My wife and I are traveling to Switzerland in August and wonder if it's worth it to buy a Swiss Travel Pass for the following itinerary:
-Zurich airport to Kandersteg
-Interlaken to Murren
-Murren to Interlaken
-Interlaken to Zurich
-Zurich to Munich (or is it only valid within Switzerland?)
-Cable car Murren to Schilthorn and return
Thanks for any advice!
How many days are you on Switzerland.
A Swiss Travel Pass would be valid up to the last train station at the border. Then you need to buy a ticket from the last station in Switzerland before the border with Germany or Austria to Munich. There is a EuroCity train that runs that route direct in under 4 hours. In that case you would need a ticket from St Gallen (the last stop before the train crosses the border with Austria) to Munich. Someone will correct me if wrong.
How are you getting from Kandersteg to Interlaken?
No train from Kandersteg to Interlaken is required as that is covered with our Backroads tour group. Aside from our Backroads tour, we will be in Switzerland 5 days. Thanks!
You don't say how many days your Backroad trip takes, but I think your best option is to buy the 1-month Half Fare Card for 120 CHF each. The round trip to Schilthorn is only a 50% discount with the Swiss Travel Pass. You will also get a discount for the Swiss section of the train from Zurich to Munich. This will save more money than a Swiss Travel Pass.
Thank you Sam.
One more question - do we need to book these trains in advance? (Traveling late August/early September.)
The only one that would be an advantageous to buy in advance is the Zurich to Munich. That is because it is an EC train and you can get big discounts to purchase it now. These prices rise as the actual departure date approaches, so early birds get the best price. From what I have seen, you will get the best price if you buy from Deutsche Bahn. You can get the discount for a Swiss Half Fare Card by clicking on the discount box and selecting "CH Halbtax Abo (without RAILPLUS)". These are Flexpreis Europa Tickets and can be exchanged for a fee. I see 121.25 EUR for two 2nd class tickets for Sept 7.
www.bahn.com/en
The rest of the trains and cable car can be bought anytime before boarding, either at a manned station, ticket vending machine, or the SBB app. You just select the discount "Half Fare Card". When the ticket inspector comes by, you show your ticket and Half Fare Card. That also applies to the EC train to Munich.
www.sbb.ch/en
Thanks so much for that valuable info Sam!
