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At what point is the Bernese Oberland pass worth it for convenience+ even bad weather?

Posted by (USA) on

So I've done a lot of digging into the passes by now. We will be in Wengen for 5 days and Lucerne for 2 days next week. Wanting to do a variety of things depending on weather including a ridge hike, Manlichen, cycling of some sort, boating around lake Thun in some capacity, Schlithorn.

It seems for sure the Half Fare pass is worth it regardless. My math shows if we do everything we want we about break even if we add the Bernese Oberland pass compared to just the half fare card. So in that case it would definitely be worth it for the convenience or if we had unplanned trips.

I know it's early but all the weather forecasts seem to say rain all week next week in the places we will be. Wondering if the BO pass would be worth it if we don't go to Schlithorn (now fully covered), etc.

Has anyone found that weather played into the math of if the BO pass was worth it or not for them? Just how nice is the convenience factor is it that even if we "wasted" a day or two with bad weather and didn't use the pass much that it would still overall be worth it?

Thanks!

Posted by
3373 posts

You can always wait till you are here and have a better weather forecast. Then buy the pass if you think you will be able to get enough use out of it.

I generally advise people to get the pass, and then just get as much out of it as you can. Don't worry if the all you can eat buffet is worth it, just go fir it and stuff yourself :-)

Posted by
1101 posts

The convenience is worth a $ amount, but how much is based on how tech savvy and quick you are with purchasing tickets correctly via the app or machines with the half fare card. Living here, I can do it in 5 seconds. Someone who has never done it and is new to visiting the area can get confused and overwhelmed. Only you know how you feel about that portion of it.

In regards to the weather - it is very much turning to fall here and you will get mixed weather, but just because it says rain does not mean rain all day. For example, yesterday it called for heavy rain and if you just glanced at the overall day it looked like a crappy day. We decided to go on a hike anyway. It sprinkled on us for 10 minutes, there were still great clear the whole day Mountain views, then we had amazing warm sun and the heavy rain didn’t end up starting until after 6 pm. The rest of the day was great. Right now it’s raining (morning) but it’s set to clear up mid afternoon. It’s pretty typical for “rain” days to be a mix of rain, fog, clouds, rainbows, sun, dramatic mountain views and rarely does it keep you from enjoying something. We all love the 100% blue sky sun days, but there is beauty in the dramatic days that you never get when it’s just full sun. Stay flexible, bring wet weather gear and layers for when it’s chilly, watch webcams and use the detailed hourly rain forecasts on MeteoSwiss. It’s been the most accurate this summer in my testing to use the best weather windows on a mixed day.

Posted by
14 posts

Thanks all, will plan to get the pass and not worry about it, and be flexible with weather

Posted by
35653 posts

when considering your Lake Thun boat ride also consider what I think is superior, Lake Brienz.

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