We will be in Wengen for two complete days, 3 nights in August. We have the half fare cards. If the weather permits, we would like to travel to both the Jungfraujoch and the Schilthorn from Wengen. The options seem to be use 1/2 card for each trip or purchase the 3 day Berner Oberland Pass with 1/2 fare discount (169). From what I can find, with the Berner Oberland pass I must also by additional supplements from Eigergletscher to Jungfraujoch and another supplement from Mürren to the Schilthorn. Which option is the least expensive way to do this? Is with only two full days, is the Berner Oberland Pass a sensible purchase vrs. using the 1/2 card? What other excursions would be practical to better utilize the pass? I assume we will need to plan about five hours for each of these trips which does permits nearly 1/2 day each of the two days do experience other areas. Any suggestions to maximize our short trip are appreciated.
Posted by
St. Petersburg, FL
146 posts
Where are you coming from to get to Wengen and where are you going to after Wengen? The BO pass may or may not cover one of those trips. Are you spending time in other parts of the BO region?
For what you are planning to do for the two days I do not see an advantage to buying the BO pass in addition to the 1/2 fare card, but that is somewhat dependent on the answer to the above.
The cost to go to Schilthorn from Murren and to Jungfraujoch from Wengen is essentially the same with both cards so no significant savings there to have both. With the 1/2 fare card you will have to pay to get to murren but that is less than 10 CHF. There is a “special price” to Jungfraujoch with the BO pass that is 99CHF this year. The cost of the trip from Wengen is 100 CHF (1/2 fare) which is an increase of 10 CHF from last year.
If weather does not cooperate there is a lot to do in the area and the mountain railways/bus/cable cars are very reasonable with the 1/2 fare card.
Posted by
OP
103 posts
Kim: Thank you for your response. We are coming from Luzern, approximately 20 CHF with 1/2 card. On departure day we have Saver Day Passes which cover the entire routing to areas outside of the Berner Oberland Pass of validity regions. Thus, we actually only have two full days in the Bernese Area to use the 3 day pass. Am I correct in thinking that the Berner Oberland 3 day pass would not be economical if we only make the Jungfrau and Schilthorn excursions? If the weather is good, and we complete these trips is it logical to assume there would be enough of the day remaining to make additional excursions? If so what would you recommend?
In your opinion, would that tilt the price to be in favor of the 3 day , even if only used for two days?
Posted by
St. Petersburg, FL
146 posts
I spent 9 days in BO region with 7 nights in Wengen last fall with the 1/2 fare card and we spent less than buying the BO pass for 8 days at the reduced amount. The 3 day pass would cover your train from Luzern in addition to whatever you do in the Wengen region. From my experience I don’t think you will recoup the cost of the BO pass. If you were spending more time in the BO region using the longer train rides/boat rides etc. then the BO pass might work out. Some folks like the ease not having to buy tickets. Since you will already be using the 1/2 fare card you should be quite familiar with the process. The SBB app is awesome and made buying tickets super easy as long as you have wifi or cell service which we did.
You should have time on both days for additional activities assuming you do Jungfraujoch in the morning and don’t spend all day there. I think we spent 1 1/2 or 2 hours at the top and it was plenty for us. We did not eat there. It was very crowded with large tour groups and folks lining up taking pics and selfies. Likewise, we did not eat at Schilthorn and stopped in Birg on the way back so for us that was a 2-3 hour trip. We were there in late September and had minimal waits for the cable cars.
From Wengen you can take the Mannlichen cable car up to the top and walk down to Kleine Schneideg and train back to Wengen. It’s has beautiful views on both sides of the valley and a nice restaurant/snack stop on the way. You can venture to Grindelwald - we did not. One of our favorite walks was Gutschlap to Murren. My husband and I did that our first day - stopped on the way for lunch. Absolutely beautiful views. Once we got to Murren we went up to Schilthorn as the weather was very good. The Albenhubel lift from Murren is nice and there are some nice hikes back down to Murren. Gimmelwald is also a nice place to explore. You can walk downhill from Murren or catch the cable car. The walk through the Lauterbrunnen Valley is also very nice so you have a lot of options to fill your two days even if the weather isn’t great for Jungfraujoch or Schilthorn.