The Best Train Trip in Switzerland, Brienz to the Famous Brienzer Rothorn

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An Exceptional Trip in the Berner Oberland

From popular Interlaken at the heart of the Berner Oberland it’s about a half-hour train trip or a one-hour boat ride to the small and picturesque lakeside town of Brienz on the northeastern shores of Lake Brienz.

Regularly considered one of the cutest small towns in Switzerland, Brienz sees quite a few visitors at the peak of summer. While Brienz's lake front is unquestionably lovely (you can check it out on our walk a few months back) and a few of its chalet lined alleys are indeed quite adorable, if you ask me, the real reason to go out of your way is not for the town or the lake but for the historic Brienzer Rothorn Bahn.

Running some of the last coal fired steam locomotives in Switzerland alongside some of the country’s oldest rolling stock, the Brienzer Rothorn Bahn is an absolute jewel for train lovers. The steep 7.2-kilometer line from the lakefront in Brienz ascends 1678 meters or about 5,500 feet to Brienzer Rothorn Kulm, the peak of the Brienzer Rothorn and the tri-cantonal boundary between Bern, Lucerne, and Obwalden.

With some of Switzerland’s most exceptional views, the Brienzer Rothorn Bahn is a popular tourist draw but, where most of Switzerland’s tourist hotspots tend to be a miss for us, the Brienzer Rothorn Bahn lives up to the hype.

The trip offers incredible vistas, opportunities to view some of Switzerland’s most iconic wildlife, and serves as an excellent starting point for some of the best hiking the country has to offer.

Despite serious storm damage this past summer (more on that in a bit), the Brienzer Rothorn Bahn is set to reopen in June 2025, and we are incredibly excited to share it with you!

Thanks for joining us!

A Phoenix Rising from the Ashes

Constructed between 1880 and 1892 to serve a burgeoning tourist market, the cog wheel Brienzer Rothorn Bahn was, at the time of its construction, one of the steepest railway grades in the world (up to 25% in places!).

From its station just across the street from the Brienz train station and ship terminal, the line quickly sweeps through town before plunging headlong into dense forest. About ten minutes after leaving Brienz, tantalizing pocket views of Lake Brienz’s stunningly turquoise blue waters begin to emerge through the trees foreshadowing what is to come.

Pocket views from the Brienzer Rothorn Bahn

Just under halfway up to the peak, about 25 minutes into the hour-long journey, the line breaks out of the trees and reaches the small hamlet at Planalp before winding its way up a dizzying grade towards the Brienzer Rothorn. With increasingly impressive views on both sides of the train, it quickly become clear that the line is a proper modern miracle of engineering.

Despite the incredible effort to get the line all the way up to the Brienzer Rothorn Kulm, at its inception, the Brienzer Rothorn Bahn was not long for the world. The competing Schynige Platte Bahn, still in (electrified) operation today just outside of Interlaken, opened just one year after Brienzer Rothorn and quickly drew much of Brienz’s tourist market. Even today, Schynige Platte is still much more conveniently located but, for Victorian tourists whose journey was already stretched incredibly thin, time was especially money.

The metaphorical nail in the coffin for the Brienzer Rothorn Bahn was the outbreak of World War I. With vastly reduced visitation, the rail line closed indefinitely in 1914. Two years later, permission was given to permanently demolish the line and recover materials for the war effort (really just preparation as far as armed Swiss neutrality went).

Needless to say, the demolition of the Brienzer Rothorn Bahn never occurred. With the financial burden of deconstruction levied on the federal rail commission, the cost of removing the line simply outweighed the need for materials and it was instead abandoned. After a 17-year hiatus, an investment group took a bet on the (still in good shape) railway in the 1930’s and, ever since, the Brienzer Rothorn Bahn has remained in (fiscally tentative) operation.

Never electrified, the Brienzer Rothorn Bahn remains the only continuously operated steam traction railway in Switzerland (the once electrified Furka Bahn in the Canton of Uri only returned to steam operation in 1990’s when its existence was threatened). The Brienzer Rothorn Bahn runs a selection of original and reproduction coal fired locomotives and several (slightly) cleaner oil-fired steam and diesel electric locomotives.

The route of the Brienzer Rothorn Bahn

One of the newer steam locomotives on the Brienzer Rothorn

While I can’t say I am a huge proponent of the billowing clouds of coal smoke from an environmental perspective, getting a chance to ride with one of the original coal fired locomotives is still something quite special. To me it seems almost fitting to watch the engines push their way through that cloud of smoke like the phoenix that they are miraculously rising from the ashes time and time again.

Another New Start for the Brienzer Rothorn Bahn

High maintenance costs have always plagued the Brienzer Rothorn Bahn. The steep line to the Rothorn is highly exposed and winter rockfall and avalanches are rarely kind to the old infrastructure. That said, the Brienzer Rothorn Bahn has always managed to rebound picking up the pieces and reopening at the start of the summer season. This past year was particularly trying but, thankfully, seems not to have been an exception to the rule.

A massive late summer thunderstorm broke directly over Brienzer Rothorn this past August unleashing a once in a century flash flood. In a matter of minutes, muddy debris rushed down from the peaks straight towards the rail line and the town of Brienz, ripping up everything in its path. The rail bed of the Brienzer Rothorn Bahn was severely undercut and many of the tunnel portals and bridges along the route were heavily impacted. The final price tag for the Brienzer Rothorn Bahn is yet to be tallied but is estimated to come in at over 5 million Francs in required repairs. Arguably the railway got off easier than the rest of Brienz.

