MySwissAlps.com features ads, commercial and non-commercial What Swiss rail passes for couple with 2 kids?
-
Hi
I am traveling in July with my wife and 2 kids (8 and 4 years old). We are very confused as to what rail passes we need to buy for the trip. Here is our proposed agenda for the trip
July 9th – Zurich airport to Interlaken
July 10th – Go on the Glacier Express from Interlaken
July 11th – Go from Interlaken to Lucerne and Mt Titlis
July 12th – Go from Interlaken for the Jungfraujoch train trip
July 13th – Go from Interkalen to Wengen
July 14th – Go from Interlaken to Zurich
Very confused as to get the Swiss Travel Pass (4 days) or Half Fare Card since our trip is 6 days and the 8 days Travel Pass is too expensive since we waste 2 days. Any advice on what is the best thing for us to get?
Question for Swiss Travel Pass – do we need to buy tickets for the above journeys (besides the Glacier and Jungfraujoch seat reservations) or just get on the train with our passes on any train we want in those 4 days?
When is the earliest we book the Glacier Express and Jungfraujoch train?
-
Hello KunalK and Welcome to MySwissAlps,
The Glacier Express (http://www.myswissalps.com/gl acierexpress) is not something I would attempt as a day trip from Interlaken.
You need reservations for the GEX available 90-days out from travel.
Don’t reserve Jungfraujoch until you are sure weather is OK to go up. See this thread bit.ly/2JQKKSh.
You should read “How to choose the best travel pass” (http://www.myswissalps.com/tr ain/ticketspasses/prac tical/chooserailpass), download the handy spreadsheet calculator and do the math.
If you skip the GEX a Swiss Half Fare Card may be better. Or given you are based in Interlaken the Bernese Oberland Pass (http://www.myswissalps.com/re gionalpassberneseoberl and).
Thanks for the quick response Rockoyster!
Glacier Express – should have clarified that we not doing the entire trip, we plan to do the section from Chug to Brig. So take a train from Interlaken to Brig and Glacier express from Brig to Chug and then come back from Chug to Interlaken. Is that doable in a day?
Thanks for the advice on jungfraujoch but given July is the busiest time wouldn’t i need to reserve? Is it possible to book a week in advance?
I downloaded the spreadsheet but found it difficult to use since when i tried to use the timetable it came back saying “no trains found from Zurich to Interlaken West” which i know isn’t true.
Can i get help with the other one other question I asked for Swiss Travel Pass – do we need to buy tickets for the above journeys (besides the Glacier and Jungfraujoch seat reservations which i know we need) or just get on the train with our passes on any train we want in those 4 days the pass is valid for?
Even that part of the GEX is a 9 hour plus trip. The kids might get a bit restless.
You should be able to find Zurich to Interlaken West using the the Swiss Train Timetable (http://www.myswissalps.com/ti metable).
Whether you reserve the Jungfraujoch train or not you still need a ticket from Wengen or Grindelwald to Jungfraujoch. You will get 25% discount on that. Full fares are listed here.
Yes 9 hours will be tricky 🙂
so if we get the half fare card, can we get the family card so the kids travel free?
Yes, but if you are sticking with the Glacier Express you might want to run the numbers before swapping from STP.
Just be aware you won’t see any actual glaciers on the GEX route. And from Brig try to return to Interlaken via Kandersteg for best scenery.
By the way even for 6 days an 8-day STP is marginally cheaper per day than a 4-day STP.
Forgot to mention earlier that with STP you will also need a ticket (at 50% discount) for Engelberg to Kleintitlis.
Have you studied the map available here?
Thanks!!
What is STP?
Yes did the math (got things right in the sheet finally 🙂 ) and the Travel Pass is working out cheaper.
As an alternative to the Glacier Express you could always consider a day trip from Interlaken to Zermatt to see the Matterhorn. Or even a day trip to Montreux via Zweisimmen on the Golden Pass Line (http://www.myswissalps.com/go ldenpass).
But I’m guessing you have the Glacier Express as a must do.
My trip report covering the Glacier Express is here if you’re interested.
Thanks for the advice Rockoyster
We read reviews, saw the pictures and now your trip report for the Glacier Express which have convinced us that it is a must do on the trip …. it will be a long 9 hour day but hoping we can keep the other 5 days not as hectic.
Another question – we wanted to do a boat cruise. Given we are staying at Interlaken we have 3 choices – Lake Thun, Lake Luzern and Lake Zurich. We have heard that Lake Luzern is the best and best to start the cruise from Fluelen. Would that be your advice too? Is it best to take the train from Interlaken to Fluelen and then do the cruise from Fluelen to Luzern and take the train back from Luzern to Interlaken?
Some might say it is best to do boat to Flüelen then train back. Not sure it makes much difference.
Here’s an idea. Train to Chur, GEX to Andermatt, train to Flüelen, boat to Lucerne. Two birds with one stone and you get to do the best part of the Glacier Express. I haven’t checked the timings but it should be doable. Offers plenty of variety so the kids won’t get bored. 😎
thats a great idea but the train time from Interlaken to Chur is 3 1/2 hours so will need to take the11.30 train (9.15 train will be tough). That gets us to Andermatt to 2. And then a hour ride to Fluelen. How long is the boat ride from Fluelen to Lucerne? Also is it too late if we start the ride around 4 PM?
Thanks for all the suggestions!
i know there is a timetable for the lake luzern cruises but i just cant understand it 🙁 just want to how frequent they are from fluelen and how long it takes to get to luzern on the cruise
That Interlaken to Chur trip is a bummer.
The SBB Timetable will show you boat times from Flüelen to Luzern. You need to used advanced search and deselect all transport options except “Ship”. From memory the trip takes about 3.5 hours. If that is too long you could always just take boat from Flüelen to Brünnen and the train back to Luzern from there.
You can also find timetables here http://www.lakelucerne.ch/en/ timetable-fares/timetable/.
Hi Kunal,
>> we plan to do the section from Chug to Brig
The name of the place you call Chug is Chur! You are unlikely to be understood if you call it Chug 🙂
You can listen here to how it is pronounced:
Alpenrose
Hi Kunal,
If you went from Interlaken to Andermatt via Brig then you would have plenty of time to take the boat cruise and make a very long day more tolerable. The only problem with that is that you miss out on the Oberalp Pass.
I enjoyed the boat ride from Flüelen to Lucerne a lot more than any part of the Glacier Express. But I like boats. Just saying.
- The thread ‘What Swiss rail passes for couple with 2 kids?’ is closed to new replies.
