5 days in Jungfrau with Swiss Half Fare Card
A traveler is planning a family trip to Wengen for four nights in June. They are comparing rail passes and calculating costs for various activities, specifically whether the Half Fare Card and Family Card are the most economical options for their itinerary. They seek confirmation on their calculations and any additional advice on travel passes.
- The Half Fare Card combined with the Family Card is a great choice for families traveling with children under 16.
- Consider buying a Saver Day Pass for individual travel days to save more money on trips.
- Always check for super-saver tickets that can offer additional discounts with your Half Fare Card.
- Make sure to understand that the Swiss Travel Pass operates on a calendar day basis, or from first use for 24 hours, depending on the ticket type.
AI-generated summary-
Hello,
I have done a few hours of research, and I think I have figured out the most economical option for my itinerary, given all the rules and exclusions, and different discount rates. Can you please confirm I am not missing anything and that Half-Fare Card with Family Card is the most the economical pass for 2 adults and two children aged 10 and 12. Here’s my itinerary, I’m staying in Wengen for 4 nights in June 2020:
Day 1: Zurich to Wengen – check into hotel, and probably do a short hike in the area, or paraglide in Interlaken if weather permits.
Day 2: JungfrauJoch from Wengen, returning through Grindelwald back to Wengen.
Day 3: Wengen to Interlaken to meet a tour for ice climbing and/or paragliding, and back.
Day 4: Wengen to Murren to meet a tour for via ferrata from Murren to Grimmelwald; maybe go up to Schilthorn if time permits, back to Wengen.
Day 5: Wengen to ZHR to catch 1 p.m. flight.
As you can see, with the exception of the trips to and from Zurich, we’re not traveling far.
Here are my options as I understand them and based on prices from the timetable:
Option 1) Swiss Travel Pass plus Family Card
must do 8 day, since 4 days will not cover the whole time (unless a “day” is based on 24 hr. period from initial use, then maybe 4 days would be enough if we leave Zurich early enough (7 a.m.) on Day 1 and Wengen on Day 5?)
Cost: 2 adults for CHF562, plus 25% discounted adult JungFrauJoch tickets per adult of around CHF117, and 50% discounted Schlithorn tickets of around CHF 40 per adult
TOTAL: CHF 876
Option 2) Half Fare Card (prices as for 2 adults at 50% off, and children are free)
CHF 240 for two adult Half Fare Cards, plus:
Day 1: CHF 84
Day 2: Wengen – JFJ CHF 75 (probably higher in summer, like 100); JFJ-Grindelwald CHF 82 (again, probably closer to 100); Grindelwald -Wengen CHF 16. Day total: CHF 173
Day 3: Wengen to Interlaken Ost return CHF 29.
Day 4: Wengen to Murren return CHF 44; Murren to Schilthorn return CHF 85; Grimmelwald to Murren CHF 6. Day total: 135
Day 5: Wengen to ZHR CHF 88
TOTAL: $749
It’s a difference of CHF 127, assuming my fares are correct. So, based on this itinerary, the half fare card works out better, again, assuming I’m correct.
Am I missing anything or should I consider anything that might alter the conclusion that the half fare card is my better option? Are there other passes I should consider or super-saver tickets I can get that might alter my calculations?
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Hello Kubikov and Welcome to MySwissAlps
Makes sense.
You can perhaps shave a bit off your option 2 by getting a Saver Day Pass (http://www.myswissalps.com/sa verdaypass) for each adult for Day 1 and Day 5.
You still need the Swiss Family Card (which is free) with the Swiss Half-fare Card.
Thanks, Rockoyster. My OP was a little unclear. The Day-1 and Day-5 prices on my OP are for two adults, so the $79 per person day pass won’t work.
Also, I think I underestimated the Swiss Rail Pass calculation. Since I’ll need a 8 day pass (even though I only need 5), it will be CHF 416 per person, so an additional $270. So, the difference between the Half-Fare Card and The Swiss Travel Pass for my itinerary is actually $397, or more than 50% more.
I suppose I could buy 2 full-price day passes for $252 total, but that would still work out to be more expensive.
