Pass for 16 days Geneva/Bernese Oberland in Oct

Hello Sunny, welcome to MySwissAlps.

Good to hear you’ll be visiting this October. If you want to make intensive use of public transportation while you’re in the Bernese Oberland, the Regional-Pass Bernese Oberland is a good choice. It covers a large area and even includes many mountain tops for free. You’ll find all validity details here: http://www.myswissalps.com/regionalpassberneseoberland/validity.

You’ll find suggested activities for the Bernese Oberland here: http://www.myswissalps.com/berneseoberland/activities. Each of our activity pages often suggests options to combine the activity with other excursions in the same area. An example is the paragraph “Combine your visit to First with other activities” at http://www.myswissalps.com/grindelwaldfirst. The “Route” sections of our activity pages explain how to get there in detail, for example http://www.myswissalps.com/schilthorn/gettingthere.

If you combine this info with the Regional-Pass Bernese Oberland validity map, plus the Swiss timetable, you’ll get to see which trips can be combined in one day. Here’s how to use the Swiss timetable: http://www.myswissalps.com/timetable.

Some examples of trips that are doable in one day:

• Niesen (http://www.myswissalps.com/niesen), Oeschinensee and the toboggan run;
• Grindelwald-First (http://www.myswissalps.com/grindelwaldfirst) and Pfingstegg (http://www.myswissalps.com/pfingstegg)
• Schilthorn (http://www.myswissalps.com/schilthorn) and the Trümmelbach Falls.

This 1-day trip may also inspire you, as it shows how much can be done in 1 day if you plan carefully: http://www.myswissalps.com/onedayjungfrauregion.

As for the additional pass: it would be good to combine your Regional-Pass Bernese Oberland with either a Swiss Travel Pass (http://www.myswissalps.com/swisshalffarecard) or a Swiss Half Fare Card (http://www.myswissalps.com/swisshalffarecard). Holders of both of these passes get a discount on the Regional-Pass Bernese Oberland: http://www.myswissalps.com/regionalpassberneseoberland/price. Note that both passes have to be valid at the same time. So for the Swiss Travel Pass, this would mean you’d probably get a 15-day Swiss Travel Pass (http://www.myswissalps.com/swisstravelpass/price) plus a discounted Regional-Pass Bernese Oberland. This might be ‘overkill’, and your conclusion that combining a Regional-Pass with a Swiss Half Fare Card is the best option could be correct.

In the end, it depends on the other trips you’ll be making from Geneva. If these are long and expensive ones, the Swiss Travel Pass could still be the better choice. Here’s how to calculate if you want to make sure: http://www.myswissalps.com/train/ticketspasses/practical/chooserailpass.

Sure, you can get from Geneva to Interlaken via the GoldenPass route along Montreux and Zweisimmen. Please find details at http://www.myswissalps.com/goldenpass.

Does this get you started?

Hi Sunny,

There is no need to book seats on trains or cable cars in advance unless you are travelling on special panoramic trains such as the Glacier Express. If you have a valid ticket or a railpass, you simply get on board. Ticket inspections are usually done randomly on the train. All you need is present your tickets or pass upon request. You can find more information about this here: http://www.myswissalps.com/train/reservations

Best regards,

Anna

Hi Sunny,

Yes, your understandings are correct. You’ll need a 50% discounted ticket for Geneva-Montreux-Saanen, and then your Regional-Pass Bernese Oberland takes over (https://www.myswissalps.com/regionalpassberneseoberland/validity). Note that you don’t need a ticket at all for the route from Saanen. Just show you Regional-Pass Bernese Oberland when asked for, that’s all: http://www.myswissalps.com/regionalpassberneseoberland/howtouse.

Reservations aren’t required either: see https://www.myswissalps.com/goldenpass/tickets and https://www.myswissalps.com/train/reservations.

You can get your discounted ticket Geneva-Saanen at the spot before boarding, or book it in advance online through any of the options listed at https://www.myswissalps.com/traintickets/switzerlandhalffare.