[Anonymous]

24 March 2017 at 5:46:44 #811173

Hi there

I am trying to figure out which of these passes to get.

We are from Australia and travelling in Switzerland between 4th and 12th July

1. Rotterdam to Bern on train(I am thinking this will be a separate booking as I don’t think a Eurail select is the cheapest way to go).

2. staying with friends in Bern for 1 day

3. Between 6 -11 July we will be completely in the Bernese Oberland. WE have 3 nights booked in Wengen and 3 nights in Hasliberg. We will want to do lots of hiking but also toboganning/trotti bikes which some sites tell me are included in the Bernese Oberland pass.

My main confusion lies around whether becuase of using cable cars and mountain trains we will still be having to pay significant extra charges(as they are only half price and there are 5 of us) with the Swiss Pass. I don’t know exactly how many of these non-covered transports we will use but it is bound to be at least 3 I would think. Then also if the other attractions are covered by the Bernese Oberland pass this will save us significantly.

4. On the 12th July we travel by train to Zurich airport for a mid-afternoon flight back home.

I would appreciate your thoughts.

Cheers

Ingrid

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[User]

Reply 1 of 14 • 24 March 2017 at 7:25:58 #860422

Hi Ingrid and welcome to MySwissAlps!

It will really depend on exactly what routes you will be using while you are in the area as to which pass is best. Click on the link to see exactly what is covered by the Regional-Pass Bernese Oberland and Swiss Travel Pass – there are PDF maps on each link that will help as well.

The Regional-Pass Bernese Oberland may indeed be your best option. You would then need to buy a ticket from Luzern to Zurich on your last day and of course coming into Bern from Rotterdam.

Lucas

[User]

Reply 2 of 14 • 25 March 2017 at 0:46:13 #860423

Ingrid, I am not an expert like Lucas, but am doing the same type of trip, one week before you. I made an enlargement of the Wengen area with the map from the Swiss Pass and the Bernese Oberland pass, and that really helped me out a bit. I attach it. The top half of the map is the swiss pass, the bottom is the BO Pass. The key for me is the cable car and train from Wengen to Grindelwald, and the cable cars to First, Planplatten, and Pflingstegg are included in the BO Pass. I would guess there are more cable cars around the area if I kept looking, but that was good enough for me to go with the 4 day BO pass. Since we have 4 other days on our trip, we might also buy the 1/2 pass to use on those days, and that will give us 25% off the cost of BO Pass (why not 50%, I don’t know 😉 Best of luck and have fun.

[User]

Reply 3 of 14 • 25 March 2017 at 0:49:06 #860424

Oh, one more thing, I don’t think the toboganning/trotti bikes and things like that will be included with any pass. But the cable cars like the one to First, would be with the BO Pass, as far as I can tell……

[User]

Reply 4 of 14 • 25 March 2017 at 4:22:11 #860425

THanks it’s really helpful getting other people’s thoughts even if they support your own. I have done some more research with maps as well and trying(this is SOOO hard I don’t know why!) to find out the cost of cable cars. I am leaning towards the BO pass as well. Even though we have to pay for the kids 3oCHF each(making 90 chf altogether) and pay the trip Lucerne to ZUrich – I think this will be recouped when we don’t have to pay for cable cars (I thought we would most likely use at least 2 during our stay) and also the convenience of not having to buy tickets all the time. And we won’t be stressing about having to pay extra during the holiday.

Happy travels to you all too

[User]

Reply 5 of 14 • 26 March 2017 at 4:41:27 #860426

I am also looking into an oberland pass. I bought a 2 pass eurail pass for 9 days already I’ll be arriving in Zurich on July 28 , taking the train to Florence on August 1

i will return to Zurich on August 10 , take the train to Interlaken – Lauterbrunnen

staying in Lauterbrunnen 4 nights 11/12/13/14 . Leaving August 15 going back to Zurich . I’m thinking I need a Swiss Travel Pass for 8 days and an Oberland pass for 6 days . Elbarcos id love to print what you did with the map of wengen !!!

thanks to all of you . You are such a great help on this site .

[User]

Reply 6 of 14 • 26 March 2017 at 8:12:14 #860427

Hi Akerbrygge

The way I read it – it would be overkill to get both a swiss pass and a BO pass when you already have a eurail pass. The BO pass will get you to Lucerne so it is only a short hop to Zurich(1 hour on the train). I think it would be cheaper just to pay for that bit as a separate ticket. I could be misinterpreting your schedule though(ha ha listen to me the swiss travel expert now!)

