MySwissAlps.com features ads, commercial and non-commercial 6 days in Lucerne, Wengen, then Florence – best rail pass?
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Thank you for this forum.
My wife and I will be visiting Switzerland soon. I was lucky enough to spend considerable time in Lucerne when I was in high school, and I would like to see it again, so we will be starting there, flying into Zurich from Athens.
We will have 6 full days in Switzerland, as well as two partial days flying in and out. We will be moving to Wengen halfway through our stay. We will leave Wengen for Florence. I’m not completely sure which airport is best.
We are trying to figure out whether we need some kind of travel pass. I see a lot of seemingly-contradictory information on the web.
In Lucerne, we plan to cruise the lake, and we will visit Pilatus, Rigi, and maybe Titlis. From Wengen, we plan to move around the area, visiting Lauterbrunnen and Interlaken. We would like to take a ride on Lake Brienz. We expect to rely on public transportation most of the time.
I looked at the Berner Oberland pass. This would run us 790 CHF for two. Does this sound like the best option for a trip like ours? Some of the discounts don’t look great, and the pass is expensive, but maybe it’s worth it in the end.
Sorry if this is a question that has been answered over and over. The sources I’ve looked at on the Internet are confusing.
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Hi Victor I. Knox,
Welcome to MySwissAlps.
Based on your plans, combining the Swiss Half Fare Card with the Berner Oberland Pass might be the best option to avoid buying tickets for each trip.
Berner Oberland Pass: https://www.myswissalps.com/travel-ticket/berner-oberland-pass/
Swiss Half Fare Card: https://www.myswissalps.com/travel-ticket/swiss-half-fare-card/
The Berner Oberland Pass is recommended if you are staying in Wengen and plan to explore the Jungfrau region and the Bernese Oberland over a few days. The pass provides free travelling in the region including trains, bus, boats and mountain transportation such as cable cars and cogwheel trains. For example, you can travel for free on the boats on Lake Brienz and Lake Thun and on the Lucerne-Interlaken Express between Lucerne and Interlaken. The convenience will save you time and hassles from purchasing tickets for each excursion.
If you have the Swiss Half Fare Card, you can purchase the Berner Oberland Pass at a reduced price. For train journeys and excursions not covered by the Berner Oberland Pass, you can use the Swiss Half Fare Card card to purchase tickets at a discounted price.
Please have a look at our railpass guide for tips on how to choose the best railpass: https://www.myswissalps.com/travel/tickets/compare/
Hope this helps.
Regards,
Anna
Thank you very much for your help. We really appreciate it.
We have seen others recommend the Tell Pass over the Berner Oberland pass. Do you have any thoughts about that?
Hi Victor I. Knox (that’s a good nickname ;-)),
You’re right, choosing the right railpass can be daunting. There’s no simple answer to the question which is most cost effective, as there are several options and combinations to choose from. It all depends on your personal preferences and the exact details of your itinerary. You can either make an educated guess, or run calculations to be 100% sure.
I hope Anna’s tips, and the free downloads on the railpass comparison page she linked to, get you started. Some additional thoughts:
- You may want to consider the Tell-Pass for your stay in Lucerne. It offers easy and ticketless traveling in trains, buses, boats and cable cars: https://www.myswissalps.com/travel-ticket/tell-pass-summer/. Looking at your plans for the Lucerne area, it may be worth the costs. If you end up making fewer mountain rides, the Swiss Half Fare Card recommended by Anna makes more sense though.
- The Berner Oberland Pass will help you save money if you plan to use quite some cableways and cogwheel trains into the mountains. Those are the most expensive rides, and that’s where you’ll save most with a Berner Oberland Pass. But if you only plan to travel between Lauterbrunnen, Wengen, Interlaken, and Lake Brienz, it might not be the most cost-effective choice.
- My personal favorite is the Swiss Travel Pass: https://www.myswissalps.com/travel-ticket/swiss-travel-pass/. A 6- or 8-day pass would have you fully covered. You’d be able to enjoy ticketless travel in all trains, buses, boats and urban transport throughout the country. In case of a 6-day pass, you may need additional tickets for your arrival and departure days. And you’d need discounted tickets for mountain trips. So again, the mountain rides you’re planning to do could be the deciding factor.
If you’re struggling with conflicting internet info about a particular pass, feel free to let us know what it’s about. We’ll gladly try to help you out.
Thanks. I’m amazed that you don’t think my parents were Mr. and Mrs. Knox. Very nice people, but perhaps not the sharpest knives in the drawer.
Lucerne looks easy to plan in advance. Either two or three mountain trips, and we would want to take the boat to Vitznau. I am inclined to pick Pilatus over Rigi, and we definitely want to see Titlis. We will probably want to go to Chateau Gutsch.
The Interlaken/Lauterbrunnen/Wengen area seems impossible to plan with any certainty. I don’t think we will go to the Jungfraujoch, because I have read a lot of negative things about the crowds and the behavior of the tourists. Other than that, we would like to be able to zip around the area a lot. We want to see Lauterbrunnen and Interlaken and check out the Royal Walk. The problem is that our desires may change once we see things in person.
I like the half fare card because we will be flying in and out of Zurich. I assume Zurich is the best airport when your first stop is Lucerne. On the way out, we will be going to Florence.
I guess I’ll draw up some plans, do the math, and hope for the best.
The government websites for passes are pretty awful. A different site for everything, and the information is very confusing.
Anyway, the trip will be great even if we don’t get the very best deals possible.
Hi Victor I. Knox,
In addition to the helpful replies, here are our guides to your preferred Rigi and Titlis:
- Rigi: https://www.myswissalps.com/activity/rigi/
- Titlis: https://www.myswissalps.com/activity/titlis/
Do check the weather forecasts beforehand, so you’ll know you’ll be able to enjoy the views when you head up there.
Most visitors fly in/out of Zurich or Geneva. Yes, Lucerne is very accessible from Zurich, do use the Swiss timetable so you can gauge travel times/connections.
As for an excursion to Jungfraujoch (https://www.myswissalps.com/activity/jungfraujoch/), as with many things – there is always going to be divided opinions. Both negative and positive and for whatever reason, negative options tend to hold more weighting!? If you did want to still visit and the weather is in your favour then an early start should help, that way you maybe able avoid some of the crowds?
If you opted with a Swiss Travel Pass, this would cover all your travel within Switzerland. If/when traveling to Florence by train, you’d only need a ticket from the Swiss border to Florence. In your example, Wengen – Florence, this would be Domodossola – Florence.
More on travel to/from Italy in the attached link: https://www.myswissalps.com/travel-guide/italy-switzerland/
Kind regards,
Yolanda
Thanks for the additional information. It really helps. I can almost taste that mug of Eichhof already.
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