We are travelling in May (14 day trip) to London, Paris, Switzerland (two nights in Gimmelwald, but would like to spend one day on the other side of the valley too), Venice and Rome. So far, it appears that we may be better off just to buy point to point tickets, instead of a rail pass, but the price is still pretty close. We do plan on using the lifts to go to Gimmelwald, Murren, the Schilthorn, then down and over on the Wengen side for a day (then back to Gimmelwald to sleep). So we may be spending a fair amount on lift tickets (any ideas?). The last RS book I have on this area is from 2006 and states that Switzerland mountain lifts are half price with a rail pass. Does this use up a rail pass day? Do you think it's worth the extra $50 to buy a rail pass so we can save on the lift passes? Any info on this subject is appreciated. We don't have a huge budget and can't afford to blow hundreds of dollars on lift tickets while in the Lauderbrunnen Valley area. Thanks
Posted by
Knoxville, TN, USA
7209 posts
First of all if you have kids < 16 years old they will travel for free wherever you go...even up to the expensive Schilthorn or Jungfrau.
Swiss Passes come in either the "consecutive days" or the "Flexi Pass" version which is x number of days in a 2 month period. "Using up a day" would only be for the Flexi version.
Concerning Switzerland - where are you coming FROM and where are you going TO afterwards. There are myriads of passes, but if Switzerland is in the middle of your journey you may be interested in the Swiss Card (http://travel.sbb.ch/index.php?module=travelsbbch&func=searchSTS) which gives you:
1 free transfer from any Swiss Border or Swiss Airport to any Swiss destination (Gimmelwald)
1 free transport from any Swiss destination (Gimmelwald) to any Swiss Border or Swiss Airport.
Then for the days you actually spend between your transport in/out you get a 50% discount on all additional train tickets.
Posted by
Knoxville, TN, USA
7209 posts
Also, if you only have 2 nights in Gimmelwald, there's plenty for you to see and do on the Gimmelwald side of the mountain. There's also Trummelbache Falls between Stechelberg and Lauterbrunnen (the valley floor). I doubt you will have that much extra time to traverse the valley over to Wengen and back. The views are just as extraordinary (I think even moreso) from Muerren as they are from Wengen.
Posted by
OP
Baudette, MN, United States
163 posts
We will be travelling from Paris to Lauderbrunne, and from there to Venice. That is particularly helpful to know that it may not be necessary to travel to the other side of the valley.....will definently consider that. Thanks!
Posted by
Seattle, WA, US
519 posts
We used the Swiss card ($146 each for my wife and I)for our trip this summer and felt it was a great money saver. It allows for 1 trip into the country(for us it was Zurich airport to Lauterbrunnen) and one out of the country (for us it was Lauterbrunnen to Basel Bad on the way to Rothenberg), then 50% off of all other travel. We used ours to go up to both the Schilthorn and the Jungfrau and saved a lot of money!
I had figured our R/T in and out of the country pretty much paid for the pass and then all the 50% discounts we got put us ahead in terms of cost. R/T from Lauterbrunnen to Jungfraujoch is almost 100 Euros (155 CHF) per person and Schilthorn was about 60 Euros (100CHF). So figure 50% off that per adult is a fair amount saved.
We went up both sides of the valley (Schilthorn day was a bit cloudy so missed some of the views) but thoroughly loved the other side. We took the lift up to Mannlichen and did the hike to Kleine Scheidegg (in Rick's book) and the views were spectacular! I would put in a vote for that. We don't normally hike and it was an easy hike.
Have a great trip!
Posted by
Vancouver, BC, Canada
191 posts
I was just in Switzerland this June and stayed in Lauterbrunnen for 4 nights and Luzern for a night. Normally I am against rail passes as I feel you can often get better deals with point to point tickets but ended up getting a pass for Switzerland. I have to say getting the rail pass was the best thing I've done! It was great, the tourist information booth in Lauterbrunnen was great they gave me a map of all the routes, lifts, cable cars ect that I could take for free with my pass. From Lauterbrunnen I went to Murren, Gimelwald, Wengen, Grindelwald, Interlaken and the bus to the falls in Lauterbrunnen. The pass does not include the Schilthorn or Jungfra, but if you just show your pass at the train station they do the math for you. I was so glad I bought the pass it made it so much easier to budget, I didn't have to worry and could hop on almost any train or lift. I defiently recommend getting a pass!