Local travel options/costs - 4 day stay near Brig

If I (family of 4 with teens) am staying in an alpine village near Brig for 4 days, and I want to do day trips in the region (hikes mostly), does it make more sense to get a car or rely on bus/train/cable car? Scooter rental? The costs of the bus/train/cable car for day trips are what I can't get an understanding of with online research so far.

Welcome to MySwissAlps wanderingj!

The below pages explain all about finding the regular fares and comparing passes:

• myswissalps.com/train/ ticketspasses/practica l/ chooserailpass
• www.myswissalps.com/ timetable

A car won't be an advantage, unless you plan to visit really remote areas. The most interesting places can all be reached by train and/or cable car. A car could make sense if the village you are staying in has no or limited public transport. Even then it is very comfortable to park at the station and just board a train.

Just let us know if you need further help!

From what I can see, full fare roundtrip local travel from a village to Bettmerhorn is $55 / adult and $27 / kid. That's just one trip. Right there for 2 parents, 2 kids the cost is $164. Now add a trip to Matterhorn or Jungfrau. I can rent a car for 4 days @ $50 / day and get more trips and more flexibility and faster traveling times.

And if I want to go to Brig from the village at night for dinner perhaps, there's another public travel expense. If I do that three nights, it looks to me like the full fare costs add up to well over $100 for a family of four.

I can get reduced fares if I get the half fare card. But at about € 110 per person fixed price, the savings for 4 possible days of travel don't add up to € 440.

What am I missing? Is there significant hassle factor / parking expenses / anything else associated with a car?

Hi wanderingj,

Let me verify the amounts for you. Which village are you staying in?

Zeneggen

Hi wanderingj,

Zeneggen is a pretty remote village above Visp, which is the nearest town to go out for dinner and do some shopping. Public transport is available but very limited. A return trip to Visp by bus costs CHF 13.60. A return trip to Fiesch costs CHF 43.20. That's where you park if you want to go to the Bettmerhorn. From there you take a cable car.

This is an example of a place I would not want stay without a car. But it will likely cost you more than $50/day. More about car versus train can be found here: myswissalps.com/ carversustrain. Whether a Swiss Half Fare Card or Adventure Card is worth it can be calculated based on your plans.

I hope this makes sense to you!

Apart from what Arno mentioned, mountain driving is slow.

The roads are limited and narrow.

Don't plan on fast trips

Slowpoke