Switzerland Tour: Do any passes make sense?

The only way to know is to do the math. Go to Swiss Rail, which also covers boats, buses, etc: http://www.sbb.ch/en/home.html Put in your trips, and be aware that the first cost shown is with a half fare card, so you have to double it. Then add up the prices of what you're definitely doing and possibly doing. Then compare it with the cost of a Swiss Pass.

Note that you will get boat trips on Lake Luzern when you go to Mt. Rigi and to Mt. Pilatus, so you don't need to allot that as a separate trip.

If what you're definitely doing comes to more than 240 CHF, you can't lose with a 120 CHF Half Fare Card. It gives half off everything that moves in the whole country, including the Jungfraujoch (only 25% off with a Swiss Pass). But with a Half Fare Card, you have to buy tickets every time (but, even local bus ticket machines have a half-fare option). With a Swiss Pass, you only have to buy tickets for things not completely covered (on your list, Mt. Pilatus and Jungfraujoch). For totally covered trips (including all the boats, trains, and lifts from Luzern to the top of Mt. Rigi and back), you just hop on and flash your pass when needed - a nice convenience. So, if it's close, get the pass.

The main problem with the Swiss Travel Pass, for your situation, is that you're traveling over about 15 days but you won't need as much transport covered during that time as you would without a tour. So 15 consecutive days for about $465 might be overkill and so might 8 days in a month for $425. Remember that you're counting calendar days, using various forms of transport until midnight. While a Half-Fare Card doesn't add any convenience, I'm confident that it would save money versus full fares. https://www.ricksteves.com/travel-tips/transportation/trains/switzerland-rail-passes

Thanks for the replies.

It does look like the Half-Fare card might make sense. The biggest wildcard seems to be whether or not the weather will be good enough to spend the money and head up to the Jungfrau. That card would save about $90 on that trip and the total cost of the card seems to be about $135. With the Jungfrau and just a few more excursions, the card would definitely pay off. I guess I'll just roll the dice on good weather along the way and buy the card when I get to Zurich Airport.

Hi Eric,
We took the Switzerland tour last year. After much consideration we made the decision to purchase the Half Fare card. It ended up saving us quite a bit of money. We purchased the card at the Zurich airport and used it frequently for free time activities as well as for transport to Lucerne and back to Zurich at the end of the tour. In addition we let our guide know that we had the cards and he was able to use them to get discounted fares for some of the tour activities.
Hope this helps with your decision. You're going to have a wonderful time in beautiful Switzerland!
Sally

Great question. I started looking at this too, but was a bit overwhelmed with the options. We will be doing this tour in July also.

Thanks for the replies.

I've decided to go ahead and purchase the Half Fare card. It looks like it will pay off pretty quick.

The HFC gives a full 50% discount on the super expensive Jungfrau trip. That in itself practically pays for the entire cost of the HFC. The Swiss Transfer Pass definitely gives lots more convenience because you can just jump on/off any train as much as you like. With the HFC you'll need to purchase tickets before you board any train - but they'll be discounted 50%.