7 days in Switzerland - Best Rail pass

Hi Annika / Arno

I am travelling to Switzerland with my wife and 8 years old kid in the first week of July. My rough itinerary is as follows:

Day 1: Arrive in Zurich in the afternoon and transfer to Lucerne. Spend the evening in Lucerne

Day 2: Day trip to Berne and back to Lucerne in the evening

Day 3: Excursion to Mt Titlis

Day 4: Sightseeing in Lucerne and visit Mt Pilatus or Mt Rigi

Day 5: Lucerne to Jungfrau via Interlaken, Lauterbrunnen, Kleine Scheidegg and back to Lucerne

Day 6: Train to Zurich in the morning. Sightseeing in Zurich and spend the night in Zurich

Day 7: Leave from Zurich to Milan at 2 pm

I would like to know the following:

Is this itinerary okay or should I have 2 bases instead of only Lucerne

Are tickets for a child priced at half if we buy Half Fare Cards for 2 adults, do children have to pay for going up to the mountain peaks like Jungfrau

With a 8 days Swiss Travel Pass, do children travel for free even for places like Jungfrau where there is a discount of only 25 pct with a Swiss Travel pass.

Will a half fare card be more suitable for me or a Swiss Travel Pass

Would appreciate your reply in order to buy my tickets.

Thanks

Hi Sanshal,

Thanks for joining us! Your itinerary looks fine to me, but I do have two comments:

• The day trip to Jungfraujoch is very long: 8.5 hours of traveling, without sightseeing time. It's doable but long, so only do this if the weather of that day is ensures good views.
• Personally I would not move to Zurich but stay in Lucerne all the time. From there you can easily do a day trip to Zurich when the weather is not good enough for mountain trips. It allows more flexibility this way. Hotels can be found here.

Children get a free Swiss Family Card with both the Swiss Travel Pass and the Swiss Half Fare Card. That allows them to travel along for free everywhere, regardless if the parents travel for free or discounted. You do not need tickets for them.

Whether a Swiss Travel Pass and the Swiss Half Fare Card works out cheaper can be calculated. Pay close attention to the details if you do so. Some examples: both passes offer 50% off mountain trips, but with a Swiss Travel Pass, Mount Rigi is free and Jungfraujoch is free to Wengen but 25% discounted beyond that. The Swiss Travel Pass includes free entrance to many museums.

I recommend to carefully check where to buy. All the options are listed here.

Most of your transfer to Milan is free with a Swiss Travel Pass, but you do need tickets for the Italian leg from Chiasso to Milan. Please see here.

Hi Arno

Thanks a lot for your reply which is rather useful. Will make the changes as suggested by you. Will calculate the fare to decide which pass would be more suitable for me.

Thanks a lot again as the information is very useful.