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Half Fare Card

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I am with an Alpine My Way tour that leaves soon (thus, we will be in Switzerland for a couple of days only). At the end of the tour (in Chamonix), I will be traveling back to Switzerland to stay in Murren for another couple of days. Then, I will leave Murren for Frankfurt to fly back to the U.S.

I need to buy my tickets online now (going to Murren, and leaving Murren for Frankfurt), to be sure that I get to my destinations when I'm supposed to, because my time will be limited.

I need your help because now that I don't have much time left to do this, I need to buy tickets online and be able to print them out at my computer at home. I cannot wait for the tickets to be mailed to me at my U.S. home address. I have priced the tickets without using any discounts, mainly because I don't have the luxury of time for the tickets to be mailed to me. Now, I'm wondering: would a Half Fare Card be of any value to me? During the two days that our tour will be in Switzerland, I would like to get on a boat cruise on Brienz, and see some of the open air museum of villages, and if there's time, experience Gimmelwald a bit. After the tour, on my own, I will stay in Murren and visit the valley some more. The rides I expect to take will be those that will take me from Murren to Gimmelwald or Stechelberg. These are the only parts of Switzerland I expect to be in during this trip.

Would a Half Fare Card do me any good? If so, would I be able to buy my train tickets (for my two-day visit back to the area) online with the half fare card? Will I be allowed to order the card online and print it out on my home PC? Or am I constrained to order my tickets online without the benefit of a discount? In this case, will a half fare card be of any use to me?

Thank you.

Posted by
16893 posts

You don't need to buy tickets now, especially to Muerren. Most Swiss trains don't need reservations, including on this route. I would buy the One-Month Half-Fare Card during your first stay in Switzerland. You can buy the later train tickets while there, or in Chamonix. If you will have a smart phone with you, you can also buy tickets and "carry" them on the SBB mobile app.

At https://www.sbb.ch/ticketshop/b2c/artikelspezSTS.do, it does look like they offer the Half-Fare Card as an online ticket, but you'll have to read all the rules and try it out, since we haven't done that.

Posted by
49 posts

Laura, I am anxious to get my tickets soon because when I looked up my itinerary, one leg (from Bern to Interlaken Ost) is by ICE, and the timetable I was looking at indicated a high occupancy expected for this leg of my journey. In their listing of trains, for the ICE they recommend seat reservations. I was thinking of doing this, to make sure that I make it to Murren within the same day as when I start my trip from Chamonix. The journey is a long one, and if I cannot get on my connecting train because it is full, then I will have to wait for the next train that comes along. It will be dark by the time I get to Murren. By the way, do they allow 'Standing Room Only' when a train is packed? Or do they refuse any more passengers to get on a train?

Posted by
82 posts

Jo_pie
My husband & I are doing a similar itinerary to yours( returning to Muerren after tour ends in Chamonix) and we were just going to purchase our tickets when we get to Chamonix - however the route I am looking at does not go through Bern & does not show any need to make reservations. We are also wanting to purchase a 1/2 fare card but I am not sure if it is offered as an online / print at home option.

Laura - when I follow your website linc that you gave to jo_pie I cannot find the 1 month 1/2 fare card option. I only see a 1 year 1/2 fare card option on the sbb.ch website. The only place I have found the 1 month 1/2 fare card is on the Rail Europe website & I can't figure out if it is a "print at home" version -leaving me to believe that I must now buy it in the Lauterbrunnen Triain station when we arrive there on the RS tour - hoping they don't charge more when buying it in switzerland.

Posted by
16893 posts

The link above won't stay in exactly the spot of the cart that I was looking at. First, you have to click the link in the middle for "Visitors from abroad," then the Half-Fare Card.

Jo, trains from Bern to Interlaken Ost run every half hour, but some direct and some with a connection. That one may be expected to be busier, coming from Germany, but a reservation is not necessary to board the train. There's no deadline to buy the ticket and a few days ahead should be plenty of time to get an optional seat reservation. Worst-case scenario is that you might stand for a while on a crowded train, or you might decide to wait for the next one.

If the connections go smoothly, the whole trip from Chamonix to Muerren can be done in 5 hours. As Lynne said, that fastest route does not go via Bern. Are you making a detour to visit there? The best schedule source for all of Europe, and easy to print, is the German DB site. Or, for a Swiss focus, you the Swiss SBB site works similarly and also sells tickets.

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