I am traveling from Zurich to Lucerne, Lucerne to Wengen and then from Wengen to Italy. I have no clue which pass to purchase but I would like to travel to different sites such as Mt.Rigi, and Mt. Pilatus. I still need to do a little more research on the Wengen area and adventures to seek while I am visiting.
Posted by
Seattle
4637 posts
I am not an expert on Switzerland but my educated guess is that it would be cheaper to do it without a pass, just point to point tickets. We are planning something similar (without Wengen) and go just for point to point.
Posted by
Green Bay
20096 posts
Go to www.sbb.ch/en and price each individual leg and lift (remember to price the round trip unless you are hiking down). If the amount comes to more than 240 CHF, then buying a 120 CHF 30-day Half Fare Card will save you money. For various reasons, travel passes almost never save as much as the Half Fare Card.
Now when you bring up the list of trains as the first result from the trip plan, on the right hand side it will say Fares/Buy and above "from CHF XX.XX" . But this will be the price assuming you already have a Half Fare Card, So you have to double that price to get the full fare price (thus the "Fares from"). I imagine that you will take some other journeys while you are Wengen, so add those in as well.
Posted by
Knoxville, TN, USA
7209 posts
If you're staying in Wengen so that you can make a trip to the Jungfrau then by all means buy the Half Fare Card. Swiss travel is not cheap and although most recommendations say buying a travel pass is often a bad idea...in Switzerland it's usually a good idea.
Posted by
Rick Steves' Europe
16893 posts
Swiss Travel Pass options and prices depend on the length of your stay. You can choose 3, 4, 8, or 15 travel days within a month (any coverage or discount you use it for starts use of a flexipass travel day), or the same numbers for consecutive day passes (less counting, just a solid block of nearly-complete coverage). There's no rush to buy this before the trip plan is firmer. They're sold in train stations there, as well as consecutive-day versions can be issues as e-tickets.
Italian train tickets are relatively cheap in comparison to Swiss (of course depending on distance covered). A 2-country Select pass for Switzerland and Italy is actually cheaper than a Swiss flexipass for the same number of days. You may or may not need to buy more days, plus a €10 seat reservation for fast trains in Italy. Mountain train and lift discounts don't require using a counted day on this pass, but mountain area discounts and coverage are less than on the STP; see details on the page linked above. This pass is better to buy in advance. It's pretty much a moot point if "Italy" only means going as far as Milan.