Please Help Choose a Swiss Rail Pass + Getting to Germany

It can be hard to folks to figure out which pass, especially since there will be other train/cable car trips you may or may not take. (What if it rains all day? What if you see a great cable car ride that looks good? If you have a pass, you'll take it; half fare card, perhaps not. Example: once in Gimmelwald, you may see that the Gimmelwald to Stechelberg cable car looks exciting [it is], decide to take it, and then walk to Trummelbach Falls.)

For what it's worth, I generally get the Berner Oberland Pass (Google it) as it covers trains south of Bern and Lucerne, and most everything except the highest peaks in the Jungfrau area.

Speaking of Gimmelwald, the cable car to there takes less than 5 min., and exploring Gimmelwald maybe takes 15 min. (I prefer to walk down to Gimmelwald in 15 min., enjoying sheep and views on the way, then take the cable car back up.) Likewise, the funicular up to Allmendhubel is a short ride. You could see both of these places in less than 2 hours, which leaves you another 10 hours free. Since you have teens, I'd recommend the many hikes in the area. My teens loved them. I'll send the link to your private forum mail, just click on your name in the upper right of this page.

Your children are only free if they are on a Family Card, which you can request (for free) when you buy the Half Fare Card.

For travel from Luzern to Munich, look on the German trIn site www.bahn.de. You can buy the ticket, whether the bus or train, from them, and there is a place to enter your Half Fare Card. When is your trip? I checked dates in June, July and Zugust and the routes seem to vary. There must be Track work going on.

For example, for July 10 I found a route all by train, with a single change in St. Gallen. Depart Luzern at 11:39 and arrive in Munich at 17:47. The Sparpreis for this train (non-refundable discount price) is 34,90. There is no further reduction for the Half Fare Card. ( there would be if younoaid full fare, but it is much higher). The bus the same day is 29,90.

The August date I checked did not show this route. It offered routes with more changes, more bus options, and some with a boat trip across the Bodensee. June was also different.

For Munich to Venice, you can save a lot if you buy the ticket in advance on bahn.de. At least if you are well in advance, like a month or more. The discount (Sparangebot) tickets do sell out.

Here are the prices I found for the direct Munich to Venice train:

14 June, €79,90

10 July, €59,90

16 August, €49,90

Regular price is 90,10.

This train departs Munich at 11:39 and arrives in Venice 6.5 hours later.

@shoe - Thank you! We are excited to hike in the area. I confused the location of Gimmelwald. We'll hike down and ride back up like you suggested, and maybe take the cable car to Stechelberg you mentioned. We'd like to take the funicular up to Allmendhubel and maybe walk back down.
If we did the Berner Oberland Pass, would you recommend paying full fare for train travel outside of what the pass covers? For example, the Geneva area to Murren.

@Lola - Thank you! Luzern to Munich is July 30th. Do I have to buy a Half Fare card beforehand in order to book a discounted fare?
Munich to Venice is August 5th.

No, you do not need to have the Half Fare Card in hand to buy advance tickets with the Half Fare discount. Just make sure you have it before you actually travel with it.