Swiss Half Fare Card or Swiss Travel Pass or both?

  • manthuzi
    Participant
    4 posts
    29 January 2018 at 23:40:23 #814198

    My Auzzie hubby and I are traveling to Switzerland to hike and explore and generally enjoy a new adventure.

    We land in Zurich and train to Lucern for 3 nights

    We travel from Lucern to Interlaken for 2 nights

    Interlaken to Wengen and there for 5 nights.

    Then back to Zurich for overnight at an airport hotel and fly home from there.

    My questions .

    If we buy a half price ticket do we get half off the Swiss Travel pass?

    Do we need another pass, besides the Swiss Travel Pass, to get from Zurick to Lucern? from Lucern to Interlaken and then onto Wengen and finally back to Zurich?

    Thanks for any help and directions.

    The whole pass issue is very confusing.

    Suzi

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    Removed user
    Participant
    72625 posts
    30 January 2018 at 1:45:23 #875392

    Hi Suzi, and welcome to MySwissAlps!

    >> If we buy a half price ticket do we get half off the Swiss Travel pass?

    No. The Swiss Half Fare card gives you 50% discount on invididual tickets. Have you read this page about how to choose the best pass?

    http://www.myswissalps.com/tr ain/ticketspasses/prac tical/chooserailpass

    >> Do we need another pass, besides the Swiss Travel Pass, to get from Zurick to Lucern? from Lucern to Interlaken and then onto Wengen and finally back to Zurich?

    No, all that is covered by the Swiss Travel Pass. You can download a map from the link below, showing what is covered by the Swiss Travel Pass.

    As explained in the legend on the map, red lines are trains, yellow lines are buses, black lines are cable cars, white lines are boats. Solid lines are free, dotted lines are discounted. Discounts are mostly 50%, but only 25% for transport where you see the number “1” inside circle near the dotted line. There are a few grey lines on the map as well, which indicate transport that is not covered by the Swiss Travel Pass. Dashed red lines on the map are railway tunnels, and are on routes that are free with the Swiss Travel Pass.

    http://www.myswissalps.com/sw isstravelpass/validity

    Alpenrose

    rockoyster
    Participant
    8889 posts
    30 January 2018 at 1:54:28 #875393

    G’Day Suzi,

    What time of the year are you planning to be in Switzerland.

    Alpenrose has pointed you to how to figure out which pass to choose. Just to add to the confusion, as well as the Swiss Travel Pass (http://www.myswissalps.com/sw isstravelpass), there are many reigonal passes (http://www.myswissalps.com/re gionalpasses) which can work depending on where you are based and how much travel you plan. Before you can know for sure which pass suits your travel plans you need to do the sums based on the cost of all your planned trips on trains, boats, cable cars etc. You can use the Swiss Train Timetable (http://www.myswissalps.com/ti metable) to work out the fares for any trip. When you go to buy a ticket the fare you see on the right hand side of the page will normally be the half-fare price. Double it to get full fare.

    manthuzi
    Participant
    4 posts
    4 February 2018 at 0:54:32 #875394

    This site is such a great resource. Thank you all.

    I am thinking that the regional pass for BERNESE OBERLAND will do for us.

    Our travel dates – we land in Zurich 8 July 2018 and train direct to Lucern for the next 3 nights.

    We will need to buy a ticket from Zurich to Lucern, then upon our return from Wengan to Zurich. Is it true that we will be covered by this regional pass, for Lucern to Interlaken and then on to Wengen and all the areas in between.

    The regional pass is cheaper and covers the area we will be in.

    I understand we will need to pay some dollars for the special trips, like scilthorn and jungfraujoch. But I also believe we do get a discount.

    Now I just need to figure out for how many days we get this pass..

    Have a wonderful day.

    rockoyster
    Participant
    8889 posts
    4 February 2018 at 1:56:18 #875395

    With the Bernese Oberland Pass you will need to buy tickets between Zurich and Bern or Lucerne in both directions. Within the Bernese Oberland all train travel is covered. Have you had a look at the area of validity map on this page http://www.myswissalps.com/re gionalpassberneseoberl and/validity and compared the BO Pass with the Jungfrau Travel Pass (http://www.myswissalps.com/ju ngfrautravelpass)? If you have at least a 5-day Jungfrau Pass you will still need tickets to get to Brienz or Thun from Interlaken. If less than 5 days or if you don’t plan to uses a day on your Jungfrau pass on the day of arrival in the Jungfrau region you’ll need tickets to get to Interlaken

    manthuzi
    Participant
    4 posts
    4 February 2018 at 2:07:14 #875396

    Thanks for your quick response..

    I love your communications.

    I looked at both the BO and the Jung pass.

    The BO will also cover both lakes in Interlaken and the 3 days in Lucern, right?

    So 3 nights in Lucern, 2 nights in Interlaken and then the remaining 5 in Wengen

    So I am thinking a 10 day BO pass. How will that work?

    The Jung pass doesn’t seem to cover as much in Lucern and Interlaken. Is that right too?

    Thanks again Mate

    rockoyster
    Participant
    8889 posts
    4 February 2018 at 2:29:19 #875397

    Hi Suzi,

    BO Pass does cover Interlaken lakes but covers nothing of note in Lucerne. 50% off train to Engelberg/Titlis is about all. All those grey lines on the map means they are routes NOT covered by that pass.

    Jungfrau Travel Pass 5 days and more includes Lakes Thun and Brienz but nothing in Lucerne.

    If you want to experience any of the tourist attractions of Lucerne (eg Pilatus, Rigi, Titlis, lake cruise etc etc) then a Tell Pass (http://www.myswissalps.com/te llpass) is good value.

    Have you read “How to choose the best travel pass” (http://www.myswissalps.com/tr ain/ticketspasses/prac tical/chooserailpass).

    manthuzi
    Participant
    4 posts
    4 February 2018 at 3:20:15 #875398

    Hi again

    I have seen the sites to compare and am getting quite confused with so many choices.

    Now I am thinking 3 day Tell pass for Lucern and getting to Interlaken.

    Then a BO pass for 6 days to cover interlaken, Wengen and getting around that area.

    The Jung pass looks ok too and maybe a little cheaper but doesn’t seem to do as much as the BO pass.

    But thank you I appreciate your support and suggestion.

    Removed user
    Participant
    72625 posts
    4 February 2018 at 9:24:58 #875399

    Hi Manthuzi,

    You’ll be able to figure out the most economical rail pass (or passes) to buy, by using Rockoyster’s last link above. You’ll need to plan out all your trips and then compare prices with the rail passes you are looking at. That web page has a spreadsheet to help you with all the math.

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