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Zurich-Grindelwald-Murren-Lucerne-Zurich: STP or Half Fare / BOP (w Jungfrau Ski Region pass)

Posted by on

Hi all!

Am going to Switzerland with my husband, father in law, and 9 and 6 year olds this Christmas/New Years. Right now our itinerary is Zurich to quickly stop at Christmas markets, Grindelwald for 7 nights, Murren for 2 nights, Lucerne for 3 nights, and back to Zurich for 2 nights. I'm really struggling with the best option for the trains/transportation passes - seems like a toss up between the Swiss Rail Pass or the Half Fare card with the Bernese Oberland pass. It's baffling with the children's options as well. What makes it complicated is that we will be skiing from Grindelwald for at least 3 days and probably one day in Murren-Schilthorn, so our ski passes will pay for many of the lifts/trains on those days. We'll also want to do Jungfraujoch and maybe Schilthorn with the kids (not skiing days), which is additional to any of the passes (although discounted). My children and father in law will do one day less than us skiing but will probably want to go sledding (we may join them if it's an off ski day), and that looks like a separate pass for the lifts for the family friendly sledging runs. So the question is really if we're buying the ski and sledging passes, do we need a BOP, or does the Half Fare get us what we need (without the Swiss Rail Pass).

Tired working mom would love any tips / family friendly tricks as well :) Thanks in advance!!

Posted by
2 posts

To add - there is currently a promotion on the Swiss Rail Card - where we could get two days free, but it's only for 1st class and with the kids I think we're better off in second class. Thoughts?

Posted by
22669 posts

My first thought is that a Half Fare Card for adults at 120 CHF each and the free Family Card will cover the kids for free. This is the lowest cost option 98% of the time. The Swiss Travel Pass is rather expensive. It is sold more on its convenience than money saving.

PS 2nd class is perfectly comfortable. Considering that 1st class travel is about 60% more expensive, as Rick says, gets you where you want to go at exactly the same speed.

Posted by
15 posts

While it would be easier for someone to just have a magic answer...it takes only a few minutes to make a spread sheet to get quick easy estimates. It took me about 20 minutes.

I made one rows were days and locations. columns different pass options (half fare, BO, Swiss pass. I know with the half fare card you only have to spend $240 (I think that was the number) for it to be worth it.

Then look at how many travel days because BO pass and swiss travel is by # of days. Then which big lifts (mountian tops are often just discounted but included in some). There is also the Tell Pass in Luzern which I believe also covers some museums and lifts. Block out days you will have ski passes as you won't need anything additional for those.

We didn't do any mountian lifts and the half fare card was the best option for us with our two kids (12 &13). We were only in Switzerland for 5 nights. We skipped any additional passes because we knew we would not break even.

I would say having the BO pass would have been nice so we could have just hopped on and off as we pleased. We have one very rainy day and could have gone all over in trains/gondolas if we had had a pass. With the app it is very easy to purchase tickets but it is one more step.

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