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Paris to Murren for 6 days.. Please advice on the Rail card and Route considered..

Posted by on

Hi,

We are 3 adults and a 4 year old kid planning for a 6 day trip to Switzerland from Paris.

Day 1 - Taking train from Paris Lyon to Montreux via Laussane and take Golden pass rail from there till Interlaken and then to Murren
Day 2 till Day 5 - Based out of Murren will be travelling to Interlaken, Lauterbrunnen, Jungfraugh, Wengen, Grindelwald and places around..
Day 6 - Murren to Interlaken and train back to Paris via Basel.

  1. Which rail pass should I take? As there are only 4 day and 8 day pass, would taking 8 day pass be worth given the places we plan to visit? If I go with 4 day pass, it should be Flexi pass. The difference of 4 day flex pass to 8 day pass is 80CHF.

  2. If I take the pass, I guess I will have to just buy the ticket from Paris to Laussane while going and Basel to Paris while returning. Will the rest of the journey be covered with the pass? In that case, do I have to reserve the seats between Laussane to Montruex and Interlaken to Basel?

  3. Is the train route considered OK or any better route and fastest I can consider?

Request for suggestions please. Thank You.

  • Kavya
Posted by
21140 posts

You might look at the Berner Oberland 6 day pass for 300 CHF. It covers trains from Bern, and also the Golden Pass route to a certain extent, 50% discount between Montreux and Saanen, and 100% for the rest of the way. It still only covers 25% for the Jungfraujochbahn above Kleine Scheidegg.
http://www.regiopass-berneroberland.ch/range-of-validity/

Posted by
355 posts

Hi Kavya,

Your route looks good, as you will basically be making a circle. I think the best railpass option would be to buy a Swiss Half-Fare Card, which give you a 50% discount on all travel within Switzerland - trains, buses, boats and high-mountain lifts. It costs $126 and is good for 1-month. See this webpage for details and purchase:
https://ricksteves.raileurope.com/activities/swiss-half-fare-card/index.html?bookEng=Activities

I would buy the Paris-Lausanne and Basel-Paris tickets ahead online through the French Rail website - www.sncf.com or www.captainetrain.com. There are some substantial, advance-purchase discounts.

No trains in Switzerland need to be reserved except the scenic trains. The Golden Pass doesn't technically need to be reserved either, but I would as it's a popular route. You can reserve it ahead through the Swiss Rail website - www.sbb.ch or on our website here: https://ricksteves.raileurope.com/us/rail/point_to_point/triprequest.htm

Posted by
14 posts

Thanks you Sam & Rich.

On our way back, instead taking the route Interlaken - Basel - Paris, I was thinking about Interlaken - Bern - Basel - Paris. Where we can spend half a day in Bern, have lunch and leave to Paris post noon.

Do you think that can be a feasible option?

On the travel card -

  1. If I buy the half fare card, guess I can walk in at time of travel to buy the tickets for travel on trains/cablecar/boats without any prior booking.

  2. I also came across this Bernese oberland pass. May I know the reason behind suggesting the hald fare card please?

  3. Would taking Swiss transfer ticket be of help?

Regards,
Kavya

Posted by
21140 posts
  1. Yes, there is pretty much no requirement for reservation on Swiss trains.
  2. Getting both the Half Fare card and the 6-day Berner Oberland pass could off. With the Half fare card, you pay 225 CHF for the pass instead of 300 CHF. So total outlay 345 CHF. You use the Half Fare card for the Lausanne- Montreux and Bern-Basel, plus for the Kleine Scheidegg-Jungfraujoch section, using the half fare card saves 50% rather than the 25% the pass gets you.
  3. Swiss Transfer ticket does not help.
Posted by
355 posts

Hi Kavya,

For most travelers going into Switzelrand to visit the Berner Oberland for a few days and then heading out again, the Swiss Half-Fare card is the best value, but it really depends on how many trains and lifts you take. If you want to find out which pass is best for your particular trip, then you need to do the math.

You can use the Swiss Rail website to find individual ticket costs for trains - www.sbb.ch/en. Rick's Switzerland book has a map with costs of the various lifts in the region or you can go to each webpage for the lifts you wish to utilize, such as the Jungfrau bahn, Schilthorn, etc. You can use these to estimate how much you would spend on full-fare tickets, then compare those with the cost of the various Swiss Pass options to see which is the best for your trip.

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