Another Swiss Rail Question...
 

Hello Swiss Rail Experts:

We are a family of 2 adults and 2 children, who will be of ages 5 & 6 when we are in Switzerland this summer. I understand that with a railpass we can get a family card that allows the children to travel for free. My question is this: on the transportation modes that we only receive 50% off, do our children still go for free or do they then have to pay 50% of the childrens rate. For Example, the part of trip up to Jungfraujoch. What would be the charge for them if we have a Railpass or if we don't have one?
We will be arriving in Zurich airport, travelling direct to Murren, which wil be our base as we explore the BO for 4 days. The we will return to Zurich. Since it's 6 days total, we;d have to get the 8 day Adults saver pass. Is 2nd class ok? Thanks in advance for assistance.

Second class is fine. But you would probably be better off with a 3-day or 4-day FlexiPass ($156 or $189) instead of the 8-consecutive day pass ($235). The FlexiPass still give you 50% off the high mountain lifts, even on "non-travel" days.

I don't know that the official word is on children up to the Jungfraujoch, but ours went free on the family card, while the adults paid 50%.

So, if we got a 4 day flexipass, one day would be used for the trip Zurich to Murren (my understanding from another posting is that all legs of this trip are covered at 100% - correct?). Another day would be used for same return trip. Leaving 2 days to use around BO. Precisely which lifts are included when you say "high mountain" lifts are covered 50% even on no travel days? What about transport from Murren back down to Lauterbrunnen on thos days not using the flexipass? I guess paying that would be cheaper than buying the more expensive 8 day pass? Thanks for you help.

My understanding is that kids, with the free Family Pass that comes with the passes you buy (kids must be accompanied by a parent - grandparents don't count) the kids ALWAYS go free.

Anytime you buy a 50% off ticket on things not covered by your pass or on days you don't use a flexipass the kids get a corresponding ticket free (or just hop on sans any ticket)

There have been conflicting views of this on Fodors in past but it was determined that this was the case.

For the ultimate word on this call BETS (800-441-2387) Swiss rail experts who in my years of buying various passes thru them will have the definite answer; www.budgeteuropetravel.com and their page of Swiss trains and passes may also clarify this question. 2nd class is fine for you - Jungfrau trains are only single class i believe and trains and lifts to Murren as well. Swiss Pass covers in full to Murren.

A very attractive feature of the FlexiPass, new this year, is that it operates as a half-fare card on your "non-travel" days, for the days between your first and last day. So you would use 2 days (the first and last) getting to and from Mürren. You might need only one more "covered" day---say if you were going to ride down to Lauterbruennen and up the other side to Kleine Scheidegg and the Jungfraujoch. To just ride the new cablecar down from Mürren to Lauterbrunnen, you could use the half-price feature and not use up one of your travel days. This ride is pretty inexpensive.

Just be sure to write in the date on the pass on each day you are acually using it, just before you board the first lift or train.

Mürren is a good choice for a family with children the ages of yours. They should be able to walk down to Gimmelwald, for example. If the walk back up seems too much, you can ride the cable car back. There are usually some cows to see on that walk, as well as lovely views. You could also walk with them to Grutschalp, a level walk along the train route, and then ride the train back.

Practically everything that moves in Switzerland is covered on 50% off on off days on flexipass. (Though someone recently listed some obscure lift somewhere that wasn't.) But i'm pretty sure all in the BOB are 50% off - you will get a map with the pass showing lines with 50% off.
The Stechelberg-Gimmelwald-Murren lift and Lauterbrunnen-Grutschalp lift and then train along the cliff to Murren is 100% covered by Swiss pass - these are about the only aerial cableways in Suisse that seem to be covered 100%.
so yes you can profitably use the other two days getting up and down from Murren. And since the Swiss Pass on 100% covered days is also a Museum Pass good to over 400 Swiss Museums on 100% days if you want to go to Ballenberg Open-Air museum that's worth about $15 a head for adults.
(Excellent journey for adults and kids - go down to Interlaken-Ost from Murren and hop on lake boats on Lake Brienz to float to Brienz and then take train to Meiringen to get postal bus to Ballenberg Museum, an open-air museum set in pastures overlooking the lake. Kids will love the demonstrations of old farming techniques and such - many old buildings moved here in an open-air park of old-fashioned techniques. Return to Interlaken directly from Meiringen by train or by rail/boat. this would be a great use of a 100% covered pass day as it's 100% good on all the lifts, trains, boats, museums, buses involved.

