Rail passes/Berner Oberland

Katina, eurail passes are no longer the bargain they once were, especially when you add in the fees for reservations where they are mandatory. You can tickets at great discount in advance for Italy and Germany on their respective websites, Trenitalia.com and Bahn.de. For example, if you buy well ahead, you might get a fare as low as 9 euros from Milan to Venice or Florence. And Swiss passes work much better than Eurail passes in Switzerland, as they give better coverage on the mountain lifts. So the best choice for you may be discount p2p tickets in Germany and Italy, and a Swiss Pass or Flex (Saver) for Switzerland.

Where are you going in Germany and Italy? I agree with Lola that you may not want a pass for these countries. There are good deals on advance purchase tickets. In Italy a Trenitalia mini fare on the Es trains may be less than the reservation fee for a pass holder!

Moving this up to get more thoughts. . .

The Eurail pass does fairly well in Switzerland without too many restrictions. One restriction is that I don't think they work on the post bus system. Also, in the Lauterbrunnen Valley, you will be riding on the Jungfraubahn and Schilthornbahn train systems. These are two private railways (among other private railways) within the Swiss train system. A couple of notes here: 1) The full round-trip fare from Lauterbrunnen to the top of the Jungfrau is about $190. 2hrs to go up and 2hrs to get back down. In general, your Eurail pass will only get you a 25% discount on this ride. If you go on one of your pass days, you could be covered up to Wengen. From Wengen to the Jungfrau you get the 25% discount. The fare from Wengen to the Jungfraujoch (train station) is less than from Lauterbrunnen or Interlaken so there is some savings there. You could take the first train out in the morning and save about $45 overall as the fare first train run is discounted. 2) The round-trip fare from Lauterbrunnen to the top of the Schilthorn is about $90. Same circumstances here as above. If you are traveling on one of your days, you are most likely covered up to Muerren. Beyond that, you get only a 25% discount. 3) No Swiss pass or card will get you more that a 50% discount to these two mountain tops. Thus, you are only out 25% of the fares by using your Eurail pass. This difference may not be worth buying a Swiss pass or card. However, buying a 2-country pass instead of a 3-country pass may provide enough savings to justify the purchase of a Swiss pass or card of some type. The Swiss do have a Swiss Saver card for two people traveling together. You can buy it after April 11. 4) If traveling to Wengen or Muerren from Lauterbrunnen will take place on one of your non- days, I suggest that you don't burn up a day for these journeys. They are cheap enough to just pay cash.

Katina, I agree the choices of rail and or local passes for switzerland can be very confusing. Larry, It's always been my understanding that a global or 3 country pass will only get you as far as Interlaken Ost. After that you only get a 25% discount. Whereas, the swiss pass covers you to Wengen, Murren or Grindlewald. On our two past trips to the area we bought the regional berner oberland pass at the Interlaken station before heading into the valley. It's value is really dependent on what trips you plan to make while there. One of our favorite things is riding to the top of First which is totally covered by the regional pass. It's probably going to take some calculating for you to figure out which pass is most appropriate. If you do a 3 country pass all of the countries must be adjacent so to connect Germany and Italy you would have to include either Switzerland or Austria. If you go that route then you might consider the berner oberland regional pass that gives you 3 days of unlimited travel.

Jill is correct about the discounts. See the chart on the Railpass (Switzerland) page. Eurail pass discount is only 25% after Interlaken as these are all private railways. And there is no discount on the Schilthorn above Mürren. But my main point is that a Eurail pass is rarely a benefit in Germany and Italy. You can usually do much better with discount tickets purchased in advance. Especially in Italy, where you can get 9 euro mini fares for less than the cost of a reservation fee when using a pass.

Thanks Jill and Lola. I thought that the Eurail pass got you a bit further but I see that it doesn't.