15471 posts
Hi Helen, thanks for joining MySwissAlps!
I understand your confusion. There are lots of passes, but this also means there’s a good option for nearly all sorts of trips. Which pass is best, depends on the details of your plans and on your personal preferences. If you want to make sure which option is most economical, you should make calculations as explained here: https://www.myswissalps.com/train/ticketspasses/practical/chooserailpass. You usually can’t go wrong with an educated guess either.
Having said that, I’d consider one these options if I were you:
- A 4- or 6-day Swiss Travel Pass. This will cover all train, bus and boat trips throughout the country and it offers discounts on mountain trips. It’s overall the most flexible and easy option. You can check all details, including validity overviews and practical tips, at https://www.myswissalps.com/swisstravelpass. The 15-year old can travel along with the free Swiss Family Card, the 19-year old can get a cheaper Swiss Travel Pass Youth: https://www.myswissalps.com/swisstravelpass/price.
- A regional pass for your stay in Interlaken, such as a Regional-Pass Bernese Oberland with excellent coverage in a wide region (http://www.myswissalps.com/regionalpassberneseoberland) or a Jungfrau Travel Pass for a smaller area (http://www.myswissalps.com/jungfrautravelpass). You’d use regular tickets (http://www.myswissalps.com/traintickets/switzerland) or Saver Day Passes (https://www.myswissalps.com/saverdaypass) for the journeys from and to Interlaken.
If you pick option 2, you could consider adding Swiss Half Fare Cards (https://www.myswissalps.com/swisshalffarecard). They provide discounts on normal tickets (https://www.myswissalps.com/traintickets/switzerlandhalffare/price), on Saver Day Passes (https://www.myswissalps.com/saverdaypass/price), on the Regional-Pass Bernese Oberland (https://www.myswissalps.com/regionalpassberneseoberland/price) and the Jungfrau Travel Pass (https://www.myswissalps.com/jungfrautravelpass/price).
Does this get you started? Let us know if you have further questions!
4 posts
Thankyou very much for such detailed information. I think we will probably go for the Swiss Travel Pass to give us more flexibility.
Travelling from Lugano to Interlaken we were thinking of going via Lucerne to spend part of the journey on the Golden pass. Would you recommend this route or travelling via Zurich? Also do we need to reserve seats in advance for our longer journeys?
Thanks again
15471 posts
Hi Helen,
I think you’ll love the flexibility of the Swiss Travel Pass. Once you’re ready to purchase, you can find trusted options here: https://www.myswissalps.com/swisstravelpass/price.
Seat reservations are rarely requried for Swiss trains, so in most cases you can just hop on and off with your pass: https://www.myswissalps.com/train/reservations.
As for the route Lugano-Interlaken: