I received my Swiss Pass in the mail today. Looking at the fine print I was surprised to see some nice extras. Some of them are:

10%-25% off some museums, including Swiss Transport Museum in Luzern, Olympic Museum in Lausanne, and the Open Air Folk Museum near Brienz. The Swiss Museum Pass, though, gets you in free to all these and a lot more for only 30 SF.

Reduced rate on bike rentals

10%-25% off at several major Swiss hotels, including Best Western, Swiss Quality Hotels, Swiss Backpackers, and Swiss International Hotels.

10-25% off on guided city tours in Basel, Bern, Geneva, Lausanne, Luzern, and Zurich.

If you have the time, see the Swiss Transport Museum in Luzern, it is fun. You can go there by boat (figures!)

And don't forget the Swiss pass gives you free passage on the lake steamers. If your pass is first class you ride upstairs.

You also get free trips on most post buses. Some funiculars and cable