I guess the only question I have remaining is what constitutes a “day” for purposes of the Swiss rail pass? Is it a calendar day, or does the clock start running from your first use, i.e. if you use on a train at 7 a.m., your day starts at 7 a.m. and continues until the next day at 7:00 a.m. At the same time, if a “day” starts from the time of your initiate use, is your pass still valid as long as you begin your journey before or at the time the pass expires on its last day (i.e. 7 a.m. on day 5 of a 4 day pass you first used at 7 a.m. on day 1), or must you complete your journey by that time (7 a.m. on day 5)?
I have a vague recollection from my backpacking days 20 years ago that a “day” on a Eurorail pass was a 24 hour period base don when you started your journey.
With a Swiss Half-fare Card you can get a Saver Day Pass and travel from one end of Switzerland to the other for CHF29! That’s per person if you buy in advance so you get the best price. It’s a good deal.
A travel day is from 00:00 to 05:00 the next day (when travel must be completed). Sorry.
OK, I see it now. The Saver Day Pass is less expensive, depending on the day of the week Thanks for the info!
The Saver Day Pass is cheaper the sooner you buy it not necessarily on a day basis and they come on sale 2 months prior to travel date.
Ok, thanks for the clarification. So, if the half-fare card is only good for one month and I need it for June 2020, can I order it early (late April) and use it to claim a discount on the Saver Day Pass 60 days before?
You just buy a half-fare Saver Day Pass. You don’t need to prove you are eligible to buy one. You only need to prove you are eligible to travel with one when you are on the train. The inspector will ask to see your Swiss Half-fare Card (which lasts 30 days from your nominated start date) to check your eligibility.
See http://www.myswissalps.com/sw isshalffarecard/howtou se and also check the Validity tab on that page.
Hi Kubikov-
I found this thread to be particularly informative, not only because Rockoyster explained the concepts so clearly, but because your own efforts to do the calculations gave a good basis for the conversation.
Just as an aside, because I don’t think you will need one, in cities and optionally in defined nearby zones ( my experience is in Zürich) you can indeed buy a 24 Hour Ticket good on the local tram, bus and rail network. (That network in and around Zürich is the ZVV – Zürich Verkehrsverein – Zurich Transport Association). As the name implies, the ticket is valid for 24 hours from the time of purchase. As long as you are on the vehicle before the 24 hour period ends, you can keep riding that vehicle until the end of that segment of your journey. See also: http://www.myswissalps.com/zu rich/travel
As I begin and end my trips with a couple of days in Zürich, including visiting friends or hiking on Uetliberg, I find the ZVV 24 Hour Ticket to be it a good deal. It costs about the same amount as 3 separate fares. (Uetliberg is in a peripheral zone – not in the central zone – of the ZVV.) The network is dense and provides frequent service through urban Zürich.
http://www.zvv.ch/zvv/en/trav elcards-and-tickets/zones/zone-maps.html
I can and do routinely buy that ticket from the ubiquitous ticket machines, as well as many other special tickets. But, if I am going to use it extensively or for part of a trip to someplace that is outside the boundaries of the ZVV, I stop at the ZVV office in Shopville, the concourse under the main station, and describe my travel plans. Then, they sell me the correct ticket(s). Getting the exact ticket with proper zone coverage from a ticket machine is possible, but requires training. 😉
Sometimes, they sell me a ticket for a future date, say…a second day when I need a 24 hour card….and I must validate on the first journey of that day by sticking it in the small and common machines that “punch” – actually date stamp – the ticket. They are at every bus and tram stop.
I would not be surprised if Rockoyster jumps in here and explains how to do it all on a smartphone. I don’t know if the ZVV provides that capability, but I’d not be surprised if it did.
Slowpoke
Thanks, Slowpoke. I think a 24 hour rule seems like it makes the most logical sense, otherwise the start time becomes a factor in one’s trip.
It looks like there’s a great opportunity here for a high school student to program a Swiss Rail Ticket/Pass Selector Calculator for people with detailed itineraries like mine. You could enter your desired destinations for each day, and it would spit out the recommended pass and compare costs across all passes. I’m kind of surprised that it doesn’t already exist.
