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Travel Pass Options - Switzerland

Posted by (Canada) on

Hi there,

We are heading to Switzerland in a couple of weeks, and I'm trying to figure out which travel pass to choose. We're in a hurry to choose, as we leave soon and some have to be shipped to our home. We're not sure if we should get a three or four day flexipass for use within a month (and just pay for any additional cable car trips), or a half price card. We may be using cable cars at various points during some of our hikes, but our intention is to hike as much as possible once we arrive in Murren, until we leave Wengen. Any assistance would be greatly appreciated!

Our itinerary is as follows:

Day 1: land in Geneva, transit to Murren
Day 2: night in Murren (hiking)
Day 3: night in Murren (hiking)
Day 4: hike to Hotel Obersteinberg, night there
Day 5: hike to Wengen, night in Wengen
Day 6: night in Bern
Day 7: fly out of Basel

Posted by
20147 posts

You have about 178 CHF of train tickets excepting any lifts. You need 240 CHF of tickets to make the Half Fare Card pay. Also the 239 CHF 3-day flex pass is more money than 178 CHF, therefore, just buy tickets as you need them.

Posted by
11336 posts

With the hiking on days 2-5 you will probably use a lot of lifts. If you buy the Half-Fare card it applies to those. Since Sam calculated your train fares at 178CHF the lifts should put you well over the 240CHF that represents break-even on a Half-fare Card.

You might also consider the Berner Oberland Regional Pass.A 4-day pass is 240 CHF, or 180 CHF with a Half-Fare Card. We always find the regional pass worthwhile and use well over 100% of its face value every trip.

The only way I know to figure out if the pass is truly worthwhile is to do a spreadsheet of every train and lift we plan to take.

As far as I know, you can buy the passes in-country. Our last trip there we asked at the first station about buying a Half-Fare Card and did so, then bought our regional passes in Interlaken.

Posted by
3 posts

Thanks so much for your responses. Our problem is that we're really unsure of how many passes we will need once we arrive at Murren. Sounds like it'll be touch to choose the best value without mapping that out, but I'm not sure we'll be able to before we arrive! This information definitely helps! Seems like the flexipass does not make sense for us.

Posted by
11336 posts

I agree on the flexipass. I noodled out an 11-night stay with lots of hiking and use of lifts, but the flexipass never made sense.This chart might help you. Doing the Mannlichen to Kleine Scheidigg hike would require the lift to Mannlichen and the train down from Kleine Scheidigg. That's 36.40 + 40.20 CHF per person. And that might not be the only lift or train you take in that one day. A pass pays off pretty quickly. But you can noodle through this on your way and consult with the TI when you arrive.

Posted by
3 posts

Thanks Laurel. Did you use a half fare card for your time there?

Posted by
11336 posts

Yes, on the 11-night trip we spent 4 in Zermatt and 7 in Lauterbrunnen. We used a 1/2 fare card for the whole time in Switzerland for trains, for lifts at Zermatt, and to get a discount on the Berner Oberland regional pass.

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