driving in switzerland

Your party of 4... is that 4 adults or are there a kiddywink or 2 in the picture. I thought we might have heard from Lola on this one as I don't do passes, but my memory is that some children go free on the Swiss trains in certain circumstances.

"Also is weather a factor during
this time of year." Other than fog, no. I don't know enough about Swiss rail to comment if it would be cheaper to rent a car.

If you are certain about the $500 for Swiss Passes, a car would definitely be cheaper. We rented a car for a week that was much less than $500. However, you might want to determine how much you would spend point to point for rail tickets. It will likely depend on how much you are planning to use the trains. Driving in Switzerland is very easy - but depending on where you are planning to go, you might end up parking the car and using gondola's or trains for places where there are not roads, i.e. areas of the Berner Oberland. We drove around Luzern and it was easy - don't know about Zurich. But the whole country seems much easier than attempting to drive in big European capital cities.
Good luck - Switzerland is wonderful - no matter how you get around.

Thank you Tom,Kathryn, and Ralph. We will be in switzerland 3 or 4 days, Ralph. We just want to see the main places, Luzerne, obernland, as much as we can see. Thank you for the info.
Rebecca

At this time of year with only three days, you'd do better just to stick to one mountain area. It can get pretty overcast and foggy. You would maximize your chances of good scenery by staying in one place.

Since you're spending time in the Berner Oberland, be aware that cars aren't allowed past Lauterbrunnen. You'll have to take cable cars and mountain trains get to the peaks and the mountain villages. So you will have to pay to park your car, and of course rental costs for days you won't be using it. The Swiss Pass gets you steep discounts on the popular mountain attractions like the Jungfrau, and Schiltorn. This alone will probably make the Swiss Pass/train travel cheaper than the car. The Swiss Pass also get you free admission to most all museums; including the top attractions in Luzern.

Driving in Switzerland from point to point means going through many very long tunnels. The other choice is winding roads. We've decided to take the train for our next Swiss trip.