Swiss Travel Pass, Flex or Half Fare for 8 days?

  • babees726
    Participant
    9 posts
    21 July 2017 at 14:29:21 #812685

    We are a couple who will be travelling to Switzerland this September. We are trying to compare which pass would be better for our itinerary (the 8 consecutive day travel pass, and 8 non consecutive day travel pass flex, or the half fare card).

    tentatively, we plan on doing the following (attached is a table we prepared for comparison of the prices as well):

    day 1 – we may start using the pass and go on a boat in lake geneva, then travel from geneva to interlaken via golden pass

    day 2 – while at interlaken, we plan to go sky diving in the morning and then go on the boat rides in lake thun & brienz in the afternoon, would there be enough time to do all? the boats would start from interlaken ost/west and after we reach thun & brienz – do we take the boat back to interlaken ost/west or do we take the train?

    day 3 – schilthorn & jungfraujoch – we figured since we’d be in lauterbrunnen, why not go to both instead of going back to interlaken right away, but would we have time to visit both places? how long would we need to explore jungfraujoch?

    day 4 – travel from interlaken to zermatt

    day 5 – if we get the 8 day consecutive pass, maybe we can ride the cable car to matterhorn? or would it be better if we just get the swiss pass flex and skip this day – what are the things we can do in zermatt that would not require the swiss pass or would there be a lot to do and see here with the use of the swiss pass?

    day 6 or 5 – travel from zermatt to chur via glacier express – we read too that we can combine the gotthard express with glacier express – will we have time to do this? we will leave zermatt at around 8:52am, we stop at andermatt at around 11:54, transfer to goschenen, ride the gotthard express at 13:14, then ride it back again from fluelen to goschenen from 14:10 to 14:41, then from andermatt still go to chur (but with a regular train and not with the glacier express anymore?) – will it be worth it to try the gotthard but miss the andermatt-chur part of the glacier express?

    day 7 or 6 – travel from chur to lugano then to luzern via bernina express

    day 8 or 7 – boat ride to fluelen and trip to rigi

    day 8 (if we use the pass flex) – travel from luzern to zurich, we can also go on boat rides in lake luzern & lake zurich or maybe use the pass to visit museums – would this be more worth it than using it for a day while in zermatt?

    1. did we miss any importation transportation or connection?

    2. did we miss any transportation fare that would affect the pass that we should get?

    3. would any of the days we planned be too hectic and even if we were able to maximize the travel pass, we would not have enough time to enjoy the places we’ll see because we are rushing?

    4. would it be better to get a flex pass so we can use the pass for another day in other places instead of the ones we included above? (like it would be a waste to use the pass in any of the days we included above so better to just skip the day and use the pass on another day)

    5. we read that if we get the half fare card – we would be able to avail of the 1 day travel pass – how does this work? would it be worth it for us to get this?

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    rockoyster
    Participant
    8889 posts
    22 July 2017 at 3:41:23 #867117

    Hi babee726,

    You wrote: We are trying to compare which pass would be better for our itinerary (the 8 consecutive day travel pass, and 8 non consecutive day travel pass flex, or the half fare card).

    With all the travel you plan I’d say the Swiss Travel Pass is going to beat the Swiss Half Fare Card. Also the STP is super convenient and saves all that messing about buying individual tickets. Whether the premium you pay (CHF44) to get a Flex is worth it is hard to say and will be dependant on your itinerary but note you can buy a 15-day consecutive pass for only CHF38 more than an 8-day Flex.

    Your day 6 or 5 description above suggests breaking Glacier Express at Andermatt and zipping up to Flüelen and back. I wouldn’t bother doing that. Have you considered instead stopping overnight in Lugano after the Bernina Express? You could then take the entire Gotthard Panorama Express Lugano to Luzern including the boat trip from Flüelen in a more relaxed manor. Lugano is beautiful.

    If it was me I’d do the Gornergrat in the afternoon after arriving in Zermatt and only spend one night in Zermatt. You could use the night saved for the stopover in Lugano or add another day onto your Jungfrau Region stopover.

    Removed user
    Participant
    72625 posts
    23 July 2017 at 17:16:19 #867118

    Hi babees726 and welcome to MySwissAlps!

    A couple questions I wanted to reply to:

    Day 2: Sky diving and one boat cruise on Lake Thun OR Brienz is doable for sure. Read through the pages I linked here – there are schedule links for you to open to see where you can or want to start.

    Day 3: I think I wouldn’t try to do both Schilthorn and Jungfraujoch in one day. Once you are at the top I would except a minimum of 2 hours. Have a look at the weather the night before and choose the mountain you want to see most. If the weather cooperates and you have time you can look at doing the 2nd mountain as well.

    Day 5: If you are in Switzerland for 8 days I and using trains for at least 7 then I would not look at the Swiss Travel Pass Flex. The only way to save money on that pass compared to the consecutive Swiss Travel Pass is to buy the 4 day pass – and then you only have 4 days of travel while you are here. You only pay 78CHF more for the 8 day consecutive Swiss Travel Pass vs. the 4 day Swiss Travel Pass Flex….doesn’t make any sense there!

    Question 5: If you buy the Swiss Half Fare Card (on its own or along with the Swiss Travel Pass Flex which some people do) you can buy a 1 day travel pass to go pretty much anyway in Switzerland (almost). This is an extra 75CHF.

    I hope that helps sort some things out for you!

    Let us know if you have more questions. 🙂

    Lucas

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