This website has been very helpful and informative, but it still took a few hours to figure it out something that could take mere minutes. If I had the skills, I’d try to put it together myself.
Hi Kubikov –
<<“It looks like there’s a great opportunity here for a high school student to program a Swiss Rail Ticket/Pass Selector Calculator for people with detailed itineraries like mine. You could enter your desired destinations for each day, and it would spit out the recommended pass and compare costs across all passes. I’m kind of surprised that it doesn’t already exist.
This website has been very helpful and informative, but it still took a few hours to figure it out something that could take mere minutes. If I had the skills, I’d try to put it together myself.”>>
We’ll ask Arno to add it to the list of future improvements. Actually, I think that the SBB might welcome the suggestion. Arno – please note!
For a while, the SBB website included a pictorial moving train tracker, which was first developed independently. It drew on the published schedules. Last I looked, it was no longer available as an independent program. Maybe the SBB bought it….
And, now, I can’t find it on the SBB site. Maybe 1960man knows if it still exists. However, it seems that they might consider software developed by others.
Slowpoke
“For a while, the SBB website included a pictorial moving train tracker . . .“
The SBB app has that feature.
It indicates where you should be according to the timetable which with SBB precision generally accords quite closely with where you actually are.
<<“The SBB app has that feature.
It indicates where you should be according to the timetable which with SBB precision generally accords quite closely with where you actually are.”>>
Exactly.
Great that you have found it..
For those of us with diminished eyesight and who are baffled and bemused by modern technology, can you tell us if it is available on the SBB website for large screen (aka, “real”) computers?
Slowpoke
“For those of us with diminished eyesight and who are baffled and bemused by modern technology, can you tell us if it is available on the SBB website for large screen (aka, “real”) computers?“
No idea – I ceased using the SBB website for timetable searches and ticket purchases some time ago.
Hi Kubikov,
Thanks for joing MySwissAlps. Not all travellers travel the same way, that is why we always recommend planning a basic itinerary in order to make an informed decision about which rail pass to get. This is explained clearly on this page: How to choose the best rail pass – http://www.myswissalps.com/tr ain/ticketspasses/prac tical/chooserailpass
In your case, based on the number of travellers and what you plan to do and see, the Swiss Half Fare Card seems much more economical. Don’t forget to take advantage of the Saver Day Pass (http://www.myswissalps.com/sa verdaypass) and Supersaver tickets which you can get much cheaper with the Swiss Half Fare Card (http://www.myswissalps.com/sw isshalffarecard) when bought much earlier, as previously mentioned by rockoyster.
Be sure to install the SBB timetable app on your smart device so you can buy tickets on the go. You can download it from this page: http://www.myswissalps.com/ab outswitzerland/practic al/websites
More helpful links for your trip:
- Wengen: http://www.myswissalps.com/we ngen
- Jungfraujoch: http://www.myswissalps.com/ju ngfraujoch
- Schilthorn: http://www.myswissalps.com/sc hilthorn
- Mürren: http://www.myswissalps.com/mu rren
- Interlaken: http://www.myswissalps.com/in terlaken
- Zurich: http://www.myswissalps.com/zu rich
Best regards,
Anna
Hi Kubikov and Slowpoke! Yes, the suggestion for a rail pass selection tool has been made before. It would be great to have one indeed, but it won’t happen in the near future I’m afraid :-). A basic version might provide clues about which pass(es) can be considered, but it wouldn’t generate a definitive outcome as so many variables determine which pass is cheapest for any specific trip. Unfortunately, including all those variables in a selection tool wouldn’t be doable. Only detailed calculations based on the specifics of one’s trip can show which option is most economical, and that’s why we provide the Excel. On top of that, there’s the summary listing pros and cons of the main rail passes, which may help to determine which type of pass is suitable (apart from the price aspect). It can be downloaded from http://www.myswissalps.com/tr ain/ticketspasses/prac tical/chooserailpass under “Quick rail pass overview”.
Hi Annika-
<<“Only detailed calculations based on the specifics of one’s trip can show
which option is most economical, and that’s why we provide the Excel.”>>
I am not a programmer, so I thik anything is possible…;-)
However, if an Excel spreadsheet can be loaded manually, I’d guess that it could be loaded by an algorithm?
