Is the Swiss Half-fare Card Right for Me?

The 1/2 price cards will give you 1/2 fare on your train trip from Geneva to Lauterbrunnen and also 1/2 off any lifts, trains or funiculars. Depending on what all you do it will probably help you to come out ahead in the long run. The trip from Murren to the Shilthorn/Piz Gloria is about 70 francs for a return trip -- 35 SF with the 1/2 fare card. The Jungfrau trip is more like 150 franc before the discount. If you don't plan to take either of those trips then you might have a harder time getting your money back from the initial 99 francs cost of the card.

We were there a couple of weeks ago and took the train from Interlaken to Murren, stayed in Murren 4 nights and took various daily trips -- Schilthorn, Allmenrubel, Trummelbach Falls, Wengen ( but not Jungfrau ) then took the train to Luzern and Zurich to fly home and ended up being about $40 each ahead over all.

The half fare card is 99 franc and you can buy it at any railroad station ticket office. It does give you half fare on rail trips and on the lake boats, plus funiculars and some other forms of transportation as Janet pointed out. I used the card on the Jungfrau trip two years ago and the savings was significant. But you do have to put out the 99 franc per card. You also have to present your passport and sign the card when you buy it. This is a 30 day card, not to be confused with the year card, which is significantly more expensive. Enjoy your time there.

Hi Rose! Summer of 2008 on our trip to Lauterbrunnen we did the following:

We bought a Swiss Card for our trip that summer. It covers you on your inbound trip from the border or airport to a destination, then on an outbound leg between a town and the border or airport. In between you get 50% off all rail travel for up to 30 days. We went Zurich to Lauterbrunnen and then out through Basel Bad and spent 3 nights in Lauterbrunnen. When I priced that on the Swiss rail site (in 2008) it was pretty close to the $146 cost we paid for the Swiss Card.

We went up both the Jungfrau and Schilthorn, so we each got 50% off those rides. Cost for Jungfrau was about 155 SF ($150 USD in 2008) and Schilthorn was about 100 SF ($96 USD in 2008) so you get 50% off those, which is close to 127 SF. At the 2008 rate when I did the calculations that's about $120 savings on those two trips per Swiss Card. This really saved us quite a bit of money on our trip.

The easiest way to decide what's best is to do the math for each option. Figure the cost by rail into/out of Lauterbrunnen, and the cost of rail within the BO. Then compare what you'd pay with each card option. Right now on Rick's site he lists the Swiss Card at $159. You didn't say where you were going after you left Lauterbrunnen, so this may not be the best option.

I used the half fare card this July for all our swiss travel that it applied to incl. berner oberland area. We were there 2 weeks and it certaily was worth it. But for 3 days I cannot see that it would benefit you, even w/o going thru your detailed itin and adding fares and working the calculations.

It's not clear in your post how you plan to leave Lauterbrunnen and if you plan to go to both the Schilthorn and the Jungfrau. Assuming you go r/t from Geneva to Lauterbrunnen, an arbitrary date in October shows r/t 2nd class to be 144 chf. R/T up the Jungfrau from Lauterbrunnen is 161.4 chf and r/t up to Schilthorn from Lauterbrunnen is 100.60 chf. Combined that is 406 chf which converts to about $395.

If you use the 1/2 fare card you'd save 203 chf and my understanding is pay 99 chf for the 1/2 fare card for a total savings of 104 chf ($101).

If you used the Swiss Card, you'd pay $159 (163 chf). You would get free r/t to/from Geneva if that was your entrance/exit points (you can use different routes into/out of the country) for a cost of 144chf, which is a 19 chf difference between the cost of the card and r/t Geneva/Lauterbrunnen. You'd then save 50% up Jungfrau (81 chf) and 50% up Schilthorn (50 chf) for a total savings up the mountains of 131 chf. Subtract the 19 chf difference from that and you'd save 112 chf ($110). Pretty close

To me that does make a big difference and I don't factor in any other transportation options where you save 50% on all those. Depends on what you use it for and only way to figure it out is to do the math.

