Do I need a Swiss rail pass?
 

Hi Everyone,

I'm flying to Zurich Airport and arriving on 20th July. From there, we are heading straight to Grindelwald for 2 nights. We will likely visit t to Interlaken area of Canyoning during that time. We are then going to Lucerne for 3 nights and plan on visiting Mt Pilatus. After that, we are going back to Zurich Airport to take a flight out.

My question is - what type of rail pass would be best for the train trips around Switzerland? And should I be pre purchasing my trips?

Thanks so much for your help, it is much appreciated!

Like many other posting of this type, there is not enough details. While train prices are expensive in Switzerland, the mountain transports are usually the highest ticket items. If Mt. Pilatus is indeed the only mountain you plan to climb, you can go with a pass without mountain transport consideration. However, if you are thinking of going up mountains in Berner Oberland, there are many other considerations depending on the combination of mountains you are thinking of but not stated here. Even if costs most, certain pass offers timing benefit. Many transports in Switzerland are coordinated. They assume "some" people would buy tickets at the last minutes between boat-funicular, train-funicular, etc, but the timing is such that if there are many such people, you would miss the ideal connections. Prepurchased tickets or passes that eliminate these would ensure you can make ideal connections. This type of analysis cannot be done by rough ideas alone.

Even the Mt. Pilatus alone requires some thinking. From where are you climbing up the mountain and which way to get down? If using Pilatusbahn, are you using the train to connect to Luzern or use a boat to get back? Further complication is that you are dealing with a high mountain with unpredictable weather and visibility.

It's easy enough to work out if you know your itinerary. Calculate the cost of non-discounted tickets and compare that to the cost of the various passes and factor in the relevant discounts on full price tickets. Yes, it might take half an hour but then you'll know whether there are savings to be made and which pass, if any, is the best deal for you. This does, however, ignore random special priced tickets which are sometimes available.

sbb.ch/en is your best source for fare information.

ps. my personal experience is that either no pass or the monthly half fare card have been the best - but that's for my itineraries which will be completely different to others.

We got the pass that included trains, boats, half-price on mountain transport, and some museum entrances. When we returned home I calculated the cost for what we had actually done, with and without the pass. It turned out that we spent somewhat more with the pass than we would have without it, but that is partially because we didn't do as much as we had planned to do. I still thought it was a worthwhile purchase, as it simplified travel.

No shortcut to working out a comparison.

The comparison is only accurate if you stick exactly to the original plans, which I almost never do. I just looked at some sample fares for a typical day and multiplied it by the number of days. As I said, we ended up doing less than planned, which often happens, so the cost of the past was not recuperated, but I wasn't sorry we got it.

Perhaps the Berner Oberland Pass would be the best for you - covers both Jungfrau and Lucerne areas -benefits of a pass for things covered in full. For details check www.sbb.ch - Swiss Railways official site; www.budgeteuropetravel.com and www.ricksteves.com.

You are taking quite a few conveyances so a pass may be best-but do the check and if close go for the pass.