Help,
We are dropping our car off in Lindau Bavaria. Our destination is Berne. I want to buy a Half Fare Card but understand I can not in Lindau when I board the train. Should I pay a fare In Lindau to a city right over the border (where??) ? and then once in Switz buy the Half fare and reboard a train? I am also going to purchase the Regionalpass Berner Oberland for our travels. Thanks, we leave soon!
Posted by
Tulsa, OK
355 posts
You might want to take a good look at what each of these passes will get you. I can't imagine why you would want a half fare card plus a regional pass. We had the half fare card and I was very pleased with the savings it provided. I added up the proposed trips we would take and the cost of the half fare card and this provided the most savings for us for two weeks in Switzerland.
I remember doing many calculations before deciding on my choice, but since a large portion of the costs will be gondolas and trains, it is worth the time.
Posted by
Elk Grove, CA, USA
6898 posts
Barbara, you can indeed book a train to Basel SBB or Zurich, buy the 1/2 fare card and then buy your tickets to Bern at 1/2 fare. The cost of the 1/2 fare card is 120CHF. It's good for unlimited travel at 1/2 fare for 30 days. No flex-card stuff. It covers you completely in the Berner Oberland including 1/2 fare to the Jungfraujoch, which is about $190 round trip without a pass or card, and the Schilthorn, which is about $110 round trip. The 1/2 fare card does not begin to pay off until you have passed about $250 in transportation ticket costs in Switzerland. This is not hard to do. Alternatively, the Berner Oberland Regional pass costs 230CHF for a 4-day consecutive pass. For the holder of a Swiss 1/2 fare card, it's 176CHF. Travel within the 4 days is unlimited and free except for the mountain tops and several other areas. If you will be in the Berner Oberland for the full 4 days, the free travel could add up. The BO Regional Pass now covers free travel from Lucerne, Bern and Brig. Not bad. Still, and similar to the 1/2 fare card, the BO Regional Pass will only cover 50% of the fare from Kleine Scheidegg to the Jungfraujoch and from Muerren to the Schilthorn. It's free up to Kleine Scheidegg and Muerren whereas the 1/2 fare card would be 1/2 fare. This pass also covers many other areas of the Berner Oberland should you be considering a wider range of travel there. The 1/2 fare card does not cover these extra places. I would suggest that you really don't need both passes in the Berner Oberland. Much will depend on how much transportation travel you will do there. If a lot, the BO pass might work better but its only for 4 days. They also have a 6 and 8 day pass. The BO pass also covers numerous non-transportation partner sites that could be very useful.