[Removed user]

3 February 2013 at 15:51:30 #805776

Hi,

My family (3 adults) will be traveling to Switzerland in May ’13. I’ve read a lot about swiss pass, but i’m not sure if my itinerary justifies purchasing a 4-day consecutive pass (starting from 4 May). Need advice on which pass to purchase (swiss pass or swiss card) based on my planned itinerary. Thanks in advance!

[u]4 May [/u]
– Milan to Spiez (Arrive at Spiez at abt 10am)
– Spiez to Interlaken West (check in hotel then take Lake Thun or Lake Brienz cruise and train back to Interlaken)
– Interlaken West/OST to Harder Klum (stay for abt 1 to 2 hr or so)
– Harder Klum to Grindelwald / Klein Scheidigg (stay for abt 1 to 2 hr or so)
– Back to Interlaken for dinner
–> Qn: Is this plan too aggressive?

[u]5 May[/u]
– Interlaken West to Jungfraujoch (return trip)
– Interlaken OST to Lucerne (take Goldenpass train that departs at abt 3pm)
–> Qn: Any idea when can we start to make reservation for the Goldenpass train?

[u]6 May[/u]
– At Lucerne, go to Mount Pilatus (Do the Golden Round trip)
–> Qn: Is there time to do Mt Rigi as well?

[u]7 May[/u]
– Tour around Lucerne

[u]8 May
[/u]- Lucerne to Zurich
– Tour around Zurich

[u]9 May
[/u]- Home sweet home

Effortlessly learn from the questions and answers in the forum. Receive a daily e-mail with new discussions. Sign up

[Annika]

5 February 2013 at 14:16:17 #838000

Welcome snowtan. Which pass is best, depends on your final itinerary and the calculations you make based on this fixed plan. As long as you’re not sure of your itinerary, you’ll have to look at your further preferences too. If you prefer unlimited traveling, a 4 day Swiss Pass would be the more relaxed option. Lucerne-Zurich on May 8 wouldn’t be covered in that case, but that’s a rather short and inexpensive journey. If you plan to stay within Zurich that last day, a Zurich Card may help you out. Most trips will be covered this way, but you will still have to buy additional discounted tickets for mountain transportation (Harder Kulm, Kleine Scheidegg, Jungfraujoch, etc.).

The Swiss Card might turn out to be cheaper over all, but again: that depends on your plans. It can make quite a difference whether you only get to Pilatus on May 6, or cover the Rigi too (which is entirely for free with a Swiss Pass but discounted with the Swiss Card) for example. If you don’t mind buying tickets for most trips (except Swiss border-Interlaken and Lucerne-Zurich), a Swiss Card will certainly work. Do note that it will only allow a free trip from the Swiss border to Interlaken on May 4. The rest of the trips you plan to make that day won’t be considered as part of your inbound journey, and will thus be discounted by 50% instead of for free.

As for your further questions: some plans are too ambitious indeed. You won’t be able to cover all you’ve mentioned for May 4. Please enter your trips in the timetable for a detailed planning. On May 6, you will manage to do both Pilatus and Rigi if you leave early.

Information on Golden Pass seat reservations is available here.

You may also be interested in hotels close to the railway stations of Interlaken, Lucerne, downtown Zurich and Zurich airport.