Swiss Half Fare Card for a family for 3 days?

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    13 May 2018 at 12:28:39 #815926

    Hi,

    Our family of 2 adults & 3 kids (aged 12, 10 & 10) will be in Lauterbrunnen for 2 nights 25th & 26th June. We are using our eurail pass to get from Lyon to Interlaken (via Geneva and Bern) on the 25th and have reserved seats for this journey. Interlaken to Lauterbrunnen is not covered with the eurail pass and therefore will need to work out our best option for the 25th, 26th & 27th.

    -on the 26th we are planning on travelling to Jungfraujoch (maybe leave early on a good morning pass)

    -on the 27th we need to been in Zurich for an overnight train to Berlin @ 20h00. (We would prefer to travel via Luzerne)

    Would the Half Fare Card with a Family pass be our best choice? I understand that the trip to Jungfraujoch gives HFC pass holders a discount of 25%. But I’m unsure if children travel for free on this trip or if they just receive the 25% discount as well.

    On our trip to Zurich, we would consider enjoying a scenic train journey. Am I correct at assuming we do not need to reserve any seats for our travel for these days, and just purchase point to point tickets? With all our other travel plans in place I’m just concerned that we should be more organised with our train travel in Switzerland.

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    13 May 2018 at 19:03:46 #885030

    Hi Mackah and welcome to MySwissAlps!

    The Eurail Select Pass gets you a 25% discount on the ticket from Interlaken to Lauterbrunnen and gives the same discount around the Jungfrau Region – click here for an list of top attractions and a route map.

    The Swiss Half Fare Card gets you 50% (half-fare) off all trips. Your children need to also have the Swiss Family Card and then will travel for free on any trip with you.

    If you decide to get a Swiss rail pass on top of your Eurail Pass then the Swiss Half Fare Card and Swiss Family Card is probably a good bet.

    If you want to do the math (after you’ve planned all your trips) we have a page to help you here: https://www.myswissalp s.com/train/ticketspas ses/practical/choosera ilpass (it is the only way to know for sure which pass(es) are best.

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    13 May 2018 at 22:31:33 #885031

    Thank you Lucas,

    We have a eurail global pass. Do we just need to be the holder of a valid eurail pass and not need to use it as a travel day to receive the 25% discount?

    Also to receive the Family pass do we need to purchase either a HFC or STP?

    Finally, just confirming we that we do not need to reserve seats, particularly from Lauterbrunnen to Zurich on the 27th?

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    13 May 2018 at 23:17:00 #885032

    Hi Mackah,
    If you have a non-consecutive Eurail Global Pass then you can travel on discounted trips on any day without using a travel day.

    You must either have a Swiss Travel Pass or Swiss Half Fare Card to get the Swiss Family Card yes.
    Correct, no reservations needed (nor usually possible on most Swiss trains). Panoramic Express trains are the only trains where reservations are needed.

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    14 May 2018 at 20:15:01 #885033

    Thanks again Lucas, just a few more questions.

    -We arrive in Geneva CFF @ 10h31 on Monday 25th June (from Lyon using a travel day on our eurail pass). We have reservered seats from Geneva-Bern and Bern-Interlaken. After looking into Eurail pass holder discounts I have discovered that we may have been able to travel for free on the Golden Pass Line from Geneva-Interlaken. Is this correct?

    -If that is correct, could we then again take the Golden Pass Line for free from Interlaken-Zurich on Wednesday 27th June?

    – Finally, can only one parent purchase a HFC and request a family card? That way, the other adult uses their Eurail Global Pass discount on Jungfraujoch and the other parent uses the HFC which would intitle the children to travel for free to Jungfraujoch. (If we travelled to Jungfraujoch on eurail pass discount only i think it would cost us about $955aud or with 1 Eurail discount, 1 HFC and family Card it would cost $403aud + $160 (HFC price) = $563aud.

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    14 May 2018 at 20:42:47 #885034
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    16 May 2018 at 11:13:16 #885035

    Thanks Chantal, we will definitely be looking into taking the Interlaken to Lucerne sector of the Golden Pass on the 27th. Do you think we are ok with leaving making reservations until we get into Switzerland on the 25th June or should we try and make them now?

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    16 May 2018 at 14:36:58 #885036

    I wouldn’t be too concerned about reserving on that route in June but you may want to as there are 5 of you. You can make the reservations online here.

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