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Swiss Train Pass

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Trying to help my parents plan a trip to Switzerland this fall. They will land at the Zurich airport on September 3 and plan on taking the train directly to Lucerne. They will spend 3 nights in Lucerne where they plan to take a boat ride on the lake/explore the town one day and the golden round trip to Mt Pilatus another day. They will then take the train to Lauterbrunnen where they will spend 4 nights. During this time they plan visit the Harder Klum funicular and Giessbach falls in interlaken (St Beatus caves also if time allows) and Trummelbach falls, Staubbach falls, and Mt Schilthorn (via Murren), they will take the train from lauterbrunnen back to the Zurich airport September 11 and stay one night by the airport before flying home to the US the next day.

They would like to purchase a rail travel pass for ease and flexibly of travel without having to purchase each ticket separately, but are struggling to decide which option is best. Swiss travel pass, half fair pass, bernese overland pass, combo of any of these?!? Any other suggestions?!?

Thank you!
Lauren

Posted by
21458 posts

Are they more interested in convenience or saving money?

The Half Fare Card almost always saves the most money, but you still have to buy each and every ticket.

The Swiss Travel Pass is very convenient, but they will need a 15-day pass to cover end to end, even though they will only have 12 days on the ground. It will not cover everything, as it only covers transportation to inhabited towns and villages, not tourist mountaintop sites, like Mt Pilatus, harder Kulm, or the Schilthorn. It does 50% discount on most of these, plus it covers part of the journey.

The Berner Oberland Pass coverage has changed this year. With a Swiss Travel Pass, it might be overkill. There is also a Jungfrau Travel Pass, covering mostly the area from Wengen to Grindelwald mountain lifts. It has a discount with the Swiss Travel Pass.

Posted by
2 posts

Thanks for the info. I think they would really benefit for the convenience of not having to buy each ticket individually. I guess I will have to look into the other passes to see if it would be a better deal for what they are interested in doing to purchase a regional pass with a separate ticket to and from Zurich vs the 15 day Swiss pass….

Posted by
292 posts

We spent 13 days in Switzerland (Geneva/Murren/Zermatt/Lugano) this past early August. We elected to buy the Swiss Travel Pass for 15 days. Was it the cheapest option? I dunno, but it is incredibly easy and convenient to load these into the SBB mobile app and just show them when necessary. No train schedules required other than the seat reservations on the "Express" trains (Golden Pass, Glacier & Berner).

Additional expenses for the Schilthorn which you can also schedule in the SBB app when you have a handle on the weather. Harder Klum and Mt.. Pilatus 50% off with Swiss Pass. The boat ride in Lucern and local transporation is included in the Swiss Pass.

IMO opinion suggest take a strong look at staying in Murren. A bit more difficult to get there, but more scenic (again IMO) than Lauterbrunnen.
Again you may noodle out better savings with day passes but the Swiss travel pass is the least complicate though pricier option.

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