Good morning all! Your input and advice on this site have us very excited for our trip. We will be arriving in Vienna in early October and plan to use the wonderful transportation system in Austria and Switzerland. After staying in Vienna for three days, we will travel to Salzburg for 2.5 days. Then we travel on to Gimmelwald in Switzerland for 2.5 days. From there, we travel to Montreux (planning to travel via the Golden Pass). Bern and Luzern round out our trip. We were planning to use Westbahn or OeBB within Austria and buy point-to-point tickets. For Switzerland, we were planning to use the Half-Fare Card along with the Berner Oberland pass since we are staying in Gimmelwald and plan to hike. Does this sound like a cost-effective method for our travel? Thank you, in advance, for your input.
Posted by
Southwest Florida
865 posts
If you plan on traveling Salzburg-Gimmelwald, check first on fares via ÖBB, the SBB with the Half Fare Card purchase. Then you need to figure out if the Half Fare card will be worth savings on the BO Pass. But since you have such a short stay you should consider how much you plan on using transit there and if you would save just buying single trip tickets. 3 day card is CHF150 with the half fare card. Taking the bus from Lauterbrunnen to Stechelberg then cable car to Gimmelwald is only CHF5, one way. Gimmelwald to Wengen is only CHF9, one way. For just such a short stay and with hiking the BO Pass is really only good if you plan on visiting the entire area and utilizing cable cars multiple times. You can do a round trip from Gimmelwald-Eigergletscher-Grindelwald Terminal-Gimmelwald for under CHF50 per person.
In a nutshell, plan what you think you want to do in the Lauterbrunnen Valley, then see if the convenience of a BO Pass outweighs the savings you have from individual tickets.
Posted by
OP
United States
2 posts
Thank you Marc. I will map it out and decide from there. I appreciate your input!
Posted by
Chicago
2675 posts
For Switzerland, it sounds like the ½ fare card will be sufficient. But follow marc’s advice and price out what you would use with the BO Pass.
Sounds like a great trip.