Which pass for Basel, Wengen, Jungfraujoch

We are traveling in October from Basel to Wengen for 3 nights and Lucerne for 4 nights.

Day 1 Train Basel to Wengen

Day 2 Wengen - cablecar to Mannlichen, walk to Kleine Scheidegg, train back to Wengen

Day 3 Jungfraujoch

Day 4 Train from Wengen to Lucerne

Day 5 Trip to Mt Pilatus

Day 6 Trip to Mt Rigi

Day 7 Lucerne

Day 8 Train to Basel & Paris

We are having a difficult time determning which pass to purchase. We have considered the 8 day Swiss Rail Pass, the half fare pass or the Berner Oberland Pass. We are having trouble with the prices - an example is one website says 42.50 from Wengen to Jungfraujoch and another says 99 (both one way). Any help you could offer us would be greatly appreciated!

Hi smoph1992,

Welcome to MySwissAlps! I would limit your options to two passes: the 8-day Swiss Travel Pass and the Swiss Half Fare Card. The pages below will help you choose. If you want to compare price wise, be sure to carefully read the last page. It takes some time but it can be done.

• Swiss Travel Pass
• Swiss Half Fare Card
• How to compare passes

Wengen - Jungfraujoch return: CHF 85 with a Swiss Half Fare Card, CHF 127.50 with a Swiss Travel Pass.

Lucerne - Rigi return: CHF 56.50 with a Swiss Half Fare Card, free with a Swiss Travel Pass. There are various routes, so prices for the Swiss Half Fare Card can vary a bit.

Hi Smoph

While Arno is the master of knowledge here, I dare to reply because we did a similar or rather a more intense trip . We brought 8 days Swiss Travel Pass, which for me as an adult was around CHF 363 and for my daughter who is below 25 years CHF 309.

Our journey started and ended at Domodossola in Italy,and we did travel through Basel while staying at Wengen, Grindelwald and Lucerne.

If you could work out your timings, I am sure you can also visit Schilthorn during your stay at Wengen at hardly any extra cost. As the cable cars to Schilthorn are in stages, you can opt for some lovely treks enroute like Murren to Ginderwald etc.

Also from Lucerne,do have a look at possibility of visiting Mt Titlis, instead of both Rigi and Pilatus. Infact we had planned both Rigi and Titlis on same day including boat from Lucerne but due to circumstances had to cut it to Mt Titlis only.

so have a go at it.

Thank you so much! After adding up the fares it appears the half price card is best for us. Do we need to buy that before we leave the US or buy it in Switzerland? Appreciate your help.

Hi smoph1992,

Where you buy it is up to you, but I'd recommend to simply print it at home. No need to spend time waiting for a ticket office. If you print it yourself you can get your tickets from the machines, which is a quick process. You can visit www.swissrailways.com/ en. After filling out your address, they will show the delivery options. Pick "Online Ticket" from the bottom of the list. They will e-mail the card (no delivery fees) within 1-3 business days, so do order in time. All purchase options are listed here.

Have a great trip!

I am trying to buy the half fare passes. I am concerned about printing- it says to print a test ticket but cannot figure out how to do that. It says if you can't print a test ticket, do not get online tickets. If I purchase the tickets and cannot print them, what will happen?

Hi smoph1992,

Actually I don't know of an "official way" to test this, but it shouldn't be a issue if you own a normal printer. Any laser or inkjet printer should work if it can print with a least 600 dpi. It's just a PDF document; you have probably printed PDFs before. Attached is an example you can try if you want to.

Oh my goodness! Thank you so much for the amazingly prompt reply! I was able to print what you sent and will proceed! Many thanks!!!