Train Travel in Switzerland

Emily:

A one week, actually 8 day, Swiss Pass, second class, is 376 Swiss Francs, when you buy them for two people traveling together you get a 15% discount, so the cost would be 640 Swiss Francs for the week.

On the other hand, the cost of point to point second class tickets is a follows: Geneva to Interlaken-65 Swiss Francs each, Interlaken to Bern-26 Swiss Francs each, and Bern to Geneva-46 Swiss Francs each. This means without the tickets for the Berner Oberland, you are at 274 Swiss Francs for the two of you.

Adding the cost of the Interlaken to Murren tickets is 35 - 45 Swiss Francs each depending on the route you take to Murren from Lauterbrunnen. The cost of the round-trip lift ticket to the Schilthorn from Murren is 71.40 Swiss Francs each. The total cost of just this part of the Berner Oberland is thus 212.40 - 232.40 Swiss Francs.

The total cost for you buying point to point tickets, for just the trips above is 506 Swiss Francs. With the Swiss Pass mentioned above, you will still have to pay 50% of the cost for tickets up the Schilthorn, so the cost will be the 640 Swiss Francs for the 8 Day Pass plus the 71.40 for the Schilthorn, or a total of 711 Swiss Francs.

Another possibility is to buy Half-Fare Cards for 99 Swiss Francs each, and then only pay 253 Swiss Francs in half-price fares, thus totaling 451 Swiss Francs for the two of you.

If I were doing this, that is the way I would go because any additional trips in the Berner Oberland will be at a reduction of 50%, including the Jungfrau Bahn all the way to the top, which other wise would cost 107.40 each from Interlaken.

I know this is a lot of information, please let me know if you have any additional questions I can answer for you.

Kevin

We used the half fare card when we spent a week in the Berner Oberland area and to go back and forth between airport, etc. I went through the process of calculating all the costs with a pass vs. the half fare card and the half fare card won out.
I was pleased with my choice and think I came out ahead.

Thank you everyone for the info. I had tried to itemize each leg of our trip and the passes but got horribly frustrated. Kevin, you're my new best friend! I think we'll got with the Half Fare Pass. Do I purchase that when I arrive in Geneva or can I get it ahead of time?

the Half Fare Card is one you buy in Switzerland when you arrive, at your first train station.

The Half Fare Card also gives you a bigger discount on the Jungfrau trip than does the Swiss Pass.

Does the half fare card also cover going up Mt Pilatus and the Golden panoramic trip?