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Travel from Germany to Switzerland with KONUS

Hi all, I recently posted another question on here, but this question is about our next leg of our trip so I am making a separate post. We will be traveling from the Black Forest (Haslach) to Wengen, Switzerland with 2 adults, 3 kids. We'll have the KONUS card and I know that will only get us to the Switzerland border, but not beyond. I am checking the route both on Google maps and ChatGPT, but nothing beats feedback from an actual human who knows the route. Could you please tell me if I'm in the right direction here:

On our check out day, we can use our KONUS cards to get us from
Haslach --> Offenburg
Offenburg --> Basel

Once in Basel, we would need a purchased ticket to continue on, or use a Swiss pass (I haven't delved in to this yet, still figuring out our Germany transport up until this point) to continue on to Interlaken, then Lauterbrunnen and Wengen.

Is this correct so far?

With the KONUS, my understanding is that we don't need to book tickets ahead of time, we just take the train that we want within the BF region and show them our passes. So for our departure day, our KONUS cards would get us to Basel, and then would I need to reserve our train tickets from Basel - Wengen ahead of time? Or does the Swiss travel pass work similar to KONUS in the sense that we can use it for any means of transport on the covered map and just show our passes once on the train?

TL;DR Can we use KONUS to get us from BF to Basel without additional tickets?
Can we also use a Swiss travel pass to board a train from Basel and continue on to Wengen without reservations or should I make any of these reservations ahead of time?

Thanks

Posted by
2657 posts

"On our check out day, we can use our KONUS cards to get us from
Haslach --> Offenburg
Offenburg --> Basel"

Correct, but only as far as Basel Bad(ischer Bahnhof), the last station in Germany.

Posted by
36337 posts

I don't understand your abbreviation TL;DR. What does that mean?

KONUS is valid throughout the entire federal state of Baden-Württemberg not just the Black Forest (is that what you mean by BF?).

it is valid on local transportation, such as buses and trams including in the larger locations such as Offenburg and Freiburg im Breisgau, as well as local and regional trains throughout the state.

KONUS is NOT valid on the fast trains from Offenburg such as the ICE trains. If you want to get to Basel quickly you need an ICE ticket for that run. Using regional train including a change to tram or other train at Basel Bad Bahnhof (as far as the KONUS goes) for the transfer to Basel SBB (where you need for the train towards the Berner Oberland) will take plus or minus 2 hours. Using an ICE will be all the way through to Basel SBB and take 1H18 to 1H21 but needs that ticket.

If you decide on the Swiss Travel Pass you just show that with your passport on the Swiss trains when asked. If you don't, yes you need a ticket from Basel.

No reservations needed on those (and almost all) Swiss trains.

Posted by
7952 posts

Whoa...

This page makes it clear that the KONUS card is valid not only to Basel Bad (in Germany) but all the way to Basel SBB (CH).

https://www.muellheim-touristik.de/zu-gast/konus/fahrt-nach-basel-schweiz

Also, KONUS cards are valid only within a smaller part of Baden-Württemberg - NOT throughout the entire state of B-W. See KONUS-area map where the card is valid here:

https://www.schwarzwald-tourismus.info/_Resources/Persistent/c2e2a29053b0409726b01db7e58b355e344c20a0/KONUSFlyer2025.pdf

Posted by
83 posts

Russ & Fritz - Thank you, my understanding was KONUS would only take me as far as Basel Bad, so that is interesting Russ. I wonder if that is new? I do see that regional trains take longer than the ICE would so I will have to compare the cost savings to the extra travel time.

I do see tickets available for purchase on the German DB website for our through-journey from Offenburg to Wengen for just 56e for our family of 5, and these are on the high speed ICE and IC trains. I looked on SBB to compare prices, but the exact same journey is not yet available to see or purchase on SBB (travel in August). If I purchased on DB, would all of the trains and times be honored in our Swiss travels even if they are not yet available to purchase on SBB? 56e seems too good to be true for a 4+ hour travel day across countries, especially since that doesn't include using our KONUS after Offenburg.

Nigel - TL;DR is internet slang for 'too long, didn't read.' It's a way of summarizing a post that is long and sometimes too detailed that a reader may not want to sit and read through. It's like a "here are the bullet points of what I've just been rambling on about" :) And you bring up a good point on the regional vs high speed train and travel times. I'm doing some comparing of my different options!

Posted by
7952 posts

Regional trains have a much more dependable on-time record than high-speed trains (which perform on time just slightly over 50%!!) So if you have CONNECTIONS to make from a high-speed train to another train, there's a significant possibility that a missed connection might be the result; the shorter the layover time, the greater the chance for missing the connection.

"I do see tickets available for purchase on the German DB website for our through-journey from Offenburg to Wengen for just 56e for our family of 5"

With the KONUS card, your travel on the day of departure is covered, so your journey between Offenburg and Basel SBB is also covered for this trip on the Regional Express trains that cover your journey as far as Basel.

For this reason you may need only a Basel SBB > Wengen Ticket. OR if you want the DB Ticket, check the price from a RE stop on the way to Basel SBB... you might be able to ticket your trip from Weil am Rhein or Müllheim im Markgräflerland (which are usually RE stops south of Freiburg) to Wengen instead at a good price. Your RE train would take you from Offenburg all the way to Basel on the KONUS card to one of these stops, with the purchased DB Ticket covering the rest of your journey.

What was your source for thinking the KONUS card is only valid to Basel Bad? I suppose it wouldn't hurt to look back at that source or other sources to double check - and feel completely certain.