October trip Zurich, Interlaken and Geneva
A traveler family of two adults and a 10-year-old is planning a trip to Switzerland from late October. They have set an itinerary including Zurich, Interlaken, and Geneva, but are wondering if they should skip Zurich to visit Lucerne instead and what rail pass would be the best for their travels. They are considering the Swiss Half Fare Card and Berner Oberland Pass but seek advice on the most economical option.
- Consider heading straight to Lucerne instead of visiting Rhine Falls, as the falls are less spectacular in autumn and the detour may be too time-consuming.
- A combination of the Swiss Half Fare Card and Regional-Pass Bernese Oberland could be a good choice, but a 3-day Regional-Pass might be more economical, depending on your plans.
- For your 10-year-old, a Swiss Family Card can be used with the Swiss Travel Pass or Half Fare Card, which allows free travel for children under 16 on many trains and attractions.
AI-generated summary-
Hi all,
My family (2 adults, 10yo) is visiting Switzerland from 20th-26th October. Would appreciate any suggestions on the itinerary plus best rail pass to get. Current itinerary is as follows (Zurich 1 night, Interlaken 4 nights, Geneva 1 night)
20th – Arrive in Zurich
21st – visit Rhine Falls and then go to Interlaken via Luzern (looks like route is semi-closed at during this time for maintenance so may have to go via Bern)
22-24th – mountain excursions including Jungfraujoch, Grindewald, Schilthorn, Harder Klum (22-23 appears to be the last days for many of the mountain trains/gondolas)
25-26th – train to Geneva in afternoon and leave Geneva for Paris on 26th late afternoon
Question: is this feasible itinerary? Is it better to go straight to Luzern and visit there instead of Zurich and Rhine falls? Was planning on getting the Half fare card and the Berner Oberland 4 day pass. Is there a better pass combination I should look into instead?
Thank you for your help!
AD
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Hi AD, thanks for joining MySwissAlps!
Yes, your itinerary looks good to me. Whether or not to visit the Rhine Falls (https://www.myswissalps.com/rhinefalls) on Ocober 21 is up to you. The falls are usually prettier in spring. And it might be a bit much, if you have to make a detour between Lucerne and Interlaken as well. Zurich-Schloss Laufen am Rheinfall takes about 50 minutes, and you’ll have to factor in the time spent at the falls and then the (longer) journey to Interlaken.
Do you plan to actually visit Lucerne (https://www.myswissalps.com/lucerne) too on October 21? In that case I’d personally prefer to head straight for Lucerne and do some sightseeing there. Then travel to Interlaken via Bern. You can do so by regional train via Entlebuch/Langnau in the Emmen valley, which I think is more scenic than the quicker connections via Sursee/Zofingen. You’ll find all options in the timetable: https://www.myswissalps.com/timetable.
When traveling from Interlaken to Geneva, you can consider the GoldenPass route via Zweisimmen and Montreux: https://www.myswissalps.com/goldenpass.
I agree that the combination of a Swiss Half Fare Card (https://www.myswissalps.com/swisshalffarecard) and a Regional-Pass Bernese Oberland (https://www.myswissalps.com/regionalpassberneseoberland) looks feasible. A 3-day Regional-Pass Bernese Oberland might be more economical than a 4-day version, but that depends on your exact plans.
Do note that the 4-day Swiss Travel Pass for October is on sale: see http://www.myswissalps.com/swisstravelpass/promotions and http://www.myswissalps.com/forum/topic/swiss-travel-pass-promotion-until-31-oct-2022. You could use this for October 21-24, assuming you won’t be traveling much on the day of your arrival in Zurich. An additional Saver Day Pass could cover the journey to Geneva on October 25: https://www.myswissalps.com/saverdaypass.
Which option is most economical can only be told after calculations: https://www.myswissalps.com/train/ticketspasses/practical/chooserailpass. But I think you can’t go wrong with either of the options discussed above.
I hope this is helpful. Let us know if you more questions!
I agree with Arno. I would go straight to Luzern. The Rhine Falls are low level – not all that spectacular in global terms – and there has been drought this year so river levels are low.
I also agree with the suggestion of Luzern – Emmental – Bern and Interlaken – Golden Pass – Montreux – Geneve
Thank you very much!
Will probably pass on staying in Zurich and go straight to Luzern.
I will calculate the differences in costs and get back to you if I have any further questions.
Thanks again!
AD
Hello again!
Looks like based off my calculations, it might just be cheaper to have the Half-fare card by itself while in Interlaken. Does my 10 yo daughter need to buy any tickets for the mountain trains to First or Harder Klum if we have the Family Card? The Berner Oberland Pass has a 30f cost for children so if the child tickets are free with the Family Card, might be a slightly cheaper option.
Also we purchased the Half fare card through Klook, they never asked for passport info. I have seen on the forum that the passport number should be on it for it to be valid. Is this true?
Thanks!
AD
Hi AD,
you can use a Swiss Travel Pass, Swiss Travel Pass Flex or Swiss Half Fare Card to be able to get the Swiss Family Card for your 10 years old child: http://www.myswissalps.com/swissfamilycard.
You can read about how to fill in the passport number here: http://www.myswissalps.com/swisshalffarecard/howtouse.
Ildiko
Hi Ildiko,
Thank you for the information!
AD
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