Help needed! Train passes for Austria, Germany, Switzerland trip

First the bad news, no senior discount.
"Train travel from Munich to Zurich" - What people here always say when somebody posts Zürich, why Zürich? It is a nice city, but not the Alps. You say "several cities in Switzerland", again you don't go to Switzerland for cities, you go for the Alps, which means medium sized towns (Luzern), small towns and villages in the Alps, not cities.
I hope you mean "We are going via Zürich to a small town in the Alps".

The rest is good news.
You have a good plan, and it is easy by train.
A Eurail Pass will not be good value. You have 3 trips (Vienna - Salzburg, Salzburg - Munich and Munich - Swiss border). You need to buy these tickets in advance (now if you are going next month, 2-3 months in advance would have been better). Buying early gets cheaper tickets. Buy direct from the rail companies running each train.
For more info see these web pages:
Vienna - Salzburg: https://www.seat61.com/trains-and-routes/vienna-to-salzburg-by-train.htm
Salzburg - Munich: https://www.seat61.com/international-trains/trains-from-Salzburg.htm#Salzburg-Munich
Munich - Switzerland: https://www.seat61.com/international-trains/trains-from-Munich.htm#Munich-Zurich
This last route is slow, it is currently being upgraded which means it is slower and some trains are replaced by buses. Make sure you are getting a train if you want one.

A Swiss Pass may be the most economical option. Depends on exactly which trips you are doing in Switzerland.It has other advantages, simpler as you do not need to buy tickets, and you can spontaneously take extra trips. And it includes buses, boats and city transport.
If you already have a Swiss Pass when you arrive, you do not need to buy a ticket from Munich to your final destination, just Munich to the Swiss border.

A map of Swiss railways is here: https://www.sbb.ch/content/dam/sbb/de/infotexte/uebersichtskarte-sts.pdf
All rail routes (all red lines on map), and all stations have at least one train per hour.

For Swiss trains you can look up times on the SBB website: https://www.sbb.ch/en

Thank you Chris!

While we are staying in cities (using all my hotel points for free lodging!) we are planning to use them as a base for touring placing like Lucerne, Lausanne and Montreaux by train. I also figured the Swiss Pass helps with boat excursions and museum entry fees. We will also be staying in Lauterbrunnen at a small local hotel so we can visit Interlaken and Ballenberg and Jungfraujoch (hoping the weather is good!).

Our Switzerland itinerary includes hotel stays in Zurich, Bern, Lauterbrunnen and Geneva. I anticipate a lot of 1 -2 hour train excursions to other destinations, but free lodging was too good to pass up!

Any recommendations on "must sees" or restaurants would be greatly appreciated as well. I will check out your links and get back to you with further questions, if I may.

Thanks again for your help!

Are you staying at Holiday Inn Bern Westside? If so I have some hints.

For our trip Munich-Salzburg-Vienna in December we plan to use Bayern tickets bought same-day between Munich and Salzburg (leaving on a wekday after 9 a.m. and getting on the train at the origin station to get unreserved seats) then Westbahn from Salzburg to Vienna, hoping to buy tickets wth senior discount. Cheap is our middle name -- but we have taken both trains and found them comfortable.

The Bayern Ticket is THE way to travel between Munich and Salzburg. It's dirt cheap and most definitely doesn't warrant the use of a Eurail Pass (which is another whole story in waste). Unless you have some specific reason for visiting Geneva then definitely give it a miss and spend more time in the Swiss alps (Murren, Wengen, Lauterbrunnen). Zurich is a bit nicer than Geneva, but again unless you just have a specific reason to stay there then give it a miss and add more time in the Swiss Alps.

Munich to Dachau is a very very simple and cheap trip using the local MVV card which can be purchased either online or at the ticket kiosks in Munich or from the ticket counter.

Hi,

If you want to consider getting the Eurail Pass for this trip, (how long is it ?), there is a 2nd,class, Senior Global Pass, which depending on the length of the trip might help. On the other hand, your traveling is still pretty much regional.

I would use that Senior one myself but only if it is for 10 days or 15 days in 2 months, 2nd class and I do a good amount of zig zag traveling.

For our trip Munich-Salzburg-Vienna in December we plan to use Bayern tickets bought same-day between Munich and Salzburg (leaving on a wekday after 9 a.m. and getting on the train at the origin station to get unreserved seats) then Westbahn from Salzburg to Vienna

There are no problems getting a seat in the meridian to Salzburg if you are at the platform 15 minutes before departure and go as far as possible to the top of the train.

