Swiss Travel Pass Question

Don, I think you never got an answer on this question.

The start date that you select for the one-month travel window does not dictate which 15 travel days you later use within that period. You fill those in as you go. If you have the Swiss Travel Pass activated starting on the 3rd of the month, it will expire at midnight on the 2nd day of the next month.

You don't get any discounts or coverage of either museums or transport in between the 15 counted travel days of this flex pass. (This is slightly different than how you may see it described in materials that are a couple of years old, because Switzerland used to conform to the rail pass standard that discounts need not start use of a travel day.) Museums also are never half price with this pass - they are either covered (about 500 of them, on counted travel days) or not covered. In the olden days, there was also a one-month consecutive pass that you might have considered, but no more.

If you're interested in getting 1st class for about the same price as 2nd, see the current coupon code offer on the link above (restrictions apply).

Thank you so much Laura for your response. Wow, I was way off in what I thought the Flex pass does. I had no idea it doesn't work for museums in between days. What a drag. I'm really at a loss as to which pass to get. I guess they don't expect anyone to spend more than a couple of weeks in Switzerland. My plan is to follow Rick's route from the guidebook but adding more days to each place. 15 day consecutive surely won't work. Perhaps I should get an 8 day flex plus Half Fare card? Or the 15 day flex?

Look at the per-day cost of each pass. The 8-day Flex for $427 costs $53.40 per day of use. The 15- day Flex at $510 costs $34 for each day of use. That would be my suggestion. You may have only 9 major travel days, but you are bound to use some form of transport on other days as well, plus you will have the benefit of 15 possible days for museum admission.

An 8-day Flex plus Half Fare card will cost $549--more than the 15-day Flex---and you still have to pay the other half of the ticket on the days you aren't using a Flex day.

Yes, that's what I was thinking...the 15 day flex because it works out to about $34 per day. It's just that the half fare card gets you a bigger discount on those pricey mountain trips. Half off vs 25% off. If a mountain trip costs about $100, I would be using a flex day, which cost me $34, just to save $25 on the mountain lift. With the half fare card, I would save $50. It's really difficult to figure out.

The only mountain trip where the Half Fare Card gets you a better discount than the Select Pass is the Jungfraujoch, where you get 50% off the whole tripmwith a HFC. The Swiss Pass and select Pass give you 25% off the section above Wengen but 50% up to that point.

Thanks Lola... any idea how much it will cost me with the flex pass to go to Jungfraukoch and back if I am staying in Gimmelwald? Half off to here and 25 off from there... it's kinda confusing.

It's looking like the 15 flex pass is best for me but I'm worried about how much things will cost even using 2 flex days for mountain trips in the Berner Oberland area.