Feel free to check my math and travel costs as I am not a math teacher, though I play one on tv!

I have asked ETBD to clarify what it says in the guidebooks about the discounts for the high mountain lifts. It appears that I am not the only one who is com=nfused by this.

Thanks for all of your responses and private messages.

Sorry, it appears that I didn't give enough information in my original posting.

Our trip into Lauterbrunnen is just one-way as we will be continuing on and heading south using our Eurail Passes. Therefore we don't need a return and that pretty much knocks out the Swiss Transfer and Swiss Card.

And yes, I know that the Eurail Pass provides us with a 25% discount on rail travel beyond Interlaken, so Jungfrau would be covered, but I don't believe it gives a discount on the high mountain lifts (does not indicate that it does in RS guide so Schilthorn would not be covered), thus the need for the additional Pass.

We do plan on taking the trips up both the Schilthorn and Jungfrau, as well as utilizing the other trains and funuculars on the Schilthorn side.

I did the math as Jed from Seattle suggested and came up with following:

Regular fares for transportation from Geneva to Lauterbrunnen, bus, lifts, trains to the Schilthorn and Jungfrau = approx. $376.

With Half-fare card transport would be $198 plus cost of card ($95)= $293.

With Swiss Pass would be $192 plus 50% off Schilthorn trip ($90 RT/2 = $45) = $237, plus (now this is where it gets confusing) 50% off on the train trip from Wengen to Klein/Scheidegg ($46 RT/2 = $23) and only 25% off from K/S to Jungfraujoch ($126 RT - 25% = $95) = $355. It appears that the train ride from Lauterbrunnen to Wengen is not covered by the Swiss Pass (based on info from RS guide) so add $12 for a RT ticket to the above for a grand total of $367.

The Swiss FlexiPass would be about $8 cheaper with the same discounts.

Someone please check my math! But it appears that the Half-fare card is the way to go for me and my family.

If you have info contrary to what I am reading in the RS guide regarding the discounts for the trips up the Schilthorn and Jungfrau please let me know!

Thanks!

Math looks good to me! Don't forget that the $80 savings (roughly) is per person, so that can add up pretty significantly. Also, there may be smaller trips up the mountains you take (or the bus to Trummelbach Falls, etc) that you get 50% off.

A great day (not sure how old the kids are when you say your family is going), is we took the rail and tram up to Mannlichen and hiked down to Klein Scheidegg where we caught the train up to Jungfraujoch. Bit of an early morning and a long day, but well worth it. The views on the hike were spectacular and it was a fairly easy hike, mostly downhill on gravel trails. Can't wait to go back and do it again! It's explained in the RS Switzerland guidebook.

One of the Rail Specialists at ETBD has reviewed all of my info and tells me that I should get the Swiss Card. Even though we would not use the "return" portion of the card it gets us to Lauterbrunnen and does give a 50% discount on ALL of the trains, lifts, and funicular in the Berner-Oberland area at a very reasonable cost of $159 (second class). Plus, you can purchase it ahead of time in the US whereas the Half-price Card has to be purchased in Switzerland. We would be able to get a free Family Card for our younger family member (under 16)to travel free but there is no Youth discount for our older child so we would need to pay full price. That said, it is still the less expensive way to go. THANK YOU ETBD!!!

It pays to check the math. Thank you to the person who sent me a private message about this. The Half-fare Card is still cheaper by about $24. Adds up if you have several people traveling. But...you do have to purchase the Half-fare card in Switzerland vs pre-purchasing the Swiss Card in the US and you have to go through the hastle of getting tickets for the rail-portion of the trip. Is the extra cost for the Swiss Card worth it? I'm thinking yes.

Buying the 1/2 fare card is no hassle. It takes about 1 more minute while you are buying the first train tickets you need. You show your Passport, give the ticket agent your credit card, tell them your destination for that trip and that is it! Super easy! I would not bother buying them ahead. One less thing to buy in case for some reason your trip would get cancelled.

Excellent suggestion, I hadn't thought of that aspect of all this. It appears that the Half-fare card isn't out of the running after all.