Zermatt and Berner Oberland tickets help

Hi Mal,

My wife and I just visited Switzerland for six days in August. We visited BO for three nights then Zermatt for two nights.

I went back and forth on the train passes, whether to buy the half fare card and then a la carte the tickets or get a 3-day Swiss Pass and a 3-day BO pass, or just get an 8-day Swiss Pass and call it a day.

We went with the 8-day Swiss Pass and I think it worked out best. Even if we were close to breaking even on the hearty cost of the passes (over $800 USD for both of us) we avoided the task of having to buy tickets for dozens of trains and gondolas (the Sunnegga funicular was not included but worth the additional $18). If we wanted to go somewhere we just jumped on a train and that was that.

Also, we did not know where we were going after BO. It was up to Lucerne or Zermatt and we didn't know if it was going to be cloudy or rainy in Zermatt. We got lucky with the weather, but we spent an extra $66 on seat reservations for the Glacier Express from Brig to Zermatt. But that day was very rainy and the GE was not worth it - the regular train to Zermatt has nice big window too (';

We stayed at the Hotel Eiger in Murren in BO and the Europe Hotel in Zermatt. We would recommend both very much. Also, we stopped in Bern for lunch and floated in the river with the locals for an hour - it was a highlight of the trip.

Let me know if you have any other questions - and good luck!

The Swiss enjoy turning everyone into financial analysts when planning their holidays. And with 6 people, it will definitely pay for you to build a spreadsheet with all the options. Offhand, it looks like Half Fare Cards for everyone will save money, as you get 25% discounts for both the Peak and Jungfrau passes, plus half fare for the connecting trains.

Thank you both for adding information for me to process. We are still somewhat confused, however both Swiss pass or half fare cards are workable options. We wanted to get to Vaduz, Liechtenstein for a brief visit with friends, so we are going to find more information on that to see if it is practical for large family.

We wanted to get to Vaduz, Liechtenstein for a brief visit with friends,

The Swiss pass includes buses in Liechtenstein. The usual way to get there is bus from Buchs SG.
There is one rail line in Liechtenstein, it is the main line between Switzerland and Austria. It only has a few stopping trains per day, and is run by ÖBB (Austrian Railways), Swiss passes not valid.

You are probably aware you can look up train times and prices on the SBB website: https://www.sbb.ch/en/
This currently only has times up to December this year. Minimal changes for next year.
A useful Swiss rail map is here: https://www.sbb.ch/content/dam/sbb/de/infotexte/uebersichtskarte-sts.pdf
It is actually the map they give you when you buy a Swiss Pass

Swiss Passes and Half Price Cards include trains+buses+boats+city transport. This means many people end up using the pass more than they originally budgeted for, a fringe benefit.

Both the Swiss Travel Pass and the Half Fare Card give you the same 25% discount on the Peak and Jungfrau passes. 8-day 2nd class Swiss Travel Passes for all will cost you 2352 CHF (3 adult, 3 youth). 6 Half Fare Cards will cost you 720 CHF. For 6 days of your trip you will be in one place traveling free on local transport with the Peak and Jungfrau passes.

Bottom line, my figures show the STP will cost almost 500 CHF more than using the HFC for your 3 main trips and a round trip from Zurich to Vaduz. And I have not looked at buying Saver Day Passes, which could be additional savings.

If you have a HFC then why would you buy any additional pass? With HFC everything is discounted 50%.