Train pass suggestion - Please help!

I have only been to Europe once before and stayed in Germany. My husband and I are planning our first multi-country trip (Italy, Switzerland, Germany, Austria) for 16 days (15 nights) and I am totally confused to which Pass would best fit our needs.

Flying into Milan (1 night) - Milan to Murren (6 nights) - Murren to Munich during Oktoberfest (2 nights) - Munich to Salzburg (3 nights) - Salzburg to Venice (2 nights) - Venice to Milan (1 night)

Most of our travel will just be straight to the city with little need to travel once there. The only place we will probably explore - weather-depending will be Murren. We may do Jungfraujoch/Schilthorn possibly if the weather cooperates, see falls in Lauterbrunnen, but mostly just hike and enjoy Murren.

Right now I was thinking of just booking Point-To-Point tickets a month or two ahead of time for the big trips. But for Switzerland I'm a little more stumped. Would a Half Fare card by itself be a good idea or the Bernese Oberland region pass be better or a Swiss Pass?

Any suggestions I would greatly appreciate!

Hi czugnicz!

Picking the right pass can be a challenge indeed. If you'd plan on extensive traveling in the countries you visit, you could look into a Eurail Pass. But if jour train journeys are limited to the city to city transfers you mention, you're probably best off buying regular train tickets.

As for the Swiss portion of your trip: regular tickets are expensive and in most cases it makes sense to get a rail pass. In your case, you could use a Swiss Transfer Ticket for the legs Italian/Swiss border-Mürren and Mürren-Swiss/German border. This would be a bit cheaper than buying regular tickets.

You could combine this with a Swiss Half Fare Card, which is 50% cheaper if you buy it along with the Swiss Transfer Ticket. The Swiss Half Fare Card provides a 50% discount on all trips you make during your stay in Mürren. This will probably be cheaper than buying regular tickets, especially if a more expensive trip like the one to Schilthorn or Jungfraujoch is involved.

Does this help you decide?