Basel to Grindelwald/Wengen – which pass?
A traveler named Lhall85917 is planning a trip for next June, flying into Basel for a river cruise, and wants to spend three nights in Grindelwald or Wengen. They are looking for guidance on which rail pass to buy for their itinerary, particularly whether the 4-day Swiss Travel Pass or the Jungfrau Travel Pass is the best option.
- The 4-day Swiss Travel Pass is a good choice for your itinerary, offering free travels from Basel to Grindelwald and discounts on attractions like the First cable car.
- Consider the Regional Pass Bernese Oberland if you want a pass tailored to your specific route; it could save you money.
- You can buy the Swiss Travel Pass anytime, even just days before your trip, making it flexible for your travel plans.
AI-generated summary-
First, apologies and thank you to those that respond with great patience to those of us asking questions. I have been looking at the different rail options and am still confused and am hoping for some specific advice for next June. Two of us will fly in to Basel for a river cruise (because the cruise line is providing air transportation Basel is our only option for arriving) and would like to spend 3 nights in Grindelwald or Wengen then return to Basel the day the cruise departs. This would give us 2 full days to visit the area.
While there we would like to spend a day on First and are open to suggestions for the second day, perhaps Lake Brienz. I am confused about the type of pass to purchase, I think the 4 day Swiss Travel Pass would be the best option? Would we also need the Jungfrau Travel Pass? Is there a best time for purchasing passes?
Again, thank you for the much-needed support and advice offered.
-
Hi Lhall85917 and welcome to MySwissAlps.com!
Yes, the 4-day Swiss Travel Pass sound good for your itinerary. You can check the validity map here: http://www.myswissalps.com/swisstravelpass/validity.
You can travel free from Basel (http://www.myswissalps.com/basel) to Grindelwald (http://www.myswissalps.com/grindelwald) and also to Lake Brienz (http://www.myswissalps.com/lakebrienz). You can even take a boat trip on the lake for free with the Swiss Travel Pass: http://www.myswissalps.com/boatlakebrienz. The cable car from Grindelwald to First (http://www.myswissalps.com/grindelwaldfirst) is discounted by 50% with that pass.
There are many wonderful other activity options in the Jungfrau region, you can check them here: http://www.myswissalps.com/jungfrauregion/activities.
You do not need to buy a Jungfrau Travel Pass (http://www.myswissalps.com/jungfrautravelpass) for this itinerary.
It doesn’t matter when you buy your Swiss Travel Pass, you can buy it now or even a couple of days before your holiday. You can check the prices and buy the pass here: http://www.myswissalps.com/swisstravelpass/price.
I hope this answers your question,
ILdiko
Thank you, this is tremendously helpful and just what I needed to know.
I don’t quite agree with Ildiko.
Since you are only travelling direct from Basel to the Bernese Oberland and back I think the Swiss Travel Pass would be a poor choice as you would be ‘paying for the whole country and only visiting a tiny bit of it’.
My suggestion would be to buy the 3 (or 4) day Regional Pass Berner Oberland. This is valid to Bern so you only need to get from Basel to Bern with a point to point ticket. To get to and from Basel look for Supersaver tickets or Saver Day Pass
The RBPO also gives more mountain railways for free than the STP
Hi there,
Regional Pass Bernese Oberland can work too, you can find the details about this pass here: http://www.myswissalps.com/regionalpassberneseoberland.
If you would like to make sure which is better for you, you should make calculations. Please feel free to use our calculation spreadsheet: http://www.myswissalps.com/train/ticketspasses/practical/chooserailpass.
Ildiko
have tried calculations using all of the different options. I think the options other than the Swiss Pass might be slightly less, but that isn’t including any travel we might want to do on the day we don’t visit First Mountain. It seems like the ease of this pass is also a benefit since it looks like you don’t need to purchase tickets along the way. I’ll continue to look at options and then make the decision once we are closer to the time of our visit and have plans more solidly in place.
Hi Lhall85917,
Yes, it is very easy to travel with the Swiss Travel Pass, here are the details: http://www.myswissalps.com/swisstravelpass/howtouse.
Please note, there is the Swiss Travel Pass and there is also the Swiss Pass (for residents), you can read about the differences here: http://www.myswissalps.com/train/ticketspasses/practical/swisspass. The one you need is the Swiss Travel Pass: http://www.myswissalps.com/swisstravelpass.
Let us know if you have further questions,
Ildiko
Regarding your concerns about the Regional Pass Berner Oberland plus one point to point route being not including travels you might want to do on the day you don’t visit First Mountain: I would say there are ‘inconvenient’ things about using the Swiss Travel Pass for the whole trip, so to compare the two:
Plus points: one pass valid Basel – Basel across the whole period of your trip
Minus points: you would need to buy STP discounted tickets on mountain railways
Basel – Bern ticket plus Regional Pass Bernese Oberland
Plus points: once at Bern, everything else in a wide area is free, including Luzern (via Brunig pass or Emmental), Gstaad, Thun lake area, Brienz lake area, Aaraschlucht gorge
minus points: separate ticket required Basel – Bern and back but that can be purchased in one on line transaction
This is extremely helpful, we are now considering the Regional Pass Bernese Oberland based upon these suggestions. My understanding is that we would purchase tickets from the Basel airport (bus to SBB then train to Bern). My husband was concerned that going through Bern will make this leg more complicated to manage after a long flight and longer than going straight from Basel. It does add an extra transfer or two, but seems to be pretty straightforward.
From Bern we use the Oberland pass to get to Wengen and throughout our stay, then return to Bern and purchase tickets from there to Basel to board the river cruise.
Thank you for all your advice to those of us trying to understand and manage the different options.
The railway route from Basel to Interlaken goes via Bern, so you will be going “direct from Basel”
And to clarify how you the system works:
1) If you have a valid ticket of any sort, you can get on a train at Basel SBB towards Bern and/or Spiez or Interlaken. There are direct train throughout the day
2) You can stay on the same train and use two different tickets if necessary as long as they are both valid.
3) Therefore, if you purchase a Basel – Bern return ticket in advance and you but a RBPO you can board a train in Basel and get off in Interlaken
4) All great so far but Unfortunately the timetable is not standardised as there are trains from Germany to Interlaken mixed in with domestic service, but you need to use the journey planner to find the trains with ‘no Changes’ . In general you need to look for a route IC61 train. The usually leave Basel SBB at xx.28 or xx.56
Throwing one more thing out there, is there any advantage to getting the 4 day Jungfrau Pass instead of the Bernese Oberland since we only have 2 full days in Wengen? I understand that it has a smaller area of coverage.
It would cover the cost to First on one day, then we have several options to choose from on the second day. If I am looking correctly it would cover the train from Interlaken to Wengen.
Hi Lhall85917,
If you’re planning only 2 days in Wengen and limit your sightseeing in the area, then getting a 3-day Jungfrau Travel Pass might be more practical. You can find more information about the Jungfrau Travel Pass here: http://www.myswissalps.com/jungfrautravelpass
Regards,
Anna
A three day Jungfrau pass is not much cheaper than a 3-day RPBO.
The whole price calculation will depend on how many travel days there are on the itinerary Basel back to Basel
- The thread ‘Basel to Grindelwald/Wengen – which pass?’ is closed to new replies.
