Train Pass Advice

Do you mean this botanical garden at Schynige Platte?

https://www.jungfrau.ch/en-gb/schynige-platte/botanical-alpine-garden/.

To get there from Wengen,you will ride down to Lauterbrunnen and take the train toward Interlaken Ost, but gets off at Wilderswil and change to the little train up to Schynige Platte. It is really nice up there, and there are some short loop hikes you can do. This blog gives a nice overview, with photos and a little map:

https://fullsuitcase.com/schynige-platte-hikes/

If you are buying a regular Swiss Travel Pass, I do not think a Berner Oberland Pass adds much value; certainly not the extra 196 CHF you would pay for a 4-day BO Pass.

The main value of a BO Pass is if you are planning to ride a number of the lifts in the area. Apart from the Jungfrau train and the Schilthorn cablecar, the tourist trains (like Schynige Platte), gondolas, cablecars, etc. are fully covered with the BO Pass, while only 50% covered with a Swiss Travel Pass. But I see only one of these (the Schynige Platte train) on your itinerary.

To answer your other questions: for your train from Bern to Zermatt on Day 3, you will be on the Glacier Express route for the section between Brig or Visp and Zermatt, and again going the other way toward Wengen on Day 5. I suggest that for at least one of these journeys you use the slower, more scenic regional train between Spiez and Brig instead of the fast train through the tunnel between Spiez and Visp.

You can see these routes and the highlighted scenic routes on this map of the Swiss railways (you need to download it from this page):

https://www.mystsnet.com/en/news/swiss-travel-system-map-2023/

Then on Day 9, you can ride the Interlaken-Luzern Ex[ress if you wish, but the regular regional trains ride the same rails with the same scenery. So just up to you if you want to ride the named “scenic” train.

My recommendation would be to buy a Swiss travel pass. There was a sale last year where you got an extra day if you bought the pass during the sale. It started late April? and ended Mid May. We did 2+ weeks in Switzerland last year. We bought the half fare card (120 CHF) and we spent 78 CHF on what the BO pass would have covered. We were in Wengen/BO region for 8 days. The BO pass is 254 CHF to 316 CHF depending on the duration and that assumes your have either a half fare card or Swiss Travel pass. For us it did not make sense to purchase both cards. Rick’s guide with pricing of the train/cable car/bus etc in the BO area is very accurate so you can see what makes the most sense economically. The SBB app is also great to look at fares. I looked at what we spent using the half fare card versus what the Swiss travel pass cost and it was slightly less with the half fare card. Not having to buy tickets with the Swiss travel pass definitely makes it simple. I would opt for that next time. As an FYI, for cable cars you will need to go to the ticket counter to get a ticket to get you through their gates. They use these to count how many folks have gone through to know when they are full. A few cable cars and trains will be half or reduced fare with the Swiss travel pass so you need to look at the map to see where you may have to pay based on your plan.

The BO will not cover your train from Zurich to Bern nor from Brig to Zermatt and back. Also most likely not Lucerne to Zurich. You can catch the Glacier Express at Brig to Zermatt. The reserved seat assignments are pretty steep IMHO - 44 CHF for each way so you may decide to just go with a regional train or do it one way. You need to get your tickets the day they go on sell as they sell out quickly and seats where you want them may be hard to get. I got up in the middle of the night to buy our tickets and could not get 1st class and there were limited seats together with 2 windows in 2nd class. Their website can be “painful” just as an FYI.

I would also suggest buying the 2nd class ticket and if you decide to upgrade to first you just pay additional. Not sure how that works with the Swiss travel pass but all transportation around Wengen is only 2nd class so I don’t think you would get your money’s worth there. We did buy some first class tickets for trains with multiple changes when we had our luggage as we do not travel light.

Sounds like a great trip enjoy! We had dinner at the Hotel Barren and it was very very good.

Train to Zermatt (can we be on part of the Glacier Express Route coming to and from Zermatt?) (2 nights at Tannenhof Hotel)

Well, the train from Visp to Zermatt is used by the Glacier Express, as well as every other train going to Zermatt. If you want a scenic ride to Zermatt from Bern, take the BLS "Loetschberger" train to Brig and change to a train to Zermatt from there. This route goes mostly over the mountains rather than the fast way which takes a long tunnel completely under the mountains. This way takes about an hour longer than the fast way, but worth it in my book. Sit on the right hand side of the train. See it with the app or SBB trip planner by specifying via Kandersteg.

Train to Luzern (Is the Interlaken-Luzern Express possible/good?) (2 nights at Schlussel Hotel)

Yes, the Interlaken-Luzern Express is wonderful.

Train to Zurich Airport, 1:15pm departure (how early should we catch our train?)

Take a train that gets you there by 10:15. Takes a little more than a hour with a train change downstairs at Zurich HB. A 9:00 departure would work.

Thank you so much!