During an impromptu five day trip to Zurich, I knew that I wanted to try to visit the Alps. While the city has a few sights, it’s overall not the most interesting place for tourists, especially if you have five days. The good news is that there are a handful of interesting day trips from Zurich. One of these trips is a day tour from Zurich to Jungfraujoch, which is the highest train station in Europe and is sometimes referred to as “The Top of Europe”.
Visiting the Jungfraujoch from Zurich is a very long day trip, with most of it being spent on transportation. I knew that going into it, but I don’t think it quite set in how long it would really be until I did the day trip. Thankfully, I enjoy scenic drives and my entire goal for this trip was to have a little time in the Alps, even if I knew this would be very short.
So, given that, here’s everything to expect on a day trip to the Jungfraujoch from Zurich.
Day Tour from Zurich to Jungfraujoch
Your day may look a tiny bit different, but if you’re doing a guided tour to the Jungfraujoch from Zurich, it should look pretty similar to this.
Note that I’ve included the travel times for each leg of the journey. Hopefully this helps to set your expectation for how much time is truly spent in transportation on this day trip.
Zurich to Interlaken (via Lucerne)
My day started when I boarded my bus in Zurich at 7:45. Promptly at 8:00, we departed. Our first stop was brief and was just to pick up more passengers in Lucerne. Those of us who started in Zurich (which was most of us) didn’t even get a chance to get off the bus and stretch our legs. After this brief stop, our tour actually started as our guide gave us more information about Switzerland.
The first major stop is Interlaken and is about two hours into the journey. In Interlaken we got a little time to wander and explore. It wasn’t a lot, coming in at just less than an hour, but it was enough to get out, stretch my legs, and get some nice initial photos of the scenery.
The morning started out cloudy and rainy so unfortunately my photos didn’t come out as perfect as I would like, but the weather improved as the day went on so I can’t complain too much. Since I was here right at the end of November, I got some color in the tree leaves which really added to the scenery.
Travel Time from Zurich to Interlaken: 2 Hours
Interlaken to Grindelwald
In Interlaken we picked up a few more passengers before continuing on to Grindelwald. From Interlaken, it’s another half hour bus ride to Grindelwald.
Our guide continued giving us bits of information about Switzerland, but I’ll be honest. I was paying more attention to the scenery than I was to our guide by this point. The skies had finally opened and I was getting some nice views.
Travel Time from Interlaken to Grindelwald: 30 minutes
Total Travel Time: 2 hours 30 minutes
Grindelwald to Kleine Scheidegg
At Grindelwald, we switched transportation and boarded a train to Kleine Scheidegg.
Our guide tried to keep us together, but the group was very large. I wasn’t too bothered by it though since as long as I knew where my guide was, that was good enough. The skies were clearing and we were really getting into the Alps now. This was the scenery I wanted!
If you’re here in winter, expect to share your train with a lot of skiers.
Travel Time from Grindelwald to Kleine Scheidegg: 25 minutes
Total Travel Time: 2 hours 55 minutes
Kleine Scheidegg to Jungfraujoch
At Kleine Scheidegg, the skiers exited to enjoy their day of skiing. For those going to Jungfraujoch, you will transfer to a cogwheel train for the final journey up to Jungfraujoch. After a long journey from Zurich to Jungfraujoch, it’s exciting to to know you’re almost at your main tour destination.
The journey itself isn’t really scenic because you’re in tunnels for most of the time. However, once you get to the top, you’re up in the Alps surrounded by snow and mountain peaks. And good news for me, by the time we reached the top, the skies were completely clear!
Once we finally arrived, we had two hours of free time to explore. This is plenty of time to hit the main sites and take in the atmosphere. In summer, you may want a little more time since more of the walking paths are open. If you visit in winter, two hours is sufficient.
Travel Time from Kleine Scheidegg to Jungfraujoch: 35 minutes
Total Travel Time: 3 hours 30 minutes
Jungfraujoch Exploration
Now that we finally made it to our destination, we had two hours to explore the area at our own pace. So what do you do at Jungfraujoch? The obvious answer is to take in the scenery and enjoy the views. Walk through the tunnels and see the ice caves, visit the viewing platforms, and just enjoy yourself.
We had about two hours to explore, which doesn’t seem like a lot, but was plenty of time. These two hours allowed us to travel at a leisurely pace without feeling too rushed. It was also great because we had plenty of time and could visit the top things in any order we pleased. Any more than two hours would have been too much time.
Jungfraujoch to Kleine Scheidegg
The tour has to end at some point and it was time to start working our way back to Zurich from Jungfraujoch.
