Swiss Rail Pass - Advice

Hello,
I have read some of the excellent posts on rail passes but am a still confused and could use some help. We are a family of 4 and are planning to rent a car in Geneva, drive down to Lauterbrunnen where we spend nearly 6 days making day trips to areas closeby before driving down to Zurich and flying out from there. The advice we need is choosing between the Swiss 50% fare, Bernese Oberland pass and the Jungfrauch VIP pass. Thanks in advance..

Hi puneetgup, welcome to MySwissAlps!

Drivers are in many cases best off with a Swiss Half Fare Card. However, I would advice to reconsider renting a car. The train trip from Geneva to Lauterbrunnen via the Golden Pass is fabulous. Once in the Jungfrau region, most of the area is not accessible by car. The trip to Zurich Airport is quite easy by train as well. All in all it's much more relaxed to just use the excellent public transport system.

Having said that, the decision on the pass depends on what you're going to do (and whether it involves a car or not). The Jungfrau Pass covers a really small area, which is perfect if that is what you want. If you want to explore more of the Bernese Oberland, the Regional-Pass Regional Oberland would make sense. It also includes parts of the transfers from Geneva and to Zurich Airport. See here for how to pick a pass.

Does this help you continue planning?

Arno, Thanks a lot for your response. I had debated a lot on renting a car and had primarily resorted to it for flexibility. We are spending 5 days in the Lauterbrunnen area:
Day 1 - Interlaken with activities around

Day 2 - Grindelwald and Jungfrauch

Day 3 - Murren / Lauterbrunnen

Day 4 - Wengen

Day 5 - Open right now. Looking to drive down to Thun and adjoining areas

Given this any recommendation on the rail pass. Does this itinerary look cramped, any other suggestions?

Hi puneetgup,

Your itinerary is realistic. I assume you're planning to do some hiking on do 3 and 4. Tips can be found here. A Swiss Half Fare Card would be a good choice in your case. You can use the car on day 1, depending on what you plan to do. You can't use it on day 2, 3, and 4 On day 5 the car is a good option if you want to explore the countryside. Alternatively you can do a boat trip from Interlaken to Thun. You could go back by bus via the northern shore of Lake Thun, and do a trip to the top of the Niederhorn along the way.

Kind regards,

Annika

Thanks for the reply. I was reading somewhere that the Swiss Pass covers all the Cable cars, gondolas and trains between Wengen, Murren, Grindelwald, Grutschalp, Schynige Platte, Harder Kulm, etc 100%. Is this correct?

Hello,

You can go to our Swiss Pass page, download the detailed map and find all other pass details there.