With regard to the Westbahn, please note that from December they will no longer run every half hour as before, but only every hour and only to Vienna West. The Westbahn is in financial difficulties and is currently trying to solve them by selling its own trains to DB and operating new and fewer trains only on a leasing basis.

I have always found a combination of Swiss Pass for Switzerland and point-to-point tickets for travel in adjacent countries to work best. By purchasing those tickets in advance from the individual train companies, you can get great prices, much lower than using a pass.

For example, for the direct train from Munich to Zurich ( one each day, noonish departure), you pay as little as €24,90 for a ticket bought 2 months ahead on Bahn.de. A full-price ticket, bought a day or two ahead in Germany, would cost €83,80. Note that the bus on this route is even less expensive (€19,90), one hour faster, and more frequent).

From Vienna to Salzburg, Westbahn offers the best price, but possible difficulties have been noted above. You can get a good Fare on the OeBB train by purchasing well in advance if you have concerns about Westbahn.

Hi Nigel!
Yes, I will be staying at the Holiday Inn Westside while I am in Bern. Please pass along your information! Thanks!

The website for the Holiday Inn Bern Westside says they have a swimming pool. Well, not really. But. But they give you an entry every day you are there to the water park which is at the far end of the attached shopping mall. The water park is multi storey, with several different areas and a water slide. You can swim, enjoy bubbles, play with various water toys, sauna, steam room and more. The area is almost all inside so there are some echoes, and I wouldn't - as an older adult - want to pay the public price but as an included perk of staying at the hotel it is good.

The mall has lots in it, from a cinema complex to a McDonalds and a Subway, an ice cream place and a frozen yogurt place, and an Italian restaurant. A department store and a large MMMigros supermarket, as well as many small stores. At the far end there is a Migros restaurant. Note that the hours of the restaurant mimic Migros restaurant hours in supermarkets - closing early for dinner during the week, and as early as 5pm on Saturday, and - like the rest of the mall but not the water park - closed on Sunday. A good source of tasty and inexpensive (for Switzerland) hot and cold food. In a nice environment - comfy chairs.

You will be at the end of the number 8 tram from the centre of Bern (about 15 or 20 minutes if memory is right) and the door of the hotel is right at the turning circle so it is maybe 30 seconds to walk. Another 30 seconds or so is the SBB train station which has four trains an hour to Bern main station in less than 10 minutes and either zero or one stops.

The desk will give you a Bern Ticket when you check in which is valid on all transportation in the city of Bern for the duration of your stay. It will work on the trams, the buses, the electric buses, the funicular behind the parliament and the elevator down to the lower town behind the cathedral. And the trains, but only within the city. If you want to go to Murten or Thun you need a proper ticket. The Bern Ticket is also valid on the funicular up the Gurten mountain which has all sorts of fun stuff at the top including a ride-on railway train for the kids, a lookout tower, a restaurant, and some other good stuff for the kids and adults. Easy walk from the tram stop to the funicular, but a little steep for some elderly folks.

Parking is CHF25 a night so adds up, and breakfast for people on Reward Nights isn't cheap, but it is very good, and they also do a light breakfast at the bar.

The rooms are comfy, the A/C works a dream, there is plenty of light and plenty of electric outlets (both Swiss and German shape) and the beds are very good. The soundproofing is good. The lifts/elevators are fast. Staff uniformly helpful and friendly (over several stays) and there is usually a jug of herbal water at the desk in the afternoon and evening.

By the way - it probably isn't obvious - we rather like the place. Oh yes, if you get a room not overlooking the train but overlooking the mall, the view over to the neighbouring farms and hills is very pleasant.

I'm hoping to be back there in about two weeks.

Thanks! You have provided some very useful information!

The Bern transit ticket is very useful, the advice I got at the TI office when they gave it to me was NOT. It's not unusual for several different numbered trams to run on the same line, and they don't all stop at the same stops. He advised me to get on a certain number, as we trundled along I was looking at the map on the wall and noticed that we weren't going to stop at the stop I wanted. So we got off and waited for the next correctly numbered tram.

Ah, the joy of travel. Trust yet verify.

Also don't forget, if travel gets overwhelming you can always pay a travel agent for help. It's not yet a crime.