Having substantially exceeded my knowledge of the subject, I’ll stop. I hope for a reply from anyone else who actually knows what I am talking about, if they are on the Forum.
Slowpoke
Thanks, Annika.
I agree that such a calculator wouldn’t be helpful for someone who doesn’t yet know their detailed itinerary. But, if you have each day planned out, I think it would be doable, as it is basic programming logic, i.e. if Swiss Travel Card, then free travel and 25% of JungFrau and 50% off Shilthorn; if Half-Fare Card, then 50% off JungFrau, etc; traveling with children; apply free fares. A program would run through the price list either through the online timetable, or downloaded from a published timetable (as I understand, prices are only updated one per year), and then run through the itinerary applying the various discounts of the various passes, and then show the results under each available pass option, and select the lowest value. Pros and cons can be listed next to the price of each to let the user know of any additional information that might influence his/her purchasing decision. To take advantage of Saver Day passes and the like, the program could interface with the SBB website and apply the current rate in real time. I think a interface would have the following layout:
Date of Travel:
Number of days: __
Are you traveling with children? How many?
Ages of children: __
Day 1:
Origin: __
Where would you like to go?
Then a dropdown menu populates with the available destination choices, or a person can type in their destination that autopopulates if it’s an available destination
or
Destination 1: ____
Destination 2: ___
Day 2:
and so on.
I think even a simple calculator that inquires about how many days, what scenic trains, and what peaks one plans to visit would be able to give a basic recommendation of one pass over another.
Again, I’m not an IT person or skilled in programming. But, just from interfacing with technology in so many ways throughout my life, I have seen what is possible. I suppose the closest analogy would be a multi-city itinerary on kayak.com. You enter the cities you want to go to, and the website’s program searches the timetable and prices of dozens of airlines, and spits out numerous itineraries at different prices that one can then sort in mere seconds. The only inputs the user needs to supply in order to accomplish the search are the dates and cities of their itinerary. The Swiss train system is a much smaller universe than the global airline industry, so the program could be much simpler.
If we evaluated our flight options the same way we currently evaluated our Swiss train pass options, it would take days.
I sympathize with the desire for an “easy” way to compare travel cost options, since I just finished an ex post facto exercise in filling out the spreadsheet to see how much money we saved by buying a 15 day STP vs. paying for individual tickets, and what the cost would have been if we’d bought the Half-Fare Card and individual tickets. Turns out we did save money using the STP but not as much as if we’d used the Half Fare Card. Regardless, we have no regrets since it was so very convenient to just jump on a bus/tram/train/boat without having to purchase a ticket. Very handy, since we traveled 13 of the 15 days, used 50 trains, buses, & boats, and had to buy tickets only three times (for mountaintop excursions).
Using the Excel cost comparison spreadsheet does require entering the exact starting & ending points, and the method of transit used, since some routes we used could be accomplished via train, bus, or boat. I don’t think it would be possible to automate that process. Perhaps filling in the cost entries could be automated, but not the specific starting & ending points for each trip and the transit method; that would still require research and manual entry.
As an aside, I discovered that when looking up bus/tram fares, the SBB timetable allows you to choose between 1st and 2nd class fares. I don’t remember being on any bus or tram that had a 1st & 2nd class section, so I thought that was a bit odd.
@Kubikov
“Then a dropdown menu populates with the available destination choices, or a person can type in their destination that autopopulates if it’s an available destination”
LOL. I think they call that the SBB mobile app. 😎
@Slowpoke
”I hope for a reply from anyone else who actually knows what I am talking about . . .”
Good luck with that. 😉
But for all the would be hackers out there I offer this glimmer. 🤓
“ As an aside, I discovered that when looking up bus/tram fares, the SBB timetable allows you to choose between 1st and 2nd class fares.”
Odd indeed. The SBB app even offers you a class upgrade option if you have a 2nd class ticket or pass. Nice little earner for SBB if people are silly (or ill-informed) enough to fall for it. I wonder if there is a Swiss Consumer Affairs department that’s might be interested in this practice?
At least they don’t offer 1st Class on cable cars.
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