First time to Europe - Switzerland rail help

Hello! We are planning our first trip to Europe this Sept. and are excited beyond words. We will be coming to Lucern, from Salzburg, where we will be spending 2 nights. We would like to do a boat cruise on the lake and possibly a trip to Mt. Rigi. We then travel to spend 4 nights in Wengen. While in Wengen we would like to visit Grindewald, Murren (Schlithorn) and Lauterbrunnen to see the sights and hike. Our final trip will be to Zurich for our flight home. Since the town we now live in does not even have a traffic light, I am totally overwhelmed with the travel pass options. I have been to the SBB website, but am still quite confused. What recommendations would you have for our list of travels? Thank you for any assistance you can provide.

Hi Babyblue and welcome to MySwissAlps!

Certainly there are lots of rail pass options here! First, have a look at the popular rail pass options here.

The simplest option is to buy a Swiss Travel Pass for 8 days. This can be bought online (here) and printed at home before you leave (you also then have an electronic backup if you lose the pass).
This will then allow you to just hop on any train you wish and go right when you are in Switzerland. From Salzburg you will just need to have a ticket to the Swiss border (town of Buchs) then the Swiss Travel Pass covers the rest of the trip.

The only time you will need to buy tickets is for some mountain railways/gondolas (for example, the cable car from Murren to Schilthorn is 50% off with the Swiss Travel Pass). You can see a map for where the pass is valid and the major attractions it fully or partially covers here.

If you would like more details on what towns to visit and what you can do there click here.
For a list of popular attractions and hikes click here (including Mt. Rigi and several boats cruises)

I hope that gets you started! Let us know if you have further questions!

Lucas

Thank you Lucas for your quick, informative response and warm welcome to myswissalps.com! The Swiss Travel Pass sounds like it would fit our needs perfectly due to the ease and convenience that it provides. I have been trying to compare it to the Half Fare Card, and although the HFC may save money in the long run, I believe the Swiss Travel Pass would make our first journey to Switzerland more relaxed and enjoyable. No need to worry about buying tickets for every leg of every trip. I have learned so much from myswissalps.com already and know that we will have a fabulous vacation in September.

I agree on the Swiss Travel Pass - so easy and convenient!

All the best for your holidays!