Hi, My husband, I and 2 kids plan to travel 5 days 4 nights in Switzerland, start with Geneva, then Montreux, take golden pass train to Interlaken, then to Luzern, finally leave from Zurich. Should we buy 4-days swiss card or a half price card make more sense? Also I heard there is free traveler transportation card given out by hotel in Geneva, is that true? Thank you for your information.
Posted by
Elk Grove, CA, USA
6898 posts
How old are your 2 children? If they are under 16 (6-15), they can ride all Swiss transportation free as long as they are in the company of one parent with a valid ticket on the Swiss train, bus or boat. It doesn't have to be a pass. The children and parent have to be in possession of a Family Card or Junior Card. They both work the same but they are acquired differently. For the family card, you can buy a Swiss ticket or pass online and request the Family Card. It's free online. The "Family Card" is not available in Switzerland. In Switzerland, you ask for the Junior Card when you buy your ticket or pass. There will be a cost of 30CHF for each Junior Card. Again, how ever you acquire, your children under 16 will travel for free. As for the type of Swiss Pass, if the travel you list above is all you are going to do and you won't be going to the Jungfrau or Schilthorn or other numerous side trips, you may not even need a Swiss pass or card. The estimated fares for the travel you list above is 126CHF plus 15CHF extra for the Golden Pass train from Montreux to Interlaken Ost. The Half-Fare card costs 110CHF and the cheapest Swiss pass is probably the Swiss 2-for-1 4-day Flexi-Pass at 250CHF.
Posted by
OP
Edison
2 posts
Thank you very much for your reply. We do want to go to Jungfrau. My kids are 14 so my cost will be (126+15)x2=282 without any pass. Does family card work for kids on Jungfrau? If not, do I need to pay full price 190x4 for Jungfrau trip? If with a swiss pass, do we get 50% or 25% off of Jungfrau trip for adults and kids for free? I see the swiss saver pass for 4-days for 2 adults is 498 so I am still weighting buying or not buying a pass. Another confusion is I was heard that if I use swiss pass for a museum on one day, then it will count as one day. Does that mean I can't use it for trains/buses/boat for that day?
Posted by
Elk Grove, CA, USA
6898 posts
If you have a valid ticket and a Family or Junior card for your children, they definitely will ride for free to and from the Jungfraujoch. A great Swiss feature. If you are looking at a Swiss pass, I see the 2-for 1 4-day Swiss Flexi pass for 246CHF. You can get to it on www.myswitzerland.com. Also, here's a link to what I see there. http://gyazo.com/c099d9816ca0f5244e64916c90fdc545 As for using a travel day, I've never really done this but its my understanding that once you check off the day, you can ride any number of trains, buses, boats on that same day. Perhaps this could include a museum visit as well.