Between Thun and Spiez

Frankfurt to Interlaken by train

How to take the rail journey from central Germany to the gateway to the stunning Berner-Oberland

Some of the ICE trains on the route to Basel very conveniently travel on to central Switzerland

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Routes

From Frankfurt Main Hbf to Interlaken Ost

Travel Information

Final Destination: Interlaken Ost

All trains also call at: Bern (connect for Geneve, Lausanne, Visp and Brig) and Thun and Spiez (connect for Zweisimmen and Kandersteg) and Interlaken West

Connect at Interlaken Ost for the ZB trains towards Luzern and the BOB trains to Grindelwald and Lauterbrunnen.

If your final destination is in central Interlaken, book tickets to, and leave the train at Interlaken West, as this station is much closer to the town centre.

3 x trains per day

Tickets

Book early and save: Yes

Online bookings usually open: 6 months ahead of the travel date

When making an online booking, check that you’re looking at booking info for the direct trains.

On the DB Bahn booking site look for journeys that have:

  • 0 in the Chg. column
  • ICE (and only ICE) in the Products column.

Use the earlier/later buttons to search for the cheapest ticket prices.

Trains departing at different times can be cheaper than others leaving on the same day, so you may need to look through the day's departures to find the cheapest fares.
You're more likely to find the cheapest fare on the morning train that usually departs at around 08:50.

The cheapest tickets tend to sell out particularly quickly on this route.

Where to book
Ticket Provider Approximate Cost
DB from €35.90

DB Guide

DB is the national railway operator in Germany, so its website can be used for booking journeys by German express trains; the ICE and IC trains and it doesn't charge booking fees.
It also sells tickets for journeys by direct trains on all international routes from Germany regardless of whether DB is operating the train service.

It also sells an extensive range of end-to-end journeys which involve making connections both within Germany and in neighboring countries, but journeys between Germany and Britain cannot be booked on DB.

A key feature of DB website worth keeping mind is that it offers 1st class ticket purchasers complimentary seat reservations on journeys both within and to/from Germany.
Seat reservations for daytime in both 1st and 2nd class can also be booked separately from tickets.

Two types of ticket have recently been made available;

  1. Cheaper 'Young' tickets which can only be booked by those aged 15-26 on the travel date.
  2. Flexi Plus tickets, which are now the most expensive type of ticket, but they're the only type of 2nd class tickets which DO include a seat reservation.
Omio from €35.90

Omio Guide

Omio is an online ticket agency which offers tickets for rail journeys in France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy and Spain.

The three key advantages of using Omio are

  • it offers prices in multiple currencies
  • it usually offers price comparison with other modes of travel including flights and buses
  • when visiting Europe, you can book journeys in multiple countries in one transaction.

The disadvantage of booking with Omio is that it often adds a booking fee to the final price; therefore when it does so without offering a price advantage, SMTJ doesn't tend to offer Omio as a booking option.

On this journey

Journey Features

Scenic - YesHigh Speed (partial journey)Lake views

Good to Know

From April 1st to December 9th maintenance work on the high-speed line to the north of Frankfurt (Main) is altering the routes of many ICE trains.
During this term the trains heading on to Interlaken will be originating in Hamburg instead of Berlin, so won't be departing at their usual times.
The trains on the route from Hamburg will have been diverted on to a non high-speed route, which may affect their timekeeping.

Journey description:

This is a journey that saves the best until last! Though you'll need to take the morning departure in order to make the most of this train ride.
There are lovely views over Lake Thun from the left of the train, when facing the direction of travel, between Thun and Spiez stations.

... though these videos were taken from a train travelling in the opposite direction, but they showcase how fine the views can be on a sunny day...

Then for the final 15 mins of the journey, after departure from Spiez, the train descends down to travel right by the shore of the Thunersee.

You need to be sat on the left in a backward facing seat to make the most of these views between Spiez and Interlaken.

The train will reverse direction on departure from both Basel SBB and Bern.

Between Thun and Spiez Between Thun and Spiez
Between Speiz and Interlaken Between Speiz and Interlaken
South of Spiez station looking over Faulensee South of Spiez station looking over Faulensee
Looking over Lake Thun Looking over Lake Thun
Approaching journeys end Approaching journeys end

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This second version of ShowMeTheJourney is exciting and new, so we are genuinely thrilled that you are here and reading this, but we also need your help.

We’re striving not to let anything get in the way of providing the most useful service possible, hence a facility has been set up with DonorBox which can be used to support the running costs and make improvements.

Instead of advertising or paywalls, your financial support will make a positive difference to delivering an enhanced service, as there’s a lot of ideas which we want to make happen.

So if you have found the info provided here to be useful, please consider saying thank you.

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