Train help

I'll assume your granddaughter is older than 16.

You might want to look at the Swiss Travel Pass. It covers every train journey in Switzerland + gives 50% discount on most mountain rides (a handful are excluded; Jungfrau has only a 25% discount; Rochers de Naye, Rigi and Stanserhorn are included). It is available in a 6-day version, and your granddaughter, if she's 25 or younger, qualifies for a youth pass. There is no senior pass.

The "one month pass" you read about is probably the Half Fare Card. That's an option as well: you pay 120 francs and you get 50% off every train ticket and mountain railway (with a negligible handful of exceptions). It is typically a bit cheaper than the Swiss Travel Pass, but this is less clear in the case of your granddaughter with a Youth pass. Also, you'd need to buy train tickets every time, which is a potential deterrent for spontaneous day trips.

Lastly, your daughter also has the option of an Interrail youth pass. It is cheaper than a Swiss Travel Pass, but has many more exclusions, especially in the Berner Oberland area: a Swiss Travel Pass is better.

For more details, check out the "Man in seat 61" website, a great resource for train travel.

Now, regarding your trip plan: Switzerland looks small but trains, while frequent, are not that fast. You'll need to focus on maybe 2 areas of the country, and there is no such thing as a central base that works for day trips all over. With Geneva as a starting point, it would make sense to spend part of your time on lake Geneva - preferably in the eastern section between Lausanne and Villeneuve, which is very scenic, with the opportunity to visit the Lavaux vineyards with fall colors. And the remainder could be spent in the Berner Oberland, which has arguably the best easily accessed mountain scenery in the country.

You can buy a Swiss Flexible Train pass ( SBB calls it the “Swiss Travel Pass Flex”) valid for any 3,4 or 6 days during a 30-day period that you want it to be. The days do not have to be consecutive. For 3 days of validity the SBB Travel Pass Flex is 267 CHF. For 4 days it costs 323CHF and for 6 days it’s 374 CHF. Your granddaughter’s Travel Pass Flex for 3,4 and 6 days during one month would respectively be 189CHF, 229 CHF and 272 CHF.
If you strategically use the Flex Pass on more expensive routes or days of more travel, you can then just buy point-to-point tickets for the less expensive journeys.
There may be an additional discount since the two of you are traveling together. These prices are on the Swiss National Train company’s website and are valid until 12/31/22.
www.SBB.ch

Thank you!

You’re Welcome!