Tickets for the Jungfrau and Schilthorn

You can buy your ticket at any SBB railway station. If you have a Half Fare card tell the person working at the counter, and they'll give you your discount.

Point one DO NOT buy your ticket in advance, if the weather is bad you will have
wasted a lot of money. Check the Jungfraubahn website www.jungfraubahnen.ch for the early morning ticket. Otherwise you will probably find that the half fare pass will more than cover its cost in the savings you make, as well as giving you a reduced fare on virtually every other journey you take.

Pauline gave you some good advice. You can also go to the top of this page and enter key words in search box, and see past comments to similar questions asked by others. Some visitors have had issues with altitude sickness "At the top of Europe", the Jungfrau.

Tina, As the others have mentioned, it's important to build some flexibility into your schedule so that you'll hopefully be able to visit those two locations when the weather is clear. September is usually good, but it can be unpredictable. I was in that area last September, and my visit to the Schilthorn went well. The weather was mixed sun and cloud, but still quite pleasant. My visit to the Jungfraujoch was a different story. The weather was sunny albeit a bit chilly at Kleine Scheidegg, but there was a blizzard raging at the top with gale force winds. I was able to enjoy the indoor displays, but venturing outside was not a good idea. Unfortunately I had to visit that day, as it was the last day of validity on my Jungfrau Centenary Pass. It's fortunate that I went to the Jungfrau when I did, as the rail lines between Wengen and Kleine Scheidegg were closed the following day due to "high winds". In addition to the usual Swiss Rail Passes, you could also look at the regional passes such as the Jungfrau VIP Pass, Berner Oberland Pass, etc. They offer varying discounts for the trips you're planning. Having one of the other Swiss Passes will (I believe) provide a discount on the regional passes. Unfortunately, you'll have to do the "number crunching" to determine which Pass or combination of P-P tickets bests fits your situation. I went to great lengths to analyze the options using a spreadsheet, but finally just gave up and made a guess. If you have a Pass, you can easily just buy your tickets at any station in that area (Interlaken Ost, Lauterbrunnen). I'm assuming you'll be staying in Lauterbrunnen? You may find it helpful to have a look at www.ricksteves.com/rail/switzerland.cfm as it provides a lot of good information. Happy travels!

We had the Half Fare card and think it saved us a lot. We did the trip to both Jungfrau and Schilthorn. If you are staying several days (which you should), you will be using some form of transportation every day and the card will really come in handy. I agree with crunching the numbers, but after extensive reading and my own experience, the Half Fare card will likely work well. I also agree with watching the weather and building in some extra days. You can watch TV in the whole area to see what the weather is like at the top of both mountains. Both trips are lovely. I especially liked the Jungfrau - but if you can get away with the trip to Jungfrau later in your trip, it will give you time to adjust to the altitude and you may be more comfortable at the top.

Hi Tina, We also will be traveling to Switzerland and the Jungfrau area the end of the month. I went on line to purchase the train tickets and was unsuccessful. It would not let me put in my USA address. I called the ticket office in Switzerland and they said due to some USA law?? they are unable to sell tickets to card holders with USA addresses. I am concerned they will not have tickets available when we are there. The ticket agent/customer service suggested we buy the tickets as soon as we land in Geneva at the airport train ticket office. I also searched for discounts..etc. and found none that fit our 3 day agenda for that part of Switzerland. I asked what if they are sold out and she indicated that the tickets purchased at the train station ticket office will be sold no matter what and that they plan on holding space for those types of purchases??? Sure hope that is correct. We have reservations to stay one night up at the Kleine Scheidegg. We plan on hiking down the bottom half of the trip from Kleine Scheidegg to Wengen. It saves a few dollars and sounds like a reasonably easy hike. We are both 60 and want to hike but nothing too crazy. One website that describes the hikes is http://www.walkingswitzerland.com. Great resource.
I hope we all make it to the top of the Jungfrau! Sounds like a once in a lifetime experience! I am sure you are looking forward to your trip as much as we are. Happy Travels. Carol

Tina, the easiest way to do this is to be in the area and view the condition at the tops of the mountains on live TV cameras. If it looks OK, the first train out of Lauterbrunnen to the Jungfraujoch has a discounted fare. The normal round trip fare to and from the Jungfraujoch is about $180. It's about $105 up to the Schilthorn. No Swiss Pass or card will cover the entire fares. 50% is the best you will get. I believe there is a regional Berner Oberland pass that will cover your trips up to the mountain tops but 1) I can't bring up the website, 2) it's regional only and not valid in other parts of Switzerland. We've done the trips to the mountain tops with the Swiss 1/2 fare card. It costs 120CHF and is good for 30 days. I believe that you can buy this card in advance online. Or, when you arrive in Switzerland, buy the card before buying other Swiss tickets. If you wish to buy Swiss train tickets in advance online, you can take advantage of the 1/2 fares without the pass in hand. Just make sure you have the 1/2 fare card when you pick up your tickets. For the Jungfraujoch trip alone, you save 90CHF which almost pays for the 1/2 fare card. The card will be most useful if your total Swiss transportation costs exceed 250CHF.