What passes to get while staying in Murren and Wen

We will have three children ages 1, 6, 8. We will be traveling from the Zurich airport to Murren, then Wengen to Zurich airport 16 days later. We will be doing much hiking, a combo of easy with the little kids and harder with adults going on their own. I am trying to decide if it is best for me to get the Swiss Transfer Card and if so, do I need a 1/2 fare card to go with it to travel the mountain transports for hiking? and for day trips. I am confused as to if the 1/2 fare card is needed with the Transfer Card. OR should I get the Swiss Travel Pass that gives 50% off everything. Of course, I will ask for the Free Family Card at the same time.

When would you advise that I get the Berner Oberland Pass vs a Flex Card? Hard to determine if I don't know exactly what we will be doing.

Next question refers to grandkids. My adult children will be with us and will get the free family card. Can my husband and I just use this family card on the few occasions the grandkids' parents will not be with us or is it really necessary to get the enkel-karte card for 30chf per child? I am assuming that the 1 yr old will be able to travel with any adult free of charge with no card??

One of my daughters will be doing the same entry/exit as above but will also travel from Wengen to Frnakfurt and a little beyond. Which pass would you recommend for her?

Thank you for this info

Eileen

Hi Eileen,

Thank you for joining us! The Swiss Transfer Ticket only covers the transfers from the airport to Wengen/Mürren and back, so that's definitely not enough for your entire stay. You need the Combi option of it: the Swiss Transfer Ticket Combi. That also offers 50% discounts on tickets during your stay. Details can be found here.

The Swiss Travel Pass does not provide 50% off everything. It provides free traveling, without the need to get tickets, except for mountain transport (i.e. above Wengen/Mürren). In that case you'll get a 50% discount, or 25% off in case of the Jungfrau railway. Details can be found here.

The Swiss Family Card is only valid if one of the parents travels along. If you travel with your grandkids, you will need the Grandchild travelcard (Enkelkarte), which works just like the Junior travelcard. Or you can simply buy 50% discounted tickets for them as they're entitled to that in any case. The 1-year old travels for free. Please see myswissalps.com/ train/ticketspasses/ practical/discounts.

I can understand it's difficult to choose from all the options. If you want to find the most economical option, the only way is to have a detailed itinerary and do the math. You can also choose based on convenience: the Swiss Travel Pass, and the Regional-Pass Bernese Oberland even more so, offer free unlimited traveling without the need to buy tickets for each trip. Assuming you'll be doing short regional trips, my estimation would be that the Swiss Transfer Ticket Combi is the best option price wise. A trip to Frankfurt would be 50% discounted until Basel. From there, a regular ticket is required.

Since you live in the US you can get the Swiss Transfer Ticket Combi from either raileurope.com/rail-tickets-passes/swiss-transfer-ticket-with-half-fare-card-combi/index.html or raileurope-world.com/ pass/swiss-transfer-ticket-half-fare. They also offers tickets from Basel to Frankfurt. More purchase options are on the pages I linked to.