should we get a swiss pass?

Posted by mjklovestotravel (philippines) on 04/24/17 09:15 AM

Hello,

Our family of four is traveling to Switzerland end of May to June, staying for 14 days. We will be renting a car (I know public transport is efficient there but we still opted to rent one forcertainf reasons) but I heard that a Swiss Pass will still be helpful for us? Especially going up mountains and all.... We are going to Zermatt, Lauternbrunnen, Murren, Gimmwelwald, Schilthorn, Lucern, Mt Titlis and Chur to board Bernini Express to Tirano Italy. What kind of pass you think will be helpful for us (2 adults and 2 kids)?

Thanks in advance.

Posted by FastEddie

Florida

04/24/17 01:08 PM

1443 posts

The half-fare card is probably your best option. If your kids are under 16, then you just need two cards one for each adult. Get the family version so the kids can ride free if they are with a parent.

Posted by Tim

Knoxville, TN, USA

04/24/17 01:19 PM

7209 posts

You should only get a Swiss Pass if you plan to ride the rails extensively. To have a rental car AND a Swiss Pass is very much over kill! THe Half Fare card will discount all of your travels by 50%. Looking at your itinerary you'll be hitting lots of the car-free destinations. So you will need to add parking to your rental car as it sits idle while you ride the trains, gondolas, funiculars, boats, buses...etc.

Posted by Becky

Seattle, WA, USA

04/25/17 01:36 PM

360 posts

I would also add that you really don't need a car when you're staying in the Berner Oberland, which seems to be covering half your itinerary (and you literally can't even bring a car to many places up there). If you are not going to have a car in the Berner Oberland, the Swiss Pass was helpful for us to get around everywhere and have that "freedom" to just jump on/off whenever we wanted (plus the discounts for Schilthorn and Jungfraujoch). We also used it to get to and stay in Lucerne, including a day trip over to Bern (we had an eight day pass that started on the day that we traveled to the Berner Oberland and ended on the day we left Lucerne). So if you can buy a pass to cover those areas for that length of time for your trip, I would do it.