I'm travelling from Paris to Murren (via Basel and Interlaken) in September and was wondering if the Swiss Half Fare Card was valid for that journey? I'll be staying in Murren for 3 nights before catching train to Loerrach(via Basel) and hiring a car from there so i don't imagine any other of the passes would be worth it. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks :)
Posted by
New Paltz, NY
9110 posts
Steve writes:
Show your pass when you buy your ticket in Paris, they should be able to compute your correct fare.
Unless you want to pay a hefty shipping charge, it makes more sense to purchase the HF card in Switzerland. When you arrive in Basel purchase it there, direct trains to Interlaken every 30 minutes or so.
Posted by
Minneapolis, MN, USA
8700 posts
If you haven't booked your Paris-Basel ticket yet, do it ASAP at www.tgv-europe.com and you probably can still get a discount fare. Either choose to have the ticket mailed to you or choose to retrieve it at a French station. The station ticket machines only accept credit cards with embedded chips.
Posted by
New Paltz, NY
9110 posts
Steve writes:
No cost to ship if you buy your pass at swisstravelsystem.com
Swisstravelsystem.com charges $18.00USD to mail the Swiss Card to the USA.
Posted by
OP
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
2 posts
thanks guys. I can get 2 early bird tickets from paris-murren on www.sbb.ch for CHF 300 (non-refundable) for sept 5th. i think this may work out cheaper then buying the separate tickets and the half fare cards given tickets for paris-basel on www.tgv-europe.com are 106 euros. please let me know if my calculations are wrong!
Posted by
West Sacramento, California, USA
283 posts
Courtney:
The return fare from Basel to Murren is 144.40 Swiss Francs. The Half-Fare Card costs 99 Swiss Francs, and then you still have the 72.20 Half-Fare to pay, for a total of 171.20 Swiss Francs. You do not state whether you intend to make any trips by train or lift around Murren, for example, going up the Schilthorn. If you intend to do so, then the Half-Fare Card will just pay for itself as the full fare is 71.40 Swiss Francs, and the half-fare is 35.70. Therefore, making a total cost of 206.90 with the half fare card vs. 215.80 without.
Perhaps you should consider the Swiss Transfer ticket. This will cover the trip from the border in Basel to Murren on the day you arrive in Switzerland, and then back to the border on the day you leave. It cost 127 Swiss Francs. When you add the cost to go up Schilthorn to this, you only get to 198.40, the cheapest option of all, but you are not locked into going just to get your monies worth out of the pass.
Unless you fully intend to use many of the high mountain lifts or trains in the Berner Oberland, the Swiss Transfer ticket is your best value.
Don't forget to say Gruezi!
Kevin