Switzerland 6 days in June - Pass help

For a quick answer for question 4, I believe that your flexi pass will only get you a 25% discount from Wengen to the Jungfraujoch. I would suggest the 1/2-fare card. 120CHF and its good every day for 30 days. It does what it says. 1/2 the fare. The flexi pass will get you full travel days but not up to the higher mountain peaks. 1/2 fare card gets a 50% discount. Flexi pass gets 25%. For the Jungfraujoch, the fare from Wengen is 163CHF (about $180). It's 81.50CHF with the 1/2 fare card. It's 122CHF with the flexi pass. When buying your ticket from Zermatt to Venice, just show your pass or card to the agent and they will make the adjustment.

First of all - don't stay in Interlaken. Stay in one of the beautiful alpine villages Mürren or Wengen. They are SOOOOOO much nicer than Interlaken, and the fantastic scenery will be right at your doorstep.

You will definitely benefit from the free Swiss Family Card as your kids will go free even to the expensive Jungfrau. Have you looked at the Swiss Half Fare Card? It's good for 30 days and every where you travel will be at 1/2 price. Your kids are still free with the Swiss Family Card.

5 Swiss Flexi Saver Pass = $422
Swiss Half Fare Card = $135

The Half Fare Card actually gets you a bit higher of a discount on the Jungfrau trip than the Swiss Pass. Of course you'll have to do the math to figure out precisely.

If you choose the Swiss pass for 4 flexi days, then you must activate it and count Basel-Luzern as your first travel day in order to get 50% discounts on other tickets the next day. It's a strange rule, and may partly be an issue of translation into different languages, but many conductors interpret it this way.

Since your trip fits within a Swiss Pass for 8 consecutive days, that would be my first choice. It will cover lower-level trains, trams, buses, boats, and museums on your way to/from the higher mountain lifts for about $80 more per adult traveler. You can just board and flash your pass on most of those, so you don't have to stop and buy a discounted tickets until you get up to Muerren, Wengen, or Kreins.

You do buy a separate, reserved ticket from Domodossola to Milan and Venice, which you should be able to do at almost any Swiss station.

Rule of thumb in the Alps: Keep your schedule flexible, and plan for more days in fewer locations. Alpine weather doesn't care how meticulously you arrange your itinerary or if this is your one-and-only chance to visit Switzerland. Stormy weather can (and will) sweep in and render those Technicolor mountain views of your dreams to little more than a gray haze. Your best buffer against the arbitrary whims of Alpine weather is to budget at least three nights at each location, and have an alternative, more weather-neutral option for less-than-sunny days.

The hotels are booked from 6 mos ago, so not much I can do there..
Thank you all for HFC suggestion. I'm trying now to do the math with HFC. How exactly is the transportation for day 3? Interlaken OST - Wengen, Wengen - Mannlichen(via gondola), walk to KS, and then?? How do I get to Lauterbrunnen Valley? train from KS - Murren?
How do I price out the gondola ride?

Pricing info here for summer lift prices in Berner Oberland.
http://www.jungfrau.ch/en/sommer/tourism/places-to-visit/jungfraujoch-top-of-europe/experiences/

"The hotels are booked from 6 mos ago, so not much I can do there.."

Unless they are non-refundable, you can certainly change them. If they are refundable, you can start by figuring out where you want to spend more nights, and see if there is availability. If there is, you can change your booking. If there isn't, you haven't lost anything (except, of course, the time you spent researching).

If the hotels are non-refundable, Tom's other advice about keeping your schedule flexible still applies. If, when you get to Interlaken, you find that the Jungfraujoch is clear, go there your first day rather than waiting; it may not be clear the next day (or even later that day).

I'll third Tom's advice. As he says, the first thing to consider - you may want to cancel or rearrange your schedule on the fly - or have a plan B worked out, just in case.

We recently returned from a 3-week trip through France, and had planned to go to Annecy on April 28, then Lauterbrunnen and Fussen. On our first leg of the trip it began raining in Sarlat. We had loaded some weather apps on our tablets to keep an eye on the Alps. It never fully stopped raining in the Alps until after we had returned home.

By the time we were to leave Arles for Annecy, the weather report said rain and snow in the Alps. We bit the bullet, stayed 2 more days in Arles and cut out the Annecy-Lauterbrunnen-Fussen leg and headed instead straight for Bacharach, near our departure airport in Frankfurt. We never expected to have to do a rush schedule change at the last minute but we are glad we had our tablets and phones to track the weather and research the alternatives.

With internet access, you can check the web cams located in your Swiss destinations and at the top of the mountain peaks. We checked the web cams and the weather rendered "those Technicolor mountain views of your dreams to little more than a gray haze".

Years ago I had visited the Alps with no problems, but that was in August.

On a good, note, we had a good time anyway. Wherever you go, there's plenty of things to do on those extra days if you're flexible.

Thank you Sam for the link, it very helpful for me to price out the transp.

Don, Harold & Tim,
Our hotels are non refundable.. :( or I would've change it already.
I'm hoping for the best and praying hard it won't rain while we are there :) :)
While we are trying to be flexible.. I'm not sure what to do if it's raining, since all of these plan involves outdoor activity everyday.
I just did the math, and HFC is the cheapest one for us. So I guess we will get that and the family card.
I'm just afraid if we miss the connection if we need to buy the tickets each time with HFC.

Harold,
I cancelled my non-refundable hotel in Interlaken, and changed the hotel to Murren last minute.
I only need to pay admin fee for $20, glad I called them and ask.
thanks so much.

jsudewa,

Glad you double-checked and were able to change that hotel! To me, "non-refundable" means that I've prepaid and would lost most or all of my money if I didn't stay at that hotel. If there's just a low administrative fee, that's different. A $20 fee is very small to have a better vacation. I think you did the right thing!

That's great news to move your reservation to Mürren! You'll be amazed at what you see and the experience you have.