swiss transfer ticket--any published route?

The most direct route would via Bern. Via Luzen you would be taking the scenic narrow-gauge Golden Pass train, a longer route in both miles and time. Having said that I'm not certain how strict they are with enforcement? If I were placing a bet I'd say you can only travel via Bern.

Actually, the Luzern route is more direct. Look at the map:

http://www.swisstravelsystem.com/download_sts/uebersichtskarte_en.pdf

It is also less expensive. Zürich to Interlaken Öst via Bern is 63 CHF, while via Luzern it is 46 CHF. Since Swiss trains are priced by distance covered, this means it is shorter to go via Luzern. It takes longer because of the pass; it's not a "high speed" train.

So you should be fine. But if you wanted to be certain, you could e-mail SBB and ask. They are very good about responding to questions.

Everything depends on how "direct route" is defined; miles or speed/time. RS writes on his railpass guide: "...Each direction must be completed in a day by the fastest, most direct route..." Via Bern it's almost an hour shorter time wise. That's a significant difference, I would play it safe and go via Bern

actually, "fastest" is not required for the Swiss transfer ticket--I looked in the language on sbb.ch. I tihnk Rick is wrong on this, as I inquired of sbb.ch and they said that you could take the boat from Luzern to Fluelen going to Italy on the Swiss transfer ticket--clearly not the fastest route. I have directly inquired on sbb.ch re. Luzern for Interlaken, but haven ot gotten an answer back. I will post up date when I get an answer. If we can't go via Lucern, then it is not wroth it for us.

The operative word is "direct" As Elaine stated, the SBB website says nothing about "fastest". It simply says, "each journey must be completed in one day and on the most direct route)."

The point is that you can't zigzag all over the place,going to Wengen, say by way of Grindelwald and Kleine Scheidegg.

The SBB website shows both routes as good options between Zurich and Interlaken; you don't have to use "via Luzern" to get it to display that route. So I'm thinking that both are acceptable.

Just a thought, but if you can put all 3 kids on the Family Card (which I believe you can), then you can get by with just one of those. The P2P round trip tickets Zurich to Wengen via the Luzern route would be 118.40 CHF, which right now converts to $102. So the other 2 adults could travel that way.

And you can also save a bit on the Transfer Ticket by buying it on the Swiss Travel System website, where it costs 127 CHF ($109 right now). It did not show anything for shipping, but I didn't have an address entered. Depending how much the shipping cost is, this may or may not be less expensive. You might check it out.

On the other hand, if you need any luggage or travel stuff, the 20% discount that comes with a pass bought from Rick Steves is a good deal and helps make up for the $18 shipping/handling fee they charge for a pass.