6 days in Bernese Oberland - the right Swiss pass

Hi

my husband and I will be in Grindelwald for 6 days in late September. Plan to do Eiger trail. faulhorn, Obersteinberg, oeschinensee. I have used the Swiss pass on earlier trips and found it very useful. Since we have 6 days and the pass is in groups of 3, 4, 8 days, is it good idea to take 2 passes for 3 days each. We will be flying in and out of Zurich, hence starting to use the pass from Zurich to Zurich,

we we leave on 21 sept. ao would be nice to hear back before that.

oosha

Hi Oosha, welcome to MySwissAlps!

Two 3-day passes are more expensive than one 8-day pass. Be sure to order the pass in time, so you can still buy online and save money: myswissalps.com/ swisstravelpass/ price.

By the way, the pass is called Swiss Travel Pass nowadays. There is a Swiss Pass, but it's something else and not what you need (see here).

Was this useful?

Thank you Arno

i will check out Swiss Pas and buy it before we travel.

looking forward to being back in the Bernese Oberland

oosha

Just stumbled on the Swisspasses.com site. They offer a combi Berner Oberland 6 day pass with transfer ticket from/to the airport. If it's available next year, I plan to get it for our 8 day trip. Check out http://www.swisspasses.com/railpass/swiss-regional-rail-passes/packages/6_bernoberland_1@specialoffer/

Thank you Mariahbay for this info.

Arno: earlier this year you recommended the BO pass for 6 day trip starting and ending in Zurich with days 2 - 5 spent in Berner Oberland between Grindelwald and trips to do hikes Eiger trail. Faulhorn, Obersteinberg and Oeschinensee. Would this be more economical than 8 day Swiss Travel Pass. You recommended going via Lucerne which is closer to Zurich. We are staying all days in Grindenwald.

I believe Swisspass.com is offering free transfers from all Airports up to Bern along with regional pass. If true can I buy the pass from the airport. We are from Canada and it is too late to order the pass and take delivery before travel on 21 st Sept.

look forward to your advice.

Hi Oosha,

Which option is cheaper needs to be calculated based on your exact travel plans. Traveling via Lucerne takes longer but is more scenic (Golden Pass line) than the quicker route via Bern.

I don't know Swisspasses.com but looking at their page it's a combination offer. The transfer is not free, they combine a Swiss Transfer Ticket and Regional-Pass Bernese Oberland. It's 1st class only. You can get the same thing for a lower price if you would buy a Swiss Half Fare Card for the lower online price (currently € 98), a 6-day 1st class Regional-Pass Bernese Oberland (discounted for half fare card holders: CHF 270) and separate 1st class tickets Zurich to Lucerne and back for half the normal price (CHF 51). This would be about $ 435 in total (excl. shipping), for 1st class. Second class it's cheaper.

All our pass pages have a "Price" section where you can find the cheapest retailers. The cheapest one at the moment takes up to 8 business days for shipping, so that's just in time for you. Swiss Travel Passes however, can be printed at home, and only need a day or two to process and e-mail. That would be the convenient option as you can go straight from the plane to the next train without getting tickets or validating passes. From Canada you can get such a pass through www.swissrailways.com/ en or www.raileurope.ca/rail -tickets-passes/swiss-pass/index.html. The latter gives you a $50 discount in case of a 1st class pass.