Combining Rail and car rental

My family of four (kids are 12 and 13) will be traveling from Zurich to Wengen and traveling through the Lauterbrunnen Valley for 5 days. Then we are planning to rent a car in Interlocken for the rest of our trip which includes Italy. Would it be best for us to buy a Half Fare Swiss pass for the travel from Zurich to Wengen and travel for the 5 days around the BO, or would it be less expensive to buy individual tickets for each journey since it would only be for five days? Also, although this is a Swiss travel forum, I'm wondering if anyone knows if it would be safe to leave our rental car at one end of the Cinque Terra while we travel the trail by foot for the next two days?

Hi Scoutster,

Welcome to our website! Let's start with the car: if you need a car in Italy you're most probably best off renting it there. Renting a car in one country and dropping it in another could be very expensive.

The only way to tell which rail pass is most economical is to list all your trips and calculate the total costs for different passes (and without a pass) as explained here. If you're planning to use cable cars and mountain trains frequently, which I assume you will when based in Wengen, a Regional-Pass Bernese Oberland is the best choice. With limited traveling, a Swiss Half Fare Card is a good choice. In any case, you will save money with a pass because they allow your children to travel along for free or a low fixed amount. Please follow the links for all details, prices, how the passes work, etc.

Sorry, I don't know about parking in Italy.