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We are traveling (2 adults a 13 and 16 year old) for 10 days what is the best option for fares? The itinerary spans the last week in one month and the first week in the next month. We fly into Zurich, will go to Shaffenhausen to see the falls and then spend 2 nighths in Lucern, 2 nights in Lauterbrunnen, 3 Interlaken, 2 in Gimmewald, and then last night in Zurich. We plan on doing the Schilthorn, and JungPrau railway. One Interlaken day will be a trip to Zermatt and the Gornergrat.
What is the best way to do this? A 8 day swiss pass and individual fares for 2 days or is there another way?
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For the days that you’re going to be in Lauterbrunnen/Interlaken/Gimmelwald are you planning on traveling much? I’m sure a moderator will chime in as well, but I’m not sure it’s a good value to pay for that many days if you’re probably staying put for so many of them or just making small side trips. Unless the pass is very cheap, you may be better off getting a pass that only covers the days on which you are traveling a good distance and just paying point-to-point fares for the short trips on the other days. This is particularly true if your plans include some of the smaller mountain railways and cable cars (as well as the schilthornbahn and jungfraujoch excursion) are not covered by the pass. If you are taking lots of little trips you may find that a $99 second class half fare card is a good value for the intermediate days – this card entitles you to 50% off all second class fares.
It sounds like you have one long travel day in, one more from Lucern to Interlaken and environs, then back to Zurich. A second class ticket from Lucerne to Lauterbrunnen is only CHF37 so depending on the price of the pass that may not be a good-value pass day. You might consider the “Swiss Card” which is a bit of a hybrid – it includes your long round trip to/from Zurich, then gives you 50% off everything else, good for 30 days. A second class Swiss Card is $169 for those aged 16+.
You may just have to compare the different options to decide which is “best” for you. If you are staying put much of the time, the passes may not be as good of a value, but they do offer the convenience of just being able to “hop on” once they’re validated. You can check fares on any route at http://www.sbb.ch (the website is available in english by clicking the little “en” near the top of the page).
Another thing to consider – when I was (ahem) a bit younger the youth passes were quite a bit cheaper than the adult. The value equation may therefore be different for the “kids” than it is for you. I’m not sure what passes cost these days.
Hello wisefam!
First of all: thank you IMNiles, for your excellent tips. It’s very valuable that you’ve been thinking along with wisefam so thoroughly.
For wisefam: I came to the same conclusions as IMNiles. As you won’t be making that many long (and therefore expensive) trips, an 8 day Swiss Pass wouldn’t be worth its money, even more so because you’d still have to pay the full price on 2 out of the 10 days. According to my calculations, you’d be best off with a Swiss Half Fare Card. It’s valid on all days of your stay and offers a 50% discount on almost all trips you plan. Of course I have only been able to consider the trips you mentioned and I don’t know if you have other trips in mind beside these. But if you will mainly make shorter, local trips, a Swiss Half Fare Card would be the best option. The only disadvantage is that you’re missing out on the convenience of getting on and off trains without having to buy separate tickets, which is possible with a Swiss Pass. You should see for yourself what is more important for you.
A Swiss Card would, in all, be slightly more expensive than the Swiss Half Fare Card. It offers a free trip from the airport (Zurich in your case) to your first destination and this trip must be completed within one day. If I’m correct, your first destination will be Schaffhausen or Lucerne (I don’t know if you plan to travel on to Lucerne on the same day as your visit to the Rhine falls in Schaffhausen). Either way, this is a short and inexpensive trip, so you won’t optimally profit from what the Swiss Card offers.
If you plan to go for the Swiss Half Fare Card option, you would need 3 of them for the 2 adults and the 16 year old; the Swiss Half Fare Card doesn’t have a youth variant (as the Swiss Pass has). You can order along a free STS Family Card with your Swiss Half Fare Cards. This allows your 13 year old to travel along for free on all trips. Ordering options are further explained at the Swiss Half Fare Card page.
I hope this is helpful!
Thank you very much for the information. Do the half fare card and the swiss pass both recieve the same discount off of the tram to the Schilthorn, Gornergrat, Jungfraujoch, etc?
Hi wisefam, both the Swiss Half Fare Card and the Swiss Pass offer a 50% discount on most cable cars and mountain lifts. One difference is that the Swiss Pass offers a 25% discount on the Jungfrau railway from Grindelwald/Wengen, and the Swiss Half Fare Card a 50% discount. On the detail page of both the Swiss Half Fare Card and the Swiss Pass you’ll find a link ‘Overview of the network on which the … is valid’. When clicking this, a map will appear showing the exact area of validity of both passes and the amounts of discount they give.
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