Which rail pass to buy for 5 days in Grindelwald?

Hi,

Thanks for your time. I am traveling with my spouse to Switzerland this May 23rd and will be staying in Grindelwald for 4 nights/5days. I did search about different rail passes but could not narrow down a suitable rail pass/train ticket for my travel. It would be of great help if experts could advise on this.

Please find my itinerary for the travel. I will be staying in Grindelwald for all 4 nights and planning to visit places from there.

Day 1 (May 23rd)

At 14:10 Reach Zurich Airport, Switzerland.

Check in at hotel in Grindelwald, Switzerland.

--yet to decide on places to visit after reaching hotel on Day1---

Day 2 (May 24th) - Bernese Oberland

Jungfrauch - Schynige Platte - Schilthorn

Day 3 (May 25th) - Bernese Oberland

Lucerne - Mt Titlis - Glacier Park

Day 4 (May 26th) - Bernese Oberland

Boat cruise on Lake Thun - Hünegg Castle or Lake Brienz

Hike to the Bachalpsee lake

Trummelbach Falls

Day 5 (May 27th)

Check out at 8 am from hotel.

Rhine Falls (30 mins, total trip: 4 hours)

Flight at 17:4o

Can anyone please advise on a suitable train pass for my travel (regional pass/ half fare card/swiss pass/point to point ticket). Please feel free to advise/modify/suggest on the places to visit as well.

Many Thanks!!!

Ajai

Hello Ajai, thanks for joining MySwissAlps!

These are the two options to consider in your case:

• a Swiss Half Fare Card, providing a 50% discount on pretty much all trips you plan to make;
• a 4 day Swiss Travel Pass for day 2-5, plus regular tickets for day 1. A couple of days in advance, you can check the SBB website and see whether cheaper supersaver tickets for Zurich Airport-Grindelwald (or part of this route: Zurich Airport-Interlaken) are available. Mind that such supersaver tickets are only valid for a specific train leaving at a specific time, so you have to be sure you're able to catch that train after arrival at Zurich Airport. If you can't find such a ticket or if you don't want to be tied to a specific departure time, you should regular full fare tickets for this first day. The Swiss Travel Pass allows free ticketless traveling on many routes on day 2-5, even including some mountain trains such as Schynige Platte. Further mountain transportation is discounted.

Please study details about both passes through the links I inserted above.

To be honest, your plans for some days seem to be a bit too much. Did you check timetables to find out what's doable and what's not? For example, doing Jungfraujoch, Schilthorn and Schynige Platte all on day 2 means you'll be rushing from one viewing point to the other. They're all beautiful, but I'd limit myself to one or two at the most. Likewise, day 4 is rather full. It's doable, but skipping one of the items will for sure result in a more relaxed travel pace. Lucerne and Titlis are quite far off from Grindelwald and thus require a long travel day. Spending this day in the Bernese Oberland too would be a good alternative. There are lots and lots of nearby activities; please review this page.

Hello Annika,

Many Thanks for your suggestion. Really appreciate your time on this and the links were very useful. Will reduce my itinerary for days 2 and 4, as it definitely makes sense after seeing the travel time for each places.

Regarding Train Pass, I found the one way ticket for Zurich Airport to Grindelwald to be expensive as it comes around 84 CHF for one way per person. Since I am not sure whether I will be able to board the train at the specific time on Day1, I am planning to avoid booking super saver ticket in advance.

Read through the links for Half Fare Card and Swiss Travel Pass. Since on Day 2, now I am planning only to go to Jungfrauch. And on Day 4 Lake Brienz and any other near by places. Is it advisable to take a Swiss Travel pass Flexi, since jungfraugh travel from Griendelwald requires me to only use Mountain railway, can I use this pass for Day 1, 3,4 &5 ? Or is there any other better options?

Thank you once again.

Hi Ajai!

I understand that supersaver tickets aren't convenient in your case. I don't think the Swiss Travel Pass Flex is an economical solution for your itinerary either.

So in all, the Swiss Half Fare Card might be better, if you don't mind getting tickets for each trip. If you want to be absolutely sure which of the pass options is best, there's no other way than making detailed calculations as explained here.

Thank you Annika. After detailed calculations it seems Half Fare card to be economically suitable for my trip.

Thanks again for your suggestions. Have a good day!!

Hello Ajai,

Good to hear you've been able to calculate the option that's most economical for your plans. Please find Swiss Half Fare Card purchase options here.