Hi all,
I’m going on a 7-day trip to Switzerland for the first time with my husband. We’re both in our 30s. So far, our itinerary is: arrive in Zurich > 4 days in jungfrau region (staying in Wengen) > Luzern for a day before departure.
I’m pretty sure I should get the Oberland Pass, but I’m wondering if I should get the Swiss half fare card or the Swiss travel pass?
Thank you and appreciate any advice!
Assuming you are relying on trains to get to Wengen, my recommendation is to get the half fare card and the BO Pass. Some people add up the expected fares of their itinerary and do a side by side comparison of the many options but I like the flexibility and ease of the half fare card and BO pass. Purchasing them together gets you the discount the half fare card gives you for the BO Pass (175 vs 270 for 4 days).
I think it depends on what you are doing in your 4 days in Wengen. We are currently in Wengen. We are in Switzerland for about 2 weeks. We spent 5 nights in Lausanne after arriving in Geneva. We are in wengen for 7 nights - BTW excellent choice!! We are then going to Brig for a night to pick up the glacier express to St. Moritz. We are there for 2 nights then the Bernia Express to Lugano. I bought the half fare card. Even with the day trips, museums/castles we went to in the Lausanne area, the express train tickets and all the travel thus far and planned over the few days we are about even or slightly less with the Swiss Pass card for 15 days. We did not get the Oberland Pass as once I looked at the cost in addition to the half fare card, since a few of the $$$ gondolas are not free on the Oberland Pass, it did not look like it would pay for itself. For example going to Schlithorn and Jungfraujoch is the same for half fare/swiss pass/BO pass once you get to the special gondolas/train. Rick Steves Switzerland tour book pricing on the transportation in BO is accurate to use to decide what might work best for you in the BO area. The SBB app is awesome and will allow you to look at journey prices to help to decide what might work best for you.
Not sure when you are planning your trip - but in the spring the Swiss Pass has a sale where they add a day to the pass for free.
Yes get both. The half-fare card will give you a discount of $105chf on the 4-day BO pass, 1/2 fare on trains from Zurich-Luzern, better discount on Jungfrau if you go, Rigi 1/2 fare so definitely pays for itself. Saving both QR codes to your phone (I used Dropbox app) to scan works very well.
Son Ian and I just spent 10 Sept '23 days in Schweiz w/numerous days in the Berner Oberland. We went and rode conveyances all over and everywhere. We utilized a half fare card exclusively. There was no need for, nor did we see any opportunity, to use a BO card.
The way to look at the passes is not as a means to save money, but as a means to avail yourself of an "all you can eat" trip buffet.
There is nothing stopping you for doing certain trips multiple times for example if you have pass, to see what the Männlichen looks like in the morning and in the evening. To use the cable cars just to get from Wengen to Grindelwald etc...
I have a seasons pass, and sometimes just go up to Männlichen, or Wengernalp, or Kleine Scheidegg to have lunch.
So get the pass, and then get as much use out of it as you can :-)
We bought the B-O pass for 3 days using the half-fare card. Day 2, DH tested + for covid. Although he felt fine save for a cough, he would not use the pass even masked on the crowded cable cars, trains, etc. Day 3, he took the Royal Ride on the Mannlichen gondola cable car along with 3 others in our group who also were + for covid and hiked the trails from there. Luckily, there were hikes that did not require mountain transportation to enjoy on Day 2.
With you being in your 30s the pass would be ideal. For us, being 4-5 decades older than you, one major mountain excursion per day using only the half-fare card probably would have saved us a few CHF vs adding the B-O pass.
I am a big fan of the efficiency, convenience, and economy of the Berner Oberland Regional Pass in combo with the Half Fare Card. This is what we do exclusively every year and we stay for a month. As WengenK said, you can do almost anything, impetuously, without worrying about out of pocket. Yes, the highest gondolas require a bit extra, but you won’t be over-thinking the other trips by having to reach into your pocket to pay half the cost of every journey. One year we were best by rainy days and used our BO Pass to “joy ride” on a route that would have cost over 60 CHF if all we had was a Half Fare Card and about 120CHF with no discounts.
You can do the spreadsheet and guess at your outlay, or just seize the convenience and do it.
