tickets can be used on any train(s) on your travel date, but they tend to be comparatively expensive.

'Supersaver' tickets are cheaper, as the portion of the journey by the SBB train can be discounted by up to 50%, but these tickets are train departure specific.
So if you book a Supersaver ticket and a flight delay etc, causes you to miss a train you are booked on to, you will have to book another full-price ‘Individual Ticket(s).
You can then apply for a refund of the Supersaver ticket, but the application costs CHF 10.

Hence it’s worth comparing the ticket price of a journey with the price(s) e of Saver Day Passes (see below) they might save you money and can also allow for a less stressful journey.

Using Saver Day Passes:

Now that the Swiss Transfer tickets have been discontinued a Saver Day Pass may save you money, if you can book at least a couple of weeks ahead (usually), so that you can obtain the pass at a discounted price.

They can be cheaper than tickets for the end-to-end journey, though they are more likely to be a money saver if you will be making a day return trip; particularly as they can now be used at no extra cost on the trains between Interlaken and Grindelwald.

Another plus of the Saver Day Pass is that they are not train specific, so can still be used in the event of a journey to Switzerland being delayed.
As they’re only valid for one day’s travel, the clue is the name, you’ll need to purchase another Saver Day Pass for your return journey at the end of your stay

Though if you will be making a day return trip from Basel to Grindelwald, it's likely that that a Saver Day Pass will be cheaper than booking tickets for the outward and return journeys.

Additional Information:

More general info is available on our GUIDE to taking the train to Swiss Ski Resorts.