Traveling to Interlaken for 2 days in March

Can someone please advise on my travel plans and some other questions:

I and my wife are landing on Friday March 25, 2016 at Zurich Airport, we are taking the train to Interlaken via Bern, thinking of doing sky diving in the afternoon or visit lake lucerne. Next day March 26, we want to visit the Junghfroh region, couple of questions as below:

Which travel pass should I go for? we both are under 25, so we can get the youth pass, but are confused with the half card or the 3 day travel pass?

if I book the pass online, can I collect it from the Zurich airport? will I get an email confirmation? will just a printout of the pass work?

is it possible to sky dive in the afternoon? where can I make an authentic reservation? can I make a reservation on the same day?

please reply at your convenience.

Thank you

Hi dsavla, welcome to MySwissAlps!

Which pass is best, depends on all details of your plans. You should include all train and cable car trips and further activities, and then compare passes and start calculating. Only then you'll be able to tell for sure which option is most economical. Generally, a 3 day Swiss Travel Pass Youth is a lot more convenient than a Swiss Half Fare Card, as it allows you to hop on and off regular trains, buses and boats without having to buy additional tickets.

Purchase options are listed at www.myswissalps.com/sw isstravelpass/price and www.myswissalps.com/sw isshalffarecard/price. In both cases, you'd best order through www.swissrailways.com and opt for the e-ticket option. The pass will be e-mailed to you without any extra costs. You should print the pass (not the order confirmation!) and have it with you while traveling. Picking up at the airport is possible too, but that's less convenient and additional costs are involved.

Skydiving can be done in the Jungfrau region, but you should carefully check which options are available, and at what time of the day, with specialized companies. I suggest you check the ones listed at Interlaken Tourism to start off with. Also, these offers on outdoor activities may be interesting to you.

thanks Annika,

have some more questions,

since I am in Interlaken for only 2 days, and on the third day I am travelling to Paris, can I use the 3rd day of the 3 day Swiss travel pass against my TGV reservation?

I am a bit confused about sky diving, please correct me if I am wrong, my original plan was since I will reach Interlaken in the afternoon, I will make reservation for sky diving and the company will pick us from the hotel and sky diving would be possible. We are not planning to go to Jungfrau region the same day as it would involve addition train fare.

We are planning to go to the Jungfrau region next day taking the grindelwald route and coming back taking the Wengen route, I dont think we would have time to sky dive on this day.

please suggest.

Thanks in advance

Hi dsavla,

I'm not quite sure what you mean by using the 3rd day of your Swiss Travel Pass Youth against your TGV reservation. The Swiss Travel Pass Youth will provide free traveling up to the Swiss border. The validity map shows such details. From the Swiss border (depending on your connection, this will be Basel or Geneva) you'll have to pay the full TGV fare. TGV tickets can be found here.

Interlaken is actually in (or right next to) the Jungfrau region, so that's what I meant by saying that skydiving is available there. I'm not really into details and procedures on skydiving. You'd best contact one of the companies that I mentioned to ask for all options.

Mind that there doesn't have to be any additional train fare if you travel further south into the Jungfrau region with a Swiss Travel Pass Youth. Trips as far as Grindelwald, Mürren and Wengen are entirely free. Only if you visit mountain tops, you'll have to pay something extra.

Thanks Annika!

Hi Dsavla-

You should be aware that late March is still winter in the higher regions near the Jungfrau. Interlaken, at a lower altitude, will be in the earliest stages of Spring, or still be wintry. The weather is strongly dependent on altitude.

www.myswissalps.com/we ather

Weather may not be good at high altitudes....clouds...check local information via tourist offices in the towns or at local train stations, including Interlaken Ost. If it suits your schedule, it is wise to have as many days as possible in the region,because the weather at higher altitudes can change rapidly. If one day is bad, the next may be beautiful. Not easy to predict far in advance.

Slowpoke