Confusion regarding the Swiss Transfer Ticket and Swiss Fare Card

Posted by aRies (Seattle, Washington, United States) on 08/05/08 09:40 AM

Hello everyone,
We are trying to ascertain which card will be good for us and in doing so we came across these 2 options besides the obvious Swiss Card, Half Card, BO Pass etc.

Some background info:
We will be flying in and out of Zurich airport on October 23rd and Nov 1 respectively. We stay in Zurich for one night before heading to Muerren and will be staying in Muerren for 7 nights. (I have an Excel spreadsheet in the works to compare all transportation options-Swiss Fare Crad, Swiss half fare, BO Pass etc etc)

My questions are:

1)This is Transfer Card description: The Swiss Transfer Ticket includes one free round trip to anywhere in Switzerland.
Does this mean that one can start from an airport within Switzerland, stay somewhere for a couple of days (in CH) and then go back to that airport using the same card?

2) The Swiss Card is similar to a transfer ticket and includes one day transfers to and from an airport or border station..
Does this mean the same as what I asked above? I know it also includes 50% discounts.
Thanks in advance.

Posted by Larry

Elk Grove, CA, USA

08/05/08 01:31 PM

6898 posts

1) The Swiss transfer card is nothing more than a round trip P2P ticket. In your case, from the airport to Muerren. The P2P cost round trip is about CHF150. The Swiss transfer ticket costs CHF127. Some savings there. Note, however, that it's good from the airport or border. If you stay in Zurich for a night away from the airport, you may have a problem jumping on at another train station than the Zurich Flughafen (airport). It's good for no other travel during your 7 days. And, I expect that you will be all over the mountain sides. Cost to the Jungfrau is about $177 round trip with no pass of some type. Cost to the Schilthorn is about $91.

2) The Swiss 1/2-fare card costs CHF99 and is good for 30 days. 50% off on all Swiss transportation including the Jungfrau and Schilthorn during that time.

3) The Swiss card may be your best value. You pay CHF182 but it does everything the Swiss Transfer card does but it also gives you a 50% on all other transportation while you are there. That's much cheaper than picking up a separate 1/2-fare card.

4) The BO regional pass does buy you unlimited travel in most places but not the Jungfrau or Schilthorn. It looks like 50% there. Is this worth $224?

Posted by Nadine

Orlando, Florida

08/05/08 02:29 PM

484 posts

I am doing the same route in September except that I am traveling on to Milan after Muerren.
We have decided to got the Swiss Pass (4 days) to take advantage of the discounts on the Schilthorn and
Jungfrau as well as other discounts. Also, this Pass
takes us from Zurich to Muerren directly without additional cost.
I checked on SBB and the cost from Brig to Milan is about $74.00CHF,First Class. I think so far this is the better deal for us. Larry, your thoughts?
Thanks!

Posted by aRies OP

Seattle, Washington, United States

08/05/08 02:37 PM

91 posts

Wow.. Thank you Larry for your information on the Transfer Card nuance.. I didn't even think about the Zurich Fughafen vs Zurich BH thing. I would have totally mised that. I am eternally thankful for this forum and the people who take time out of their busy lives/schedules to answer repeated questions for newbies like moi!!!

Oh well, atleast its obvious that the Transfer Card is out of the competition .. LOL.... One down, 4 more to go... !!

Now we just need to decide between Swiss Card, Swiss Half Fare, Swiss Pass and BO Pass.