Swiss Pass Confusion

dharvey - it is very confusing! There were four of us with advanced degrees and we were scratching our heads. Here is a link that may help in calculating the best way to go:

http://www.myswissalps.com/train/ticketspasses/practical/chooserailpass

We ended up buying a Swiss Travel Pass Flex Combi. You can choose 3, 4 8 or 15 days within a month for unlimited travel on those days. On in between days, you get 50% off on trains, busses and boats as well as half price on most mountain railways. After calculating the point to point tickets, seeing how many days of travel we were going to use, and how to maximize the big travel days with many modes of transportation (Lausanne to Murren), we purchased this pass for 3 days. Be aware if you use all your days of unlimited travel before the end of the month, then you can no longer use the half fare portion of the combi ticket. You can read about the different passes here:

swiss-pass.ch

I am not an expert---I haven't used a Swiss Pass since they changed the term and conditions a few years ago. But here are my thoughts---more speculation as I have not checked all the prices.

A Swiss Pass will fully cover all your travel and activities except the Schilthornbahn above Mürren and the Männlichen ca Lear above Wengen. Those get a 50% discount.

So look at a 3-day Flex Pass---using it for days 1, 3, and 5. If you need to buy a ticket from a machine for the cablecar, it will give you the option of applying a Swiss travel pass. You can just pay for your travel on days 2 and 4.

Then compare to a 4- day Flex, using It for days 1, 3, 4, and 5. I am thinking the Day 2 travel is going to be fairly cheap.

All ticket machines, as well as www.sbb.ch and staffed stations do sell the 50% off tickets. Most Swiss residents have a Half-Fare Card and use that rate. The one-month Half-Fare Card would certainly be better than paying full price for tickets. Rick's introduction to the Berner Oberland chapter shows you the lift prices in graphic format.

You DO NOT get 50% discounts in between the counted travel days of a Swiss Travel Pass Flexi; that changed a couple of years ago. You CANNOT add a Half-Fare Card onto the flexipass for 60 CHF; that changed this year. For the details of the 2017 version of the Swiss Travel Pass and what it covers, our Swiss rail page has the latest details. With these changes, both the Half-Fare Card and consecutive-day versions of the Swiss Travel Pass look more attractive.

It's unfortunate that your stay in the country is a day longer than the 4-day consecutive pass that's offered for $263 US - and that the Swiss don't offer another consecutive version before jumping up to 8 days for $382.

Laura and dharvey

There is a Swiss Travel Pass Flex Combi that does allow you to travel for 50% discount in between days. You are correct that the Swiss Flex Pass does not allow you to do that. Here is the link that describes the pass as taken from the website today:

https://www.swiss-pass.ch/swiss-travel-pass-flex-combi/

I notice the Rick Steves page that you refer to does not list this option but if you go to the Swiss Travel Pass site at swiss-pass.ch it does list it. Maybe you can check it out and update the Rick Steves site?

It truly is confusing figuring out the best pass. We used this pass in May of 2016.

You can add up the cost of all your trips at:
http://www.sbb.ch/en/home.html
http://schilthorn.ch/en/Angebot/Timetable__Tariffs/Price_Single_tickets
http://www.maennlichen.ch/en/wengenmaennlichen-aerial-cableway.html

I come up with with about 326 CHF. Get a 120 CHF Half Fare Card then your tickets cost 163 CHF, netting 283 CHF. That beats the price of any Swiss Pass, keeping in mind you still need to pay the Half Fare price for a round trip Muerren-Schilthorn and one way Wengen-Maennlichen with the Pass.

jvbessent, that is old 2016 information and no longer for sale in 2017. Go back to your link and see that there is no way to purchase. Things change all the time, and usually rail passes apply their major changes on January 1. Our web info was updated the same day.

My apologies. I guess swiss-pass.ch needs to update its information. I found it helpful in our planning because it did a good job describing the passes, but it's not good to show a pass that's no longer available!

How many RS travelers does it take to figure out a Swiss Pass...apparently more than five! LOL! Thanks for the info everyone - I'll sit down with a calculator and a computer tonight and try to figure it out. I truly appreciate everyone's input.

I also apologize for my error; I did not realize the 2017 Flex Pass does not allow a discounted Half-Fare card. I have edited my post accordingly.

I'm willing to pay a little more for a SP over a HFC for the convenience. With the HFC you still have to buy a ticket, while the SP is your ticket. But mostly, a SP makes it easier to be spontaneous because it takes the transportation cost of an extra excursion out of my decision-making. For example, Murren-Interlaken is $20 round-trip with the HFC. If a new friend invites me to dinner in Interlaken, I'm much more likely to go if I have the SP because the extra transportation cost is $0, not $20.

dharvey. All Swiss ticket machines have two prices listed "full" and "Half-fare-card / Children". This will be right at the end, after you have chosen single or return, and first or second class.
They even have a simulation of how a ticket machine works. See here: http://www.sbb.ch/en/station-services/am-bahnhof/dhl-service-point/automatic-ticket-machine/online-demo-billettautomat-sbb.html

The only way to work out definatively which is the cheapest option is to make a spreadsheet listing all your trips, with 3 columns "Swiss pass" "half dare" and "full fare.
You can get all the fares (both half fare and full fare) from the SBB website. This does not only list SBB fares, but all other railways as well: http://www.sbb.ch/en