Here’s our itinerary:
3 nights Cochem, Germany
3 nights Colmar, France
2 nights Zematt, Switzerland
5 nights Wengen, Switzerland
5 nights Lucerne, Switzerland
We would like to go up the scenic mountain trains, explore the Interlaken area, and maybe explore Engleberg and other surrounding areas. We will be in Switzerland for a total 12 days. What travel pass(es) would be best for us to purchase?
Do you mean a Eurail train pass? The 7 days in one month would be my guess.
I’m in the middle of figuring this out for our trip next summer to Switzerland. The Swiss Travel Pass is only for Switzerland so it won’t help you in Germany and France and I’m not familiar with what’s needed in those countries. The STP has a website with info but there are a lot of variables. They tell you, basically, to sit down, figure out your itinerary, check the prices for the routes you will be taking, add it up and see which pass fits your needs. There is also a Berner Oberland pass for that area and they also have a website. Again, it all depends on “your” detailed itinerary, where you want to go, if you want to use the trams out of the Lauterbrunnen Valley, or go up to the Jungfrau, etc. Happy travels!
If you are spending 12 nights in Switzerland that means 13 travel days in Switzerland. I would just go ahead and get the 15-day Swiss Travel Pass.
Train travel for the short distances you are covering in Germany and Alsace is cheap and not worth buying a pass for. And a Eurail pass is not as useful in Switzerland as a dedicated Swiss Travel pass.
The Berner Oberland pass is the most comprehensive for Wengen region. Take a look at the coverage map. https://www.berneseoberlandpass.ch/maps-bernese-oberland/
The Swiss Travel Pass does not cover “recreational” trains/gondolas 100%, it only discounts them. This includes Kleinne Scheidigg, Mannlichen, First, Allmendhubel. Basically any trains/lifts that go higher than populated villages.
What you plan to do around Lucerne will dictate whether a different pass is worth it for that area. A BO Pass will give you a discount for the Engelberg area.
In Colmar, there is a Alsa+ 24Hr Solo pass on weekdays for 37€ each. On weekends and holidays there is a Alsa+ Groupe Journee pass that covers up to 5 people for 39€. You just buy it at the red CTS kiosks. It can be used on all regional trains, trams & buses. It can cover from Strasbourg to Basel, depending on the pass you choose.
https://www.ter.sncf.com/grand-est/tarifs-cartes/tarifs-regionaux/alsa%2B-solo-24h
https://www.ter.sncf.com/grand-est/tarifs-cartes/tarifs-regionaux/alsa%2B-groupe-journee
It is true that the Berner Oberland Pass provides better coverage for the recreational lifts and trains in the BO region than the Swiss Travel Pass (although the coverage for the two most expensive, the Jungfraubahn to
Tod of Europe and the Schilthorn cablecar to Piz Gloria still only partial, 50% or 25%). The BO pass is a good choice when one is spending most of one’s time in the Berner Oberland, especially if the plan is to ride a lot of lifts. We made good use of our BO passes on our last trip, with 5 nights in Mürren and only 2 more after that (near Luzern) before we departed to Italy.
However, scenicwanderer is spending less than half their Switzerland time in the Berner Oberland. In order to cover their train and boat travel for the entire trip, they would have to buy a 6-day BO pass (350 CHF) and an 8-day Swiss Travel Pass (419 CHF, for a total outlay of 769 CHF. That would cover all their journeys outside the BO validity area, such as Basel to Zermatt; from Zermatt to Spiez; the full Rigi roundtrip from Luzern by boat, cogwheel train and cablecar; a daytrip to Engelberg; and the trip from Luzern to wherever they go next. Plus provide 50% discounts on the Gornergrat Bahn at Zermatt and the Mt. Titlis gondola at Engelberg, and anything else they wish to do at Luzern that hasn’t been mentioned.
But they would get all of that, plus all the Berner Oberland train and boat rides, covered with the 15-day Swiss Travel Pass, for much less—-459 CHF total cost. That is 320 CHF less than the 2 separate BO and STP passes needed to cover the whole trip. That 320 CHF difference should more than make up the difference between the two passes on the cablecars and gondolas they might ride in the Berner Oberland (such as the Männlichen cablecar and First Gondola). Most likely, they will come out ahead.
A ride from Wengen up to Männlichen on the cablecar and back down from Kleine Scheidegg by train, for example, is 60 CHF full fare. With the STP they will pay half that, or 30 CHF. The price for the First gondola at Grindelwald is slightly more (68 CHF if they ride both ways, but many people use that lift and then take a zip line or mountain scooter part way down). Even if they ride both ways, their fare with the STP is 34 CHF. So say they do both of those, on different days. That means they spend 64 CHF on the lifts. With a total of 4 full days in the BO, they will have to work hard riding lifts to spend the full 320 CHF they saved by buying the one 15-day pass instead of separate BO and STP passes.
