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Swiss Pass vs Half Fare Card

Posted by on

Hi,
I need help in understanding the differences between swiss pass and half fare card while working on my itinerary. We are 4 people 2 adults(parents) and 2 kids ( 14 and 9 years).

  1. If parents purchase swiss pass, do we have to get swiss travel pass for kids age 5-15 years ? Don't the swiss family card allow them to travel free with parents?
  2. Do we have to purchase cable car from engel berg to titlis in addition to swiss pass ? I assume yes, with 50% discount. Please confirm.
  3. do we have to purchase mountain train tickets to jungfrau in addition to swiss pass? if yes, from which location ? lauterbrunnen?
  4. Does this swiss pass valid for boat rides in lake lucerne?

Thanks in advance for your response.

Posted by
7209 posts

  1. Only purchase STP for adults. Free Swiss Family Card allows your 2 kids to travel free with you EVERYWHERE.

  2. You should look at validity map to determine: https://www.sbb.ch/content/dam/sbb/de/pdf/freizeit-ferien/ferien-kurztrips-schweiz/internationale-gaeste/sts-geltungsbereich.pdf

  3. Swiss Pass will get you as close as Wengen (100% covered). Purchase your tickets from Wengen onward to Jungfrau with a discount because you have STP. Your kids are 100% free all the way to Jungfrau with free Swiss Family Card

  4. Yes

Posted by
33 posts

Thanks for your quick response. How about the pass for 16 year old kid (my friend has 16 and 12 years old kids traveling with us )? Should we purchase youth pass? Please let me know.

Posted by
20100 posts

16 yo is considered a young adult, so yes, the "Youth Travel Pass" is appropriate.
Note on the "map of validity" the Swiss travel Pass only gives you a 25% discount on the Jungfraujoch railway above Wengen.
Travel Pass is good for boats on Luzern as well as public city buses.

Posted by
33 posts

If parents have half fare card, what type of card we need to purchase for 16 year old kid? should we purchase half fare card for 16 year old kid as well ? or we can just take 50% tickets for local trains.

Posted by
20100 posts

If you go with the Half Fare Card, the 16 yo will need one as well. He is an adult as far as SBB is concerned. With the Hald Fare Card, everything is 50 % discount, trains, boats, city buses. Under 16 can still travel on the Family Card. If there are two families traveling together, each family needs its own Family Card.

Posted by
33 posts

Thanks so much for your response. After doing math, I find 100$ less by purchasing half fare card instead of swiss pass. Only advantage paying extra 100$ if we add more train/bus/boat travel within swiss in those 3 consecutive days and no hassle in purchasing tickets by waiting in the line.

planning to visit titlis from lucerne
planning to visit jungfrau from interlaken
travel from lucerne to interlaken
travel from interlaken to zurich

Please correct me if I am wrong.

Posted by
20100 posts

In my numerous calculations of various itineraries posted on this forum, the Half fare card saves the most money 99% of the time. As you say, the real value of the Swiss Pass is not needing to purchase tickets, except for the mountain railways.

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