Jungfrau - which pass is best for a family?

Hi, I'll be travelling through Switzerland on a Eurail holiday with my 2 children. They are 9 and 11. We are spending 3 nights in Interlaken, giving us 2 full days and 2 half days. I'm having trouble working out which rail pass will be the best for us. Top of our list of things to do is the train to the Jungfraujoch. I would also like us to take a cable car ride and probably the funicular to Harder Kulm. There seem to be so many different passes, and also I am mindful about booking the Jungfrau train in advance in case the weather is bad, although I think that if it's bad on both days we will bite the bullet and go up anyway for the rail through the Eiger experience and to see some snow. So I would like to get the best prices possible, and if possible buy what I can in advance so there's not much queuing when we're there. I have seen the junior rail card, the half price travel pass, and something called a 3 day consecutive VIP pass. Please could you advise on which are valid on what, and whether the children will be free if I buy a pass for me? Or if it's better to buy the children the junior passes and me buy a half price card? Thanks!

Hi JoeyA,

Thanks for joining MySwissAlps! It looks like you haven't found our rail pass pages yet. I recommend to have a look at the below pages. They explain all about what's included, costs for the children, how to use the pass, where to buy it, etc.

• myswissalps.com/jungfr auvippass
• myswissalps.com/swissh alffarecard
• myswissalps.com/train/ ticketspasses/practica l/chooserailpass

Feel free to post more questions if any remain!

Hi Annika,

Thanks so much for you quick reply. Yes I had found the rail pages but I got a bit confused with the children. Specifically, with the Swiss half fare card it says if I buy one for me, then the children can then get a family card for free, and can then travel for free if they are with me. Does this mean that if I get 50% off say the Jungfrau train, or a cable car, the children will be free on that train/cable car? Or will they pay 50% like me? Is the family card just free anyway, no matter what rail tickets I buy?

With the VIP pass, when I tried to purchase one and tried to add on 2 children, it offers me a choice of child without family card but no option for child with family card. Does this mean there is no discount for having a family card? It just seems to be a cheaper price. So my question would be, if I were to go for VIP passes, is there any point in getting a family card as it wouldn't give me any additional benefits to the VIP pass?

Finally on the Swiss travel pass, it gives details about % discounts on some of the cable cars but I can't find details on the funicular to Harder Kulm, unless this is called something else?

Many thanks again for your help, apologies if I have failed to understand the differences between the passes.

Hi JoeyA,

You will buy a 50% discounted ticket as an adult with a Swiss Half Fare Card, and your children travel along for free. You only get a Swiss Family Card if the adults have one of the Swiss Travel System passes: myswissalps.com/swissf amilycard.

You can't use a Swiss Family Card with a Jungfrau VIP Pass because that's a regional pass, not a Swiss Travel System Pass for the entire country. If you choose this pass you would only buy passes for the adults. Once in Switzerland you can buy Junior travelcards at any staffed station.

You can download the Swiss Travel Pass map to see what's included. Harder Kulm is 50% discounted. If you also travel by train from the Swiss border to Interlaken and back, a 4-day Swiss Travel Pass could make sense.

I hope this helps to make a choice. Further questions are welcome!

Perfect thank you - so I think my best option is to buy a half fare card for myself. This seems to cover where I need to go, and is the best value with the children then being free. Many thanks.

Sounds good! Please see here for where to get one. I would recommend www.swisstravelsystem. co.uk in your case. You can order along the Swiss Family Card for your children.

Enjoy your stay!

We used a family card with the 6 day Jungfrau pass last year (we had 1/2 fare cards as well) - jungfrau.ch lists the Junior card as being valid with both the 6 day and 3 day VIP pass.