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Using Swiss Rail in October

Posted by (Knoxville TN ) on

Three of us are going to Switzerland the first week of October. Last year our trip originated in Munich and ended in Switzerland.

However, after paying for the rental car, gas, the Swiss Vignette, overnight parking for 3 nights in Lauterbrunnen (while we stayed in Murren), we decided to try a rail trip this year.
However, this looks more expensive than renting a car! From what I can tell the Swiss Flexi-Pass is a total of $834 for the three of us. Two are over 60 years old. I checked on 4 days of travel over an 8 day period.

Our plans are to go by train from Zurich Airport to Murren and stay 6 nights there, then return to Zurich at the end of our trip. We have been to Switzerland multiple times and Murren is our favorite destination. There is a possibility we might do a day trip over to Wengen or down to Interlaken to do a boat tour, but we are very content to stay in Murren, relax and hike.

Are point to point tickets the way to go here? The Flexi pass just seems really expensive when we are not planning to do a lot of moving around.

Posted by
21137 posts

Your price actually looks a little low. I come up with 852 chf for 3 4-day Swiss Saver Flexi Passes. At 1.12 usd/chf comes to $954. Lets just work in chf pp. Swiss flexi 4d saver is 284 chf. Your RT fare from Zuerich to Muerren is 178 chf, a RT from Muerren to Interlaken is 36 chf, a RT to Wengen is 55 chf. So that comes to 269 chf. That is less than a 4 day pass. Now, you can get a Swiss Transfer ticket which will take you RT from your entry and exit point (Zurich airport) to your destination (Muerren) for 139 chf. So now we are talking 230 chf. If you were going to make more than 120 chf worth of train trips while in Muerren, then the 199 chf Swiss Card would be the way to go, as it combines the Swiss Transfer Ticket with a Half Fare Card while you stay in Switzerland.
No matter how you cut it, the Swiss are going to pry at least $260 pp out of your wallet.

Posted by
3287 posts

Price for. 2d class Transfer Ticket on this website is $158. if Sam's price of 178 CHF for RT Zurich to Muerren and back is correct, there is a slight advantage to the Transfer Ticket.

If you are really doing as little dditional travel as you say, then there is no other pass which would save you money over PtP tickets for your travel from Muerren. But check out the Swiss Card ( which is a Transfer Ticket + Half-Fare Card) just to be sure.

Posted by
6898 posts

Lynne, I see the Swiss Transfer Ticket on http://www.swiss-pass.ch/en/swiss-transfer-ticket?utm_source=bing&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=Swiss%20Transfer%20Ticket%20EN&utm_term=swiss%20transfer%20ticket for 139CHF. Here's a link to what I see. http://gyazo.com/900cdc67c9f1d3ab729b0caf0adef838

As explained above by Sam and Sasha, the Swiss Transfer ticket is designed to provide free and full roundtrip transportation from your border entry point (Zurich airport in your situation) to your single destination. During your stay there, the ticket acts in a manner similar to a Swiss 1/2 fare card. 1/2 fare on all Swiss transportation. Round trip fare from Zurich to Muerren is about 155 CHF so you can do the math from there.

Posted by
115 posts

Thanks for all the replies. We have actually decided to rent a car. We got a great price of $252 USD through gemut.com. Even factoring in our gas and parking the car while in Murren, it is cheaper for the 3 of us than rail tickets.

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