No stranger to this particular brand of natural hazard, Brienz installed raising bridges and deeper armored channels after devastating flooding in 2005 (incidentally the same floods that freed the Berner Oberland’s pioneering beavers from the Dahlhölzi Zoo). Unfortunately, this summer’s storms still managed to overwhelm the channels. Debris laden water rushed into town snatching up cars and burying homes before eventually funneling into the trench of the rail line connecting Meiringen to Interlaken. Flowing all the way to the Brienz train station, the damages are estimated to cost Brienz and the surrounding region around 50 million Francs.

Steep slopes along the train line

As of this writing, some of Brienz’s residents are still digging out their homes but the main trunk rail line and boat terminal have reopened after months of replacement buses. With the Brienzer Rothorn Bahn expected to resume operations in June 2025, Brienz is, once again, rising from the veritable ashes and, I for one, intend to make a return visit as soon as possible to show my support for the monumental effort.

A Death Defying Hike from Planalp

Feel free to skip ahead to the next section if you are just interested in the train trip to Brienzer Rothorn Kulm, but, if you are into hiking, you will definitely want to keep reading.

Our trip to Brienzer Rothorn this past summer was exceptional and our hike from Planalp to Brienzer Rothorn Kulm had to have been one of our absolute favorites in all of Switzerland!

For most travelers, Planalp is just a brief stop on the through journey to Rothorn Kulm, but for the hardy few who don’t mind a bit more sweat, this is the start of several challenging and extremely exposed but incredibly rewarding hikes.

Planalp itself isn’t much to write home about, but does host a small collection of historic structures and a traditional (cash only) restaurant. Before starting our hike, we hid there for an hour or so while we waited for an unplanned summer thunder storm cell to pass over. Perhaps this is as good a place as any to mention that any visit to the Brienzer Rothorn should only be attempted in fine weather.

Satisfied that the single thunderclap we heard when we arrived at Planalp was the last for the day, we set off on our way up towards the ridge separating the Berner Oberland from the Emmental. The valley and ridgeline between Planalp and the peak of Brienzer Rothorn forms a large bowl and you have three main options for climbing to the peak.

Looking up from Planalp at the Brienzer Rothorn Kulm

You can take a steep, less developed, path straight up the right flanking ridge (when looking up at the peak), head straight up the valley and more or less parallel the rail line most of the way up, or head up the valley then break off to the left, climbing up and over into the Emmental before working your way back to the peak with stunning views into both the Canton of Lucerne and over Lake Brienz and the Bernese Alps. While none of the routes are for the faint of heart, the left and right most paths are the more exposed.

As many of you already know, Corinne and I are no fans of heights, but in this instance our friends peer pressure won out and we choose the left flank to make our ascent. I am glad we did.

After a steep climb up the bowl, we topped out and crossed over the knife edge ridge into the Canton of Lucerne. On the far side of the ridge, we traversed the slope with incredible views into the Emmental and Entlebuch Nature Preserve before ascending an unbelievably steep staircase back to the ridge top. From there the walk became, at times, wildly exposed on both sides but offered more stunning views than you could shake a stick at. The photos hardly do it justice.

Views on the path from Planalp to Brienzer Rothorn

A Picture Perfect Peak

Whether you decide to walk up to the peak like we did and take the train back down or take the train in both directions, you stand to be rewarded. The views from the tippy top of Brienzer Rothorn Kulm, just a short walk from the train and gondola station (the later coming from the other side of the mountain in the Emmental), are incredible.

Along the way, keep your eyes peeled, Brienzer Rothorn is well known for its population of Steinbock, or European Ibex. These majestic horned creatures (a species of wild goat, though it doesn’t sound as impressive) traverse the steep rocky slopes playing (and generally winning) a constant game of chicken with gravity. On our visit, the Steinbock came straight to us, passing mere meters away from us on the path.

Lovely views from the peak of Brienzer Rothorn

Some of Brienzer Rothorn's local residents

Like many of Switzerland’s mountain tops, Brienzer Rothorn has an obligatory café (actually two, one near the train station and the other at the gondola station) alongside a small hotel which gives you the chance to spend the night with some of the world’s best views.

Of course, all this beauty and novelty does come at a price. The Brienzer Rothorn Bahn is an exceptionally popular journey and not particularly cheap at 96.00 CHF for a full-price Adult round-trip ticket at the time of this writing (though arguably you get much more bang for your buck here than on most of the other popular trips in the Berner Oberland). A GA Pass, Half-Price, or Swiss Travel Pass afford you a discount on the Brienzer Rothorn Bahn and a Berner Oberland Regional Travel Pass gets you free access (with a small additional fee to reserve a seat).

On a nice day in the summer, the round trip is liable to be sold out so be sure to make reservations ahead of time online at least a couple days in advance. Showing up on the day is no guarantee of a spot.

Looking into the Emmental from the peak of Brienzer Rothorn

We hope you enjoyed our visit to Brienzer Rothorn on the Brienzer Rothorn Bahn. If you enjoyed this week’s visit, check out the other articles in our Discovering Bern series, were we explore every corner of our wonderful Alpine backyard. Stay tuned for additional articles on our Swiss travels every other week and, until next time, gute Reise! Feel free to leave a comment on one of our social media platforms or write us using our contact form.