[User]

Reply 7 of 14 • 26 March 2017 at 8:58:06 #860428

Hi Akerbrygge,

You say you have the Eurail Select Pass for 9 days? So what date does the Eurail Select Pass expire and where are you staying for those dates and beyond?

If you just need a rail pass for the Lauterbrunnen area then I agree with doubledutch, the Regional Pass Bernese Oberland plus a point to point ticket to Zurich from Luzern may be the best option for you.

Lucas

[User]

Reply 8 of 14 • 28 March 2017 at 0:23:05 #860429

I am slightly rethinking the BO pass now as we will have 2 trips outside the region.

Could someone clarify for me: with my 3 children(7-11) – if they are travelling free with the family card component of the Swiss pass, what do they pay on the cable cars and mountain railways – is it still 50% like the adult they are travelling with? I was thinking perhaps of getting one Swiss pass (for one adult covers the free 3 children) and one adult BO pass.

Thanks

[User]

Reply 9 of 14 • 28 March 2017 at 6:00:56 #860430

The Kids are totally free with the Swiss Family Card on all trips when traveling with adults that have the Swiss Travel Pass.

Lucas

[User]

Reply 10 of 14 • 28 March 2017 at 7:19:44 #860431

Thanks so much that’s great news.

Can you just clarify for me – on most things I have read it says that up to 6 children can travel with one adult. Am I then right in thinking that we only have to get one Swiss Travel Pass (ie just me) and then my husband could travel with the Bernese Oberland pass? As long as I always travels with them? I am just thinking then I could get the Swiss Pass and he could get the BO pass. It means the kids would be covered travelling both within and outside the region and the person with the BO pass would be the only one having to pay for trips outside the region. The adult travelling with the Swiss Travel Pass would of course have to pay the extra on cable cars. Hope that makes sense. This way has the potential to save us a bit of money if its possible(according to my calculations which could be wrong)

Cheers

[User]

Reply 11 of 14 • 28 March 2017 at 14:55:30 #860432

Hi doubledutch,

Yes, you can certainly do that! As long as the kids are with you then your husband just pays for trips outside the BO region. It is a clever way to try and save a bit of money as long as your math is correct!

Lucas

[User]

Reply 12 of 14 • 28 March 2017 at 15:21:29 #860433

I get the problem you are trying to solve, and your idea has merit to me. I am interested in what the experts have to say. I was looking at your itinerary, and it seems if you get the 6 day BO pass for all (310 x 2 for adults + 30 x 3 for kids; $710 total), your 6 day vacation is mostly covered, but then you’d pay full fare for everyone to get back up to Zurich, which if my calculations are right, might be almost $300. So you end up spending $1010. If each adult bought a 1/2 fare card ($120 x 2) and bought the 6 day BO pass which would then be discounted ($235 x 2) you would not need to buy anything for the kids since you get a family card (I think), and your trip back up to Zurich would be half-fare for the adults, about $84. So a total of $710 for the trip, excluding the 2 peaks. On a subjective note, the thing about the BO pass that appeals to me is the freedom to just hop on and go, or cut a day short and take a train, or have wife and one kid head one direction while I head another, etc… I don’t know about you, but the ‘hold on, dad needs to buy a ticket’ while the train is getting ready to leave the station is a scenario I would pay a couple dollars to avoid. I know the common answer people get is ‘do the math‘, but I find that a bit difficult to do since the same answer will also include ‘but you never know about the weather, so be flexible…. If it rains 3 days, I suspect we’ll be on trains and boats more and cable cars less and therefore I overpaid for my pass; and if we get lucky with lots of sun, we will be on the expensive cable cars all day in which case I come out ahead. We are staying in Wengen the whole time, so perhaps the fact that I think we will be on the train/cable car heading ‘up’ almost every day might cloud my opinion somewhat.

[User]

Reply 13 of 14 • 28 March 2017 at 15:43:54 #860434

A potential correction to my second scenario; and I don’t know the answer. If you have the 1/2 fare card, but are travelling that day on your BO pass, I don’t know if the kids are free unless they have their own BO card….

[User]

Reply 14 of 14 • 29 March 2017 at 9:20:35 #860435

Hi elbarcosr1,

Yes it is tricky to try and figure out the many different options available to tourists traveling in Switzerland – there are always several ways to do it!
You can’t get consumed with figuring out the perfect option as there really isn’t one as you pointed out – you just go with what you think is the best at the time, leaving out weather changes to your trip etc.

It is a good point to note, that if you are traveling on the BO pass then the kids would have to have a BO pass as well (30chf). They won’t be able to travel free on the Swiss Family Card if you are traveling free on the BO Pass at that moment.

Lucas