Which pass to buy while in Switzerland?

We are traveling roundtrip from Zurich airport straight to Interlaken in September 2016. Then we are staying in Interlaken for 7 nights hoping to do the top of Europe trip on our own plus hike several trails around Interlaken using the area's transportation system to get to trail heads. Which passes should we purchase to make this economically a good deal? Thank you

Hi Nomad44, welcome to MySwissAlps!

If you'll be focusing on the Bernese Oberland, a Regional-Pass Bernese Oberland may be a very good deal as it offers free traveling throughout the region. This even includes quite some mountain trips. Please find details, including a validity overview and purchase options, at our Regional-Pass Bernese Oberland page. Does this seem to fit your plans?

If you want to make sure which pass is best, you should make calculations as explained at our "How to choose" page.

Thank you....you confirmed what I was thinking. One more question for you. Would it be better to purchase the Swiss Transfer ticket (2nd Class) to go from Zurich to Interlaken or should we just buy the point to point ticket at the station? The transfer ticket is a flat rate but it appears that if I buy the normal ticket at the station it would be less expensive. Thank you.

Hi Nomad44,

A Swiss Transfer Ticket would be too expensive in your case, so you'd best purchase regular train tickets. If your Regional-Pass Bernese Oberland is valid during your inbound and outbound trip, you'll only have to buy tickets between Basel and Bern. Between Bern and Interlaken, the Regional-Pass provides free travelling.

Sorry, I meant Zurich in my previous post, not Basel. So with a valid Regional-Pass you'd need tickets between Zurich and Bern; the rest would be covered.

Thanks for your insights. Right now I'm trying to decide between the 6-day Jungfrau Railroad Pass and the 8-day Regional Bernese Oberland Pass which would also include the Bern to Interlaken portion of the train trip. The Bernese Oberland Pass is pricier but also good for two extra days. However, those two days would be at the start/end points of our week so we may not be using them that much anyways. It appears that the leg between Bern and Interlaken may cost $30 USD each way ($60USD) so I wonder if that would justify the higher cost of purchasing the Bernese Oberland Pass instead of the Jungfrau Pass. At least I've narrowed it from 8 + choices down to 2 with your help!

Hello Nomad44,

The Jungfrau Railways Pass does not exist anymore, but there's the very similar Jungfrau Travel Pass now: myswissalps.com/jungfr autravelpass. As for which pass to choose: do you want to focus your full week on just the Jungfrau region? Although there's plenty to do for a week or more, a trip to another part of the Bernese Oberland might be nice. And if the weather's bad in the mountains, a trip elsewhere could be a good idea as well. The regional pass allows that.

Kind regards,

Arno

Thanks for your input. It's all beginning to make some sense to me!