Swiss Travel Pass vs Half Fare Card, and where to stay?

I don't think I missed it, but when is this trip?

Day 3: Take the train to Zermatt in the early morning. We're looking at the Five Lakes trail around the Matterhorn, eat in Findeln, then take the Gornergrat Railway from Findelbach to Rotenboten, hike to see the blacknose sheep, and take the train back down to Zermatt. Then we'll head back to where we're staying.

I don't see how you can travel from Interlaken to Zermatt and accomplish half of this and get back to Interlaken in the same day. It will take 2 hr and 20 min just to get from Interlaken to Zermatt.

Day 5: Take the train to Zurich to the airport.

What time is your flight and is it to North America? Again, about 2 hr and 20 min to the airport and you need to arrive 3 hours prior to flight to North America.

Yes when is important. The Saver day pass is useful if your dates are VERY firm and purchased far enough in advance. Looking a couple of months out the Day Pass is 52 CHF for 2nd class. These are of course us it or lose it on the day for which they are purchased. but are not tied to any specific schedule. We used two of these in January while skiing (cheaper than point to point Zurich to Murren) and our Jungfraujoch ski pass covered all our transport during our ski week. Saver Day Pass worked out well as we were 3 hours late into Zurich, no problem boarding the next available train.

We were in Switzerland for 13 days late last summer, purchased the 15 Day Swiss Travel pass as we were doing "something" every day that involved some mode of transport - train, funicular, museum or cable cars etc. I gave up trying to calculate which was better and it was so, so simple to just show my cell phone - everywhere. This may not work for you of course.

I have become a Murren addict (going back to ski in late January). My favorite place so far and IMO not to be missed. The Day passes of course eliminate the cost factor in accessing Murren - all covered.

However your trip is much too short and Day three much too crowded - as noted you are planning 5-6 hours on the train. Also consider that you (with a single partial day) may never even see the Matterhorn (weather dependent) We trained from Murren to Zermatt (arrived about noon), then took the Gornergrat train as the weather was clear. Pretty much dinner time when we got back and settled at our hotel. One might argue that with only 3 days just exploring the Lauterbrunnen, Murren, Wengen area would be a lot to do.

Kevin, our trip is in mid-June of next year. We will be going in the latter half of the month, as I know that many hiking trails don't open until then.

Sam, we were planning to go early in the morning, to beat the crowds and also have a full day. I assumed the Five Lakes hike in the morning, lunch in Findeln, and the blacknose sheep in the afternoon. We certainly are amenable if we can't get it all done in one day, but we are both pretty avid hikers, and based on the research we've done, it seemed feasible. As for our flight, yes, we will be flying to JFK. Based on Delta's current flight schedule, our flight would leave around 1pm, and I made sure that trains ran at 6am so we could get there in plenty of time.

John, we are planning for late June of next year. We have not firmed up dates because it's too far out at this point to book anything, but I suspect we will start booking things in December / January. I know when I ran the train from Interlaken to Zermatt, SBB was selling us the day pass. As far as the Travel Pass, I was basing prices on the 4 day pass. When I calculated all our travel together, I found that the STP was the best option too, just want to make sure I'm not missing something. We were recommended Murren, and would of course love to see it, but I don't want to get stuck when the cable car stops running. We would love to stay longer, but alas, we are young and can't take too much time off. Also not sure if we can convince our Germany friends to come down with us, but we may have to!

Understand all that. Our first dozen trips to Europe were 7-8 days at a time - and generally packed. At 74 we move MUCH more slowly but still cover a lot of ground, but by 5:30 I wanna be in a bar somewhere! Just to plant a seed of worry, we flew ATL to ZUR via JFK twice last year and were delayed both times - JFK sux. We were a day late on our long trip, and 3 1/2 hours on my ski trip. Direct to an European airport is much better if possible. I am flying to AMS and changing there this winter.

Switzerland is a great place but if you're trying to be "budget conscious" it's not the best choice. Even with passes and such, you're going to spend a fortune. That's just how it is there.

Read and follow all of Rick's moneysaving tips in his guidebook but expect to spend a lot, to get a lot.

I also like to recommend these guys since they are young and travel pretty close to the ground. They also offer planning and consulting services on rail travel and passes.

https://www.youtube.com/aplinsinthealps

John, we will only be flying home to JFK, then to ATL. We have a direct flight from ATL to Frankfurt to get there.

Phred, I actually posted comments on the Aplins website and never got a reply, hence why I’m posting here.

If by chance you are flying Lufthansa ATL-FRA, take a look at TripAdvisor reviews, we had an awful experience with Lufthansa and at Frankfurt airport.

Compare what you have found so far with this:

Swiss one month Half Fare Card 120.00
Saver Day Pass 29.00 x 4 ‎ = 116
116 + 120 ‎ = 236

https://www.sbb.ch/en/tickets-offers/tickets/guests-abroad/swiss-half-fare-card.html

https://www.sbb.ch/en/tickets-offers/tickets/day-passes/saver-day-pass.html

The HFC can be applied to the Swiss portion of your Germany - Switzerland day and gives you half price on all mountain excursions (gondola, funicular, etc.)

Buy the Saver Day Pass on the day it becomes available, 6 months ahead of time. The cheapest ones are 29.00 with a HFC.

You can go up to Mürren and Wengen with the Saver Day Pass, any higher than that you use your HFC for the 50% discount.

I'm also curious about guest cards, and what those would offer us.

Each place is somewhat different. In Interlaken you will get free transportation on all the busses in their zone. You will have to stay in a registered holiday flat to get this, some AirB&B places are not registered, so you can check beforehand. But if you have a Saver Day Pass you don’t need anything else. Getting a Saver Day Pass for each day is relatively inexpensive and gives you total flexibility to adjust your schedule to suit the weather.

I agree with you that you can certainly do a Zermatt outing in one day - a long day, but who cares? Sleep on the train back to Interlaken if you want to.

Andy, we will be using Delta, as they have a perfect overnight flight that we will be able to sleep on!

SwissNomad, I remember being offered the Saver Day Pass on the train trip to Zermatt. This is a game changer. And this will cover us for the whole day, even if we take multiple trains? Thanks for your encouragement on the Zermatt day! We talked again this morning and think the whole thing is reasonable compared to our normal vacation days. We also built in the chill day 4 because we knew Days 2&3 would be longer / more likely to tire us out.

And this will cover us for the whole day, even if we take multiple trains?

Yes. On and off as much as you want. This map shows the area of validity - boat, bus, train. Not mountain excursions to recreational areas, but anywhere that people actually live.

https://www.sbb.ch/en/tickets-offers/travelcards/area-validity-map.html

I have traveled up to four hours one way for a day trip. Why not? If I am going to hike a get everything ready the night before and take one of the first trains of the day, eat on the outward journey, enjoy my hike, nap on the way home. It’s nothing to be afraid of and not exactly unusual for a Swiss person to enjoy a Saver Day Pass in this manner. Nothing to be afraid of. :-)