The journey back to Zurich started with a train back to Kleine Scheidegg. It’s the same cogwheel train as before, but since you’re going down the mountain, rather than up, the journey goes just a tiny bit faster.
Travel Time from Jungfraujoch to Kleine Scheidegg: 25 minutes
Total Travel Time: 3 hours 55 minutes
Kleine Scheidegg to Lauterbrunnen
Instead of heading back through Grindelwald, we went to Lauterbrunnen, which gave us a bit more scenery. From here, we could actually see the Jungfraujoch from our train. Seeing it from down below really puts into perspective how high you were.
In summer, I think this is probably great. The days are longer and you’ll get better scenery. However, I traveled at the very end of November so while we were able to see the Jungfraujoch from below, it was starting to get dark out. So we only got some nice scenery for a little bit longer.
Travel Time from Kleine Scheidegg to Lauterbrunnen: 45 minutes
Total Travel Time: 4 hours 40 minutes
Lauterbrunnen to Zurich (via Interlaken and Lucerne)
Once you arrive in Lauterbrunnen, it’s back on the bus and it’s very uneventful. At least, it’s uneventful if you’re traveling in winter.
Like I mentioned before, I traveled at the end of November. By the time you reach Lauterbrunnen, it’s dark out and you can’t see anything. That makes for an incredibly long and boring drive back to Zurich.
Travel Time from Lauterbrunnen to Zurich: 2 hours 30 minutes
Total Travel Time: 7 hours 10 minutes
Transportation Time for Zurich to Jungfraujoch (and Back)
As I outlined, a day tour from Zurich to Jungfraujoch is long. Over seven hours were spent in transit across buses and trains. That’s an incredibly long time and you really need to be aware of that before you sign up for the tour.
That’s not to say that it’s not worth visiting Jungfraujoch, but rather, I’d really consider the travel time before committing to a day trip from Zurich. Starting in Interlaken would shave almost four hours of travel time from your day. That’s huge!
Should You Take a Guided Tour to the Jungfraujoch?
I normally opt to do things on my own. It’s just what I prefer. However, this trip was different and I chose to book a tour.
If you’re not starting in Zurich, I think that going on your own is a lot more feasible. Yes there’s a few trains to manage, but it’s all doable.
If you’re trying to tour Jungfraujoch from Zurich, there’s a lot of transportation and logistics required and an organized tour is the best way to go. One delay can cause a massive cascade effect. Let your tour company deal with it.
While you could work with your hotel or another tourist agency to book your tour, I just booked my tour directly from GetYourGuide the night before my trip.
Is a Tour to Jungfraujoch Worth It?
When I wrote in my journal after my tour, I wrote that I enjoyed the views, but not the tour from Zurich to Jungfraujoch. Since I booked the night before (I had waited to see what the weather would do because I wanted to make sure I would actually be able to get those views I wanted), I was left with what tour companies were available. I’m sure there are more than one company who run this tour, but I was not very impressed with my exact tour company.
The group was huge. We traveled from Zurich on a double decker bus and it was nearly full. While I’m not the biggest fan of group tours, I much prefer it if it’s a smaller group. I’ll admit that I should have done more research here, but this was the best I could find at the time.
But, Kristen, is a tour from Zurich to the Jungfraujoch worth it?
This is a difficult question to answer. On the one hand, I would advise not doing a day tour from Zurich to Jungfraujoch. It’s just a long day and I think there are other, better options to get some amazing views of the Alps. On the other hand, this was part of my last Europe trip before the Covid-19 pandemic, so I’m grateful for everything I got to do before we went into lock down.
I think my final advice would be the Jungfraujoch is incredibly touristy and if you’re going to visit, visit from somewhere significantly closer. Even starting in Interlaken would save some serious travel time (nearly four whole hours on a bus!). If you want to go into the Alps, there are better ways to do it. That said, you can still take the tour and even if I didn’t love my particular tour, I think a guided tour still makes sense for a trip like this. The transportation logistics for the one day would just be a pain.
Final Thoughts
It is possible to tour Jungfraujoch from Zurich, but it will be a very long day even on a tour. Personally, I’d recommend looking into other day trips from Zurich (such as Lucerne or Vaduz, Liechtenstein). Save the Jungfraujoch until you are actually staying somewhere significantly closer.
Continue Your Adventure
Switzerland: For those with limited time, check out my five day Zurich itinerary. It’s perfect for a long weekend.
Liechtenstein: For another day trip from Zurich, take a trip to the tiny country of Liechtenstein and visit its capital of Vaduz.
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