Flying back to USA from Switzerland

What do you call crazy expensive? I'm seeing RT nonstop SFO-ZRH for $1000 now in August on Swiss Intl.
6 months ago they wanted $1500 for August. Where are you flying into Germany? What are your dates?
You can also look at flying home from Milan, which is easy to get to from Muerren, but no nonstop.

What airports in Switzerland are you looking at?
To compare costs of going back to Germany to fly out (or Milan) you need to include the additional costs and the time it will take to get there. It may make it less attractive, no matter that the airfare is lower. It could take a whole day to get there from Mürren.
You mention driving back to Germany. Why would you drive (and incur the steep cross-border drop-off fees) if you took the train to Switzerland? The trains will take you directly to most of the major airports you could choose from.

Kat you aren't looking at one-way fares from somewhere in Switzerland are you? You need to search on open-jaw (multi-city) which is a round trip fare but returning from a different city.

Stan - yes, I was looking at one-way flights. Clearly I'm not as savvy:) How do you do the multi-city search/booking exactly?

And yes, we're hoping to take the train rather than drive, just not sure which is better yet. This will be our first family trip in Europe and I'm trying to make it fun and somewhat relaxing and keep it affordable. We'll be in Frankfurt and Heidelberg first, looking at castles and such and then a train to Interlaken and hoping to stay in Murren (which I discovered through this site and am so excited about). Have not thought out the trip back yet, since I know we can't afford 1+K tickets back from Zurich.

On any of the search engine sites, you have a choice of One Way, Round trip, and multi-cities (or something very similar). We generally find it is the same price or sometimes cheaper to fly Open jaw (into one city and home from another) or multi-city. What are your exact dates and cities?

Picking some arbitrary dates in August I saw round trips from SFO to Frankfurt and then Zurich to SFO for a total of about $1000 non-stop. That was searching on Kayak for a 'multi-city' fare. I know others here have other airfare search sites that they prefer and I'm sure they will chime in and make suggestions. Specific dates in August may help us pinpoint some even lower fares if they exist.

Oh, I've actually never booked that way. So, we're flying into Frankfurt on Aug 6 (from Riga, Latvia where I'm staying for a couple weeks with family), will be in Heidelberg Aug 8-11, then want to take a train to Interlaken, stay in Murren and then fly back to SFO. Days are a bit flexible, either Aug 14, 15 or 16 back.

If you want to depart from Switzerland to return to SF, consider flying into Switzerland? You can then fly easy jet to and from Germany. You can use sites like Kayak.com and select the option of nearby airports in your search. Once you know where you want to fly, I really like the app Hopper. I plug in where and when I want to go and as soon as I get a low price alert, I book my ticket. Some airlines are not included in their search but they tell you that and you can search those separately.

Kat, are you flying into RIga sometime in July? I did see flights from SFO to Riga and Zurich to SFO around your dates for about $1250 total. I think you'll have to play around with your total 'to and from' SFO-Europe itinerary and dates. I'm sure you'll find something cheaper by doing a multi-city.

I am still a bit confused about your travel plans ----

1. Have you already purchased a ticket from SF to Frankfurt on Aug 6? Or have you booked from SF to ???? and then flying to Frankfurt from Riga on the 6th?

2. Can you give a clear statement of what you have done, the dates, and what you want to do? That would be helpful.

Thank you.

Yes, I already have tickets to Riga. So what I DO need is:

Riga to Frankfurt on Aug 6 or 7

then probably train Heidelberg to Interlaken around Aug 11. ( I was just looking on www.bahn.de and it comes out to $138 for all 4 of us, although with 10min connections. The price is great but I'm wandering if it's easy to transfer with 2 kids and luggage. Might be a silly question but it's my first time)

then we'll need a cable car from Interlaken to Murren

And flying back to SF around Aug 15-16

thanks!!

Did you purchase a one-way to Riga? Maybe you need to consider changing that to a multi-city SFO-Riga and Zurich-SFO. If the cost to change the ticket isn't too great it might be worth it.

Yes, I purchased that one a little while ago together with family. Will have to look into all the options.

Thanks!!

I think at this stage you probably are stuck with additional one way tickets. I don't see any other options. I am guessing that to change would be expensive. Where did you want to return to SF from?

Frank - Honestly, I didn't think it through. I was just so taken by the charms of Interlaken/Murren possible leg of our trip that I thought we'd just fly out of Switzerland somewhere. Now looking at it closer I'm not sure if it'll be feasible considering all the cost. Plus the fact that we'll have 6 and 9yo kids with us might also make everything harder.
We might have to think of a potentially easier/cheaper destination from Heidelberg for 3-4 days...

thanks!

