How to reduce Jungfraujoch cost!

I Will be using Swiss Rail Pass

Even from Grindelwald to Kleine Scheidegg to Jungfraujoch back down to Wengen still comes in at about £107 , is there any way of reducing the cost of this leg further !!

Hi Chris, welcome to MySwissAlps!

Is it the Swiss Travel Pass you will be using? If so, you will get a 25% discount on the fare of CHF 182, so you'd pay CHF 136.50, which is indeed about £ 107. There is no way to reduce it further if you have a Swiss Travel Pass. If you would have a Swiss Half Fare Card, this specific leg would have been cheaper (50% off), but you would not have free traveling on lots of other routes.

Regarding your e-mail: you can reply to threads now too.

Thanks for reply . my sums were correct . there's four of us so it'll be cheaper to hire a helicopter I think.

Hi Chris,

The ride, and being up there is very impressive, but indeed it's not cheap at all. This is the most expensive excursion in Switzerland. If you are taking children under 16 they would travel for free by the way. Getting there by helicopter would cost you CHF 1490 (£ 1176) for 4 people in case you were wondering ;-)

You may want to consider to visit the Schilthorn instead, for about £ 32 per person. Or, if you're there in summer, you can reach Schynige Platte for free with your Swiss Travel Pass.

Thanks Arno. I'll pick your brain with our itinery on other forum

Hi Chris-

If you have studied marketing, you will recognize the concepts of "niche marketing" and "specialty pricing."

The operators of the Jungfrau railway have enough customers to fill their facilities. They charge at a level which gives value to the people who pay for the trip. They adjust the fares to maximize their return. That is the business that they are in. And, unless you do indeed wish to rent a helicopter at a substantial increase in costs, or climb the mountain, you are stuck. They have a monopoly...earned by digging the rail tunnel a while ago.

There is talk of a new cableway to get more people up there, but, even if it happens, don't expect pricing to reflect cost and paying down the investment. Price will reflect market demand.

Your choice is simple. Pay what the rail company has decided (with rail pass discounts as discussed) , or, don't go.

I made the choice many years ago. I've been to Switzerland approximately 80 times, and greatly appreciate the Jungfrau region. I have never been up to Jungfraujoch. For me, there is more value elsewhere.

Arno mentioned Schilthorn.

Slowpoke

A little bit off-topic, but the prices for the Jungfrau are weird.

When you go in Austria to the same height you pay only E 33,50 (about Chf 35,00) return ticket........

Then you go to the 3250 meter high Hintertuxer Gletscher, always snow, also in summer !

www.hintertuxergletsch er.at/de/tickets-preise/wandertickets/h intertuxer-gletscher/

For Europian people the price is the last years to high, when they love the mountains they go to Austria for 1/3 of the prices in Switserland.

It's hard to compare prices of various peak excursions. Infrastructure is different for all of them. Cableways, funiculars and cogwheel trains have different costs of ownership. The Jungfraujoch railway happens to be in a long tunnel with a few stops along the way. En route facilities, and on the top, are different too for all excursions. And of course there's the marketing aspects Slowpoke mentioned, and the simple fact that one country is more expensive than the other.

I happen to find the Jungfraujoch prices worth it for a "once in a lifetime experience". But, it's indeed a lot of money one can spend elsewhere. There are lots of cheaper options in Switzerland, and even free options for pass holders, as discussed above.

I'll close this thread now as prices won't change based on our discussion ;-)