Here is another way to look at this: the cost per day of any pass goes down the longer the period of use for the pass. Thus, the cost of a 6-day BO pass is 58 CHF per day. That is what you are paying, whether you use the pass or not on any given day. The cost of an 8-day STP is 52 CHF per day. But the cost of a 15-day Swiss Travel Pass for the 13 days they will actually use it comes to only 35 CHF per day. (If used for the entire 15-day period the daily cost drops to 30.50 CHF).
What about the Tell-Pass for the 5 days in Lucerne?
Does the Jungfrau Region Pass offer anything different from the Berner Oberland pass if staying in Wengen?
Thank you, everyone, for all of the help! Lola, I think you got to the crust of my question because I was wondering whether it was worth it to buy the 15 day Swiss Travel Pass. It sounds like the best way to go. Wish they had a 12 day pass—lol. I appreciate all of the information and will look into the Alsace options, too. It is so hard to figure out precisely what we will be doing each day, but we know we will hike as much as possible (day hikes). Thanks again!
There is another option, but you would need to “do the math” a bit to see how the costs compare. This involves predicting which mountain lifts you may want to ride, plus looking up the cost of various train journeys.
That is to buy the 6-day Berner Oberland Pass and a Half Fare Card. The price for the BO Pass with a HFC drops from 350 CHF to 254. That comes close to covering the 120 CHF cost of the Half Fare Card.
The HFC is good for 30 days, so will cover your whole trip, reducing the travel cost from Basel (where you enter Switzerland) to Zermatt, and from Zermatt to Spiez or Brig (where the BO Pass kicks in). *** The BO pass will then fully cover your recreational lifts and train travel for 6 days (two exceptions already noted), as well as the train trip to Luzern on Day 6 of the pass. After that, the Half Fare card will cover 50% of everything—-boats, trains, and recreational lifts—-for the rest of your time in Switzerland.
***I said Spiez or Brig because the BO Pass will cover the journey from Brig if you take the regional train via Kandersteg instead of the deep Lötschberg Basistunnel from Visp to Spiez. You can see the two routes on the Swiss rail map:
https://www.swiss-pass.ch/wp-content/uploads/pdf/swiss-travel-system-map.pdf
The tunnel is shown in the dark dashed line starting at Visp. To take the regional train, you go from Zermatt past Visp to Brig, and board a regional train there. There is still a tunnel—-see the lighter dashed line from Goppenstein to Kandersteg—-but this route is covered on the BO Pass, as you can see on this map of validity:
https://www.berneseoberlandpass.ch/assets/Uploads/BLS-BO-Pass-M-24-WEB-komprimiert_compressed.pdf
You will see that same switchback in the track just north of Kandersteg.
This option (BO pass with Half Fare Card) would cost you 374 CHF and might be cheaper overall than the 15-day Swiss Pass IF you plan to ride a number of the recreational lifts in the BO, you take the slower route via Kandersteg when traveling from Zermatt to Wengen, AND you do not have a lot of expensive train, boat, and lift rides planned during your Luzern time. (Remember that the Swiss Pass will fully cover the faster Visp-Spiez route to Wengen, plus boat and regular train rides at Luzern, such as to Engelberg and back).
If you do choose this BO plus HFC option and plan on doing the Rigi round trip, consider getting a Saver Day Pass (using your Half Fare Card) for one day to cover that—-but then you are committed to that day, regardless of weather.
Also note that with this BO + HFC option, once you are outside the BO pass validity region, you lose the convenience factor of a travel pass—-you will need to buy tickets for each journey before boarding the train.
Here is the information on the Jungfrau Pass:
https://www.jungfrau.ch/en-gb/jungfrau-travel-pass/
6 days for 290 CHF, with very little reduction for holders of the Half Fare Card.
Coverage begins at Interlaken Ost, so it would not help with trains from Zermatt and heading to Luzern from Interlaken. The lift and boat coverage for the BO appears to be nearly congruent with the BO pass, including the extra charge for the Jungfraujoch above Eigergletscher. However, the rides above Mürren (Schilthorn and Allmendhubel) are not covered at all.
And the Tell Pass:
Coverage begins at Interlaken Ost and it covers just about every lift and boat in the Vierwaldstättersee region. A 5-day pass is 180 CHF.