You can do it if you really want. I can see a round trip Heidelberg-Muerren for 280 CHF for the whole gang August 11 to 15. Now there might be some smarter ways to do that, but that can wait for the time being. The most important question:
How are you planning to get back to SF now and one what airline?

Sam - Where are you looking at train tickets? (sorry don't know much about europe travel). I suppose if we can swing the Murren/Heidelberg round trip, we'll fly back to SF from Frankfurt, those tix aren't too expensive...

thanks!

www.sbb.ch/en. These are advance purchase nonrefundable tickets. Put in Heidelberg Hbf to Muerren BLM.
Be sure you can print the tickets at home or have them mailed to you.
While in Muerren, you may want some type of pass to ride lifts above Muerren or visit other areas. If you get a Swiss Half fare card, you can also get a free Family card and the kids ride free. I am not sure if this saves much on the discounted tickets to and from Muerren, but will save while in Muerrren.

Sam - thanks so much for your help! this site is great!
I thought I need to take a cable car to Muerren, no? Or does the train go in there too?

There are 2 ways up. Train from Interlaken Ost to Lauterbrunnen. Make sure you get on the right cars, since the train splits half way to Lauterbrunnen and one half goes to Grindelwald.
1. At Lauterbrunnen walk a short way and take a cable car to Gruetschalp. There you get on another train that goes to Muerren (BLM station).
2. At Lauterbrunnen, board the local bus to Stechelberg. There you get a cable car to Gimmelwald, and then to Muerren.

It sounds somewhat complicated and possibly confusing, but I know often times it's not that bad in reality? Is that the case here?

I'm still trying to gauge if we're going to be regretting this with two kids or not. If it was just me and my husband, I wouldn't think twice about it!

thanks!

It's not that complicated once you learn the names. Here's a map that shows most:
http://valleyhostel.ch/Lage.php

Don't leave out Murren. Your kids will love it 10X more than Heidelberg. There are a lot of trails in the area--I've written about them in some of them in this Switz forum. They can visit the cheese farms at Schiltalp and Winteregg, and they'll love Trummelbach falls and even Staubbach falls at Lauterbrunnen. My kids have often run into friendly cows and goats on the trails (especially at Mannlichen, which is the start of the best trail of all, from Mannlichen to Kleine Scheidegg).

The kids can ride the cable cars and trains for free if you get them a Swiss family card. (Google it.)

Shoe - trails and cows and goats sound wonderful! I'm going to see if we can figure out a way to make this work. Do you think it makes sense to get a swiss pass if we'll have about 4 days in Switzerland - taking train from Heidelberg to Muerren and then from Interlaken to Frankfurt?
Thanks!

I think the Swiss Half Fare card is the best value. It knocks a small amount off the tickets to and from Muerren, but useful for lifts and other trains in Muerren and the free Family Card comes with it (when requested), so the kids travel free. It only takes your round trip from 280 CHF to 258 CHF, but it will pay for itself on excursions to Schilthorn, Kleine Scheidegg, Trumelbach. Cost is 120 CHF per adult.
http://www.sbb.ch/en/leisure-holidays/holidays--short-breaks-in-switzerland/swisstravelsystem/swiss-halffare-card.html

As for buying a Swiss pass, that's not a question that's easy to answer for someone else, because one needs to know train use, side excursions, etc. I'll just say it's a fairly close call any way you go, so don't fret about it too much.
Rick Steves discusses pros and cons here:
https://www.ricksteves.com/travel-tips/transportation/trains/switzerland-rail-passes
I've done no passes (good idea if you expect days of rain) and I've also liked the Swiss Transfer ticket. Just try to get the family card so your kids are free and I know I was able to get the Family card with the Swiss Transfer tix. Look up the Swiss Transfer card on the site above. Allen

I would not use a Transfer Ticket, because the offered fare at SBB is already essential a Supersaver ticket for the Swiss portion and Sparpreis ticket for the German portion. So the Swiss portion is already Half fare. With the half fare card, you get half fare of the half fare, or one quarter of the normal Swiss fare. The Transfer Ticket would not get you anything, more likely increase the cost of the overall ticket.
The Swiss Travel Pass only gives a 50% discount on lifts above Muerren, and only a 25% discount for trains above Wengen.

Thanks so much for all the tips!