By the way i wonder if anyone has first hand report on the new aerial cable way from Lauternrunnen's train station up the cliff to Grutschalp, which replaces the old ground-based funicular this winter.
All i know is that it's open but haven't heard anything about it. Suppose it's like the Stechelberg-Gimmelwald cable, one of the most thrilling i've been on.

any word on the new Lauaterbrunnen-Grutschalp lift?

anyone taken this lift - is it about the same as the thrilling one down the valley at Stechelberg to Gimmelwald?

PalenQ---I started a separate thread with this inquiry (and pointing out the fact taht sbb.ch does not show this connection as a cablecar, intead of a train). No response from anyone who has actually ridden the lift.

Enzian - i guess it's running and we can take a ride free via YouTube

YouTube - Cable Car in Switzerland 2006 *
New Lauterbrunnen - Grutschalp Cable car 01:00. From ...
1min -
www.youtube.com/watch?v=paznOtbx9BU


YouTube - LSMS Murren - Stechelberg
Check out when cable car starts descending over 500 m. high ...
Watch video - 3min -
www.youtube.com/watch?v=KqoagATtejY

Cool! We'll be on tht lift in 3 weeks and one day (Am I counting????) If no one has reported back by then. . . I will.

PalenQ,

Thanks to your and Bob-Brown's advice, we used this conveyance the last week of May. It follows the old funicular exactly and is spectacular. The view across to Wengen and the valley below is one of the most breath-taking sights we have ever witnessed. The view was far better than that from the cable car at the Stechelberg end of the valley, and that ain't bad!

MvK

can't wait! We'll be there next month, staying in Murren for 5 nights.

<The view was far better than that from the cable car at the Stechelberg end of the valley, and that ain't bad!>

Marvon - WOW - i thought the Stechelberg-Gimmelwald lift was so awesome now i can't wait to do the new one that seems even more breathtaking. Thanks.

And Enziane - awaiting your experience as well!

Author: enzian
Date: 06/08/2007, 04:48 pm
Cool! We'll be on tht lift in 3 weeks and one day (Am I counting????) If no one has reported back by then. . . I will.

enzian: 6/30 you rode this new cableway - report? thanks

Sure---I forgot my promise.

The cableway uses a large cablecar, similar (or identical? not sure) to the Schilthorn one. There the resemblence stops. The Lauterbrunnen to Grutschalp line follows the old funicular tracks, most of which have been removed, but they are still working on that. The grade of the ground underneath is fairly steady, so there is no need for the cablecar to be high off the ground (unlike the Stechelberg to Gimmelwald portion of the Schilthorn route, where you are dangling over thousands of feet of air).

The cablecar is faster than the funicular was, and you have the benefit of being able to chat with the jovial "pilot" who drives the thing. On the way up, we held on to our luggage, but on the way down, they carried it in a basket suspended under the car. Pretty slick.

All in all, I preferred this to the funicular---better views, and faster. And somehow it seems safer than that improbable old funicular did (even knowing it was attached to a cable, I couldn't help but worry about it getting loose and running backwards---totally irrational, I know).

a large cablecar, similar (or identical? not sure) to the Schilthorn one

thanks for impressions enzian - did you mean Stechelberg or Schilthorn - the lattere are few-person gondolas i believe at least from Murren to Schilthorn

But they do call this the Schilthorn cable from Stechelberg-Gimmelwald-murren as well i guess.

But it sounds similar to Stechelberg-Murren cable - that one is always so thrilling to me - this one sounds a bit tamer, being close to the ground.

The Schilthornbahn ascends from Stechelberg to Schilthorn in stages, from Stechelberg to Gimmelwald to Mürren to Schilthorn. You change cars at each stop, but it is a cablecar (Luftseilbahn) the whole way, not a gondola (Gondolbahn) like, for example, the First Gondolbahn. You can see photos of the cars here:

http://www.schilthorn.ch/

(May have to wait for the right one to come around). These, as well as the new one up to Grutschalp, are all cablecars. The German (Luftseilbahn versus Gondolbahn) makes the distinction a little clearer, because in English the two terms tend to be used interchangeably. But a gondola runs continuously, a cablecar does not.

The interesting thing about the Grutschalp one, as I recall, is that it does not have a companion cablecar for counterbalance. Made me a little uneasy! (but it's Swiss, so I'm sure they know what they are doing).

wow - just took the Schilthorn cabelway a few years ago and forgot what kind of conveyance it was - a senior moment even though i'm not quite a senior?

I too would have great confidence in Swiss technology.

thanks for clarification