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Need Help Choosing a Pass! Confused as to Costs

Posted by (Boston, MA USA) on

Hello, my boyfriend and I will be traveling from Boston to Switzerland from Wednesday June 8th to Monday, June 13th. We will arrive in Zurich on the 8th and go from the airport to Bern, Bern to Interlaken, Interlaken to Lauterbrunnen to where our hotel is. We will check out Sunday, June 12th and take a train to explore Bern for the afternoon before returning to Zurich to spend the night before departing.

With all this in mind, I'm having a hard time choosing a pass, if we need one. I find the Swiss sites to purchase them confusing as to the options and I find that there are many! Because we are flying stand by we will probably purchase them in the airport. While we are in Lauterbrunnen we are interested in taking the lifts to Murren and Gimmelwald but, we're not interested in the "Top of Europe" or the highest peaks in the area. How do you buy your ticket to Murren ect from Lauterbrunnen without a pass? Is it cash only and do they have machines?

With the trip coming so close I really could use the help as to what will be the best cost saving option. Thank you in advance!!

Posted by
11318 posts

It is confusing! Given your itinerary, I would probably buy Swiss Half-Fare Cards for 125.00 CHF each. These will give you 50% off on every train ticket (i.e., Zurich to Lauterbrunnen & back) and most lift tickets such as you'll need in the Berner Oberland. With the Half-Fare Card you will save about 80 CHF on the Zurich to Lauterbrunnen round-trip alone. Assuming you will ride several mountain lifts and trains, even if not to the "Top of Europe," you will most likely at least break even with the Half-Fare Card. If you plan to use the lift system very extensively, look at the Berner Oberland Regional Pass as well. The Half-Fare Card will give you an additional discount on the BO Reg Pass. A Four-day pass will cost 164.00 CHF (if you have the Half-Fare Card), but every lift or mountain train except the Jungfraujoch and Schilthorn will be included. We usually find we use about 150% of the face value in a 4 night trip to the area. FWIW, the BO Reg Pass even covers your fare to/from Bern.

The passes are so complicated that I do a spreadsheet detailing all the segments I think we will take then figure out my passes. So far, the Swiss Pass and Swiss Flexipass have never made sense for us, but the Half-Fare Card and BO Reg Pass have made sense whether for 4 nights or 11.

You can look up all fares -- even for the mountain lifts -- at SBB.CH. In addition to city-to-city routes (i.e., Zurich to Interlaken), you can plug in "from" your starting location such as Lauterbrunnen and "to" a mountain station such as Kleine Scheidegg, to get a fare. Note that on the next page you have to indicate whether or not you qualify for a reduction. "No reduction" is full fare and for mountain lifts, this is the amount that you do NOT pay if you have a BO Reg Pass.

Hope this makes sense. You have to work through it to really understand it.

Posted by
15 posts

I have the same question regarding purchasing tickets if you don't have a pass. Do all the upper elevation lift/cable/cog wheel train stations have manned ticket booths? Do they take credit cards or cash only?

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