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Which travel pass in Switzerland?

Posted by on

Hello,

Here's our itinerary for Switzerland for our party of 3 adults, including one senior:

May 29: Train from Rome to Lauterbrunnen (already bought the tickets from SBB)
May 30: Hike Grütschalp to Mürren, lunch in Mürren, hike Mürren to Gimmelwald, take cable lift and Post bus to Lauterbrunnen
May 31: Hike Männlichen to Kleine Scheidegg, take train to Wengen for lunch, take train down to Lauterbrunnen
June 1: Train to Zurich - possibly stop for a visit in Lucerne on the way?
June 2: Zurich
June 3: Flight home

I actually found these suggested hikes from another poster on this forum. I forget who it was, but thank you!

I started watching Aplins in the Alps to familiarize myself with all the different travel passes. We're on a budget. I'm still not sure which would be best or if getting a pass is worth it at all since we're in Switzerland for such a short time. The Aplins did mention the Swiss Half Fare Card, so maybe that one? Any other advice would be greatly appreciated.

Posted by
20103 posts

The Half Fare Card costs 120 CHF, so it only begins to save money if you have over 240 CHF worth of tickets. You already bought Rome to Lauterbrunnen, so that is fait accomplis. you are leaving out Lauterbrunnen to Gruetschalp on May 30 and Lauterbrunnen to Maennlichen on May 31. You only have 162.60 CHF worth of full fare tickets for the travel you describe, so a Half Fare Card will cost you more than just buying tickets as you go. You could save a little money by buying now a Saver Day Pass for June 1 for 52 CHF, which will save you about 11 CHF, or more if you take a boat ride in Luzern.

Posted by
2675 posts

May 31: Hike Männlichen to Kleine Scheidegg, take train to Wengen for
lunch, take train down to Lauterbrunnen

You’ll want to come up with an alternative plan for this day. While the cable car up to Männlichen will be running, the hike down to Kleine Scheidegg typically does not open until mid-June.

You could take the cable car up to Männlichen, spend some time up there, and then take the other cable car down to Grindelwald. Spend some time in Grindelwald before taking the train to Lauterbrunnen.

Posted by
7 posts

Hi. We are going to be In Lauterbrunnen May 26 -30!

We are planning to take the Lauterbrunnen Valley walk to the waterfalls given it may be too early for higher-altitude easy hikes. I would welcome suggestions for other easy hike possibilities this early in the year.

I haven't figured out the pass situation either. Since going to the Jungfrau or Schilthorn is appropriate only with good weather, you can't factor that in -- if you are going to do something other than hikes.

Posted by
48 posts

Hi MJ, I recently stumbled upon Aplins in the Alps on YouTube and began watching their videos. I would suggest checking them out. They also have videos on the various travel passes and give tips on what would be appropriate based on your trip factors. Wishing you a great trip and maybe we'll run into each other then!

Posted by
808 posts

@MJ ~ The walk from Murren to Gimmelwald is easy and very scenic. We enjoyed the quaintness of Gimmelwald

Posted by
16287 posts

Note that this past summer there was a lot of truck traffic on the usually quiet road from Mürren down to Gimmelwald. I believe the construction is continuing in 2024 so the same situation may occur. We got off the road onto the footpath at the earliest opportunity—you will see it on the left side as you are walking down. It is steeper and the footing is not great, but it is better than dodging trucks and construction equipment on the road.

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