Swiss passes versus paying point to point

... or perhaps my estimate of 215 SF per person is not very accurate?

Dropping a German car in Switzerland can be expensive. You pay for the car to be transported back to Germany so it can be rerented, as well as the rental rate for the time until this happens. Plus you'll need to buy a Swiss vignette for the car. You might think about dropping it in Germany before hand. Then the added rail costs will put you over 240 CHF pp, which is the break-even point for a Half Fare Card.

robynwhelan,
1) Drop the car off somewhere on the German border with good rail connections into Switzerland to save the horrible drop-off costs. Where depends where in Germany you are coming from. That is one more Swiss rail trip.
2) Where are you going after the Berner Oberland? To an airport or exiting Switzerland by rail? That is also a rail journey to be costed in.

Thanks so much for your replies, especially the info about the vignette, which I had never heard of, and the bloated price to pay just to drive into Switzerland!! Looks like the Half Fare Card is the way to go for us. Thanks again!

robynwhelan,

the vignette, which I had never heard of

The Vignette is a toll charge, for using Swiss Autobahns. Cost CHF 40. The Austrians also have a vignette, if you happen to wander over the border into Austria and drive on an Autobahn. It is your responsibility to buy the Vignette, there are no toll booths entering Autobahns, just big fines if caught.

the bloated price to pay just to drive into Switzerland!!

The hire car surcharge is not to drive in Switzerland, you can do that for no extra charge. The surcharge is to return your car in Switzerland (or any other country different from the one you picked it up in), because someone then has to drive the car back to its home country.

There's more value in the Swiss Pass than just the economics - there's the added value of being able to hop on/off any train, gondola, bus, boat, tram whenever you want as many times as you want without having to stand in line to buy tickets. Of course the exception to that is when you must buy a ticket on a segment not fully covered by the Swiss Pass such as the Jungfrau.

I lean toward the Swiss Travel Pass for convenience, but 4 days either consecutive or flexi does not sound like it will cover your full stay. A pass for 8 consecutive days at about $395 per person would cover most transportation (and museums) between the German border and departing from Zurich airport. For instance, it covers you from Muerren to Wengen, but 50% off above Muerren to Schilthorn and 25% off above Wengen. It fully covers Mt. Rigi and Pilatus and lake excursions around Luzern. The lift discounts are only offered on the counted travel days of the pass, with no discount on in-between days if you chose a flexi-style of pass like 4 days within a month for $315.

Spend a minute or two learning how to use the automated ticket machines rather than standing in line, and point-to-point is not too inconvenient. The machines are easy to use, and I never had to wait for one.

Thanks to all of you for responding. I really appreciated all of the info. I didn't realize that the vignette is for paying for the return of the car to the country of origin. Makes sense. After spending time looking at all of my options, I did finally decide on the Swiss Travel Pass for four consecutive days!! It may be a little bit more money (or maybe not), but the convenience is well worth it. I know you all will wonder at the following decision -- but my husband and I decided to keep the rental car!! Our last location in German is in Fussen. Spent some time checking out different rail routes from Fussen to Interlaken (not exactly a direct route!). The 9-hour journey with four transfers and hair-splitting time connections just made me crazy. Then I thought about driving back to Munich, but we would have to get up before the crack of dawn to drive back to Munich, return the car and then make a 9 am departure time. Journey still was 6.5 hours with two transfers. Then I priced out going from Munich to Zurich (4 hours and no changes) and then purchasing a Swiss train ticket from Zurich to Interlaken (2 hours with 1 change). But the total of that ticket would have been about 35 euros plus 34.40 SF (using a Swiss Half Fare Ticket). But the pp cost would have been $70. So I think my sanity is worth the extra money to rent the car. Again, thanks so much for everyone's input!!!!! Maybe next time I'll take an RS tour!!! LOL So much easier ...

Last month I bought point to point tickets; the trick is to buy SuperSaver fares which are available only 30 days in advance and are limited. For example my trip Zurich to Luzern only cost 19CHF versus 40. The only drawback they are only good for the train time and route you pick. But if you do not care to be spontaneous and just stick to a set plan than you can save a lot like a did. The costs of all my SuperSaver Tickets plus one full price excursion to the top of the Shilthorn did not exceed what I would have paid for buying a pass.

Also I bought those tickets using the SBB ap which works like a charm stores them as QR codes on your mobile. Though you still get a ticket as a PDF file in your email

I didn't realize that the vignette is for paying for the return of the car to the country of origin.

NO! A vignette is a road toll for using an Autobahn, paid to the government, applicable to all motor vehicles not just hire cars. Info here: http://www.myswissalps.com/motorwayvignette
For rented cars the rental company charges a surcharge for returning them to their home country - totally different.

If you want to use the car in Switzerland, you could spend your last night in Konstanz (on the Swiss border but in Germany), return the car there without paying a surcharge and get a train to Zürich airport (is that where you are flying out from, you haven't said?).

Or you could drop it in Konstanz at the start of the trip into Switzerland and proceed by train from there. Lindau would work as well. Don't be intimidated by short transfer times in Switzerland, that is the norm and it works well. Train schedules are designed for it. Also, trains are frequent in Switzerland. A missed connection usually means waiting another half hour (or less) for the next train, and never more than 1 hour.

But I am curious that you spent some time calculating the costs of your train travel in Switzerland and the various ticket options, but now you've just said "Screw it, we're hanging on to the car." Have you got a written quote from the rental car company as to the drop charges in Switzerland? You're flying blind if you haven't. And the cost of the vignette is not much money, but it is a chore you need to take care of as you enter Switzerland with a rental car. Fines are stiff for being caught without one unless you stick to secondary roads. Maybe you can drop it in Zurich for a smaller fee as it is close to the German border.

Totally "misspoke" myself by typing vignette.

Right after posting the reply about keeping the car, I discovered Kostanz. Looked up the connection from there to Lauterbrunnen and was surprised at how much faster the trip is. So, we are dropping the car off in Kostanz and not taking it into Switzerland. There are a lot of Lauterbrunnen destinations, though. Know which one is the correct one to go to?

Just plain Lauterbrunnen or Lauterbrunnen Bahnhof will be the train station. Others are bus stops and Lauterbrunnen BLM is where you catch a gondola to Gruetschalp, across the street from the station.

You just put in Konstanz to Muerren BLM in the SBB trip planner. That is the route to Zurich, Bern, Interlaken Ost, Lauterbrunnen, Gruetschalp, Muerren BLM station. Cost is 112 CHF. You also have the option of going from Lauerbrunnen to Stechelberg on the bus, then the Schilthornbahn cable car 2 stages up to Muerren. Takes about the same amount of time, but SBB will not quote a price for taking this route. Not sure what the price is for the cable car from Stechelberg to Muerren.

So looks like Konstanz to Muerren to Luzern to Zurich airport is 194 CHF. Given the other lifts you want to ride while in the Berner Oberland, Half Fare Cards are in order.

Got it. Many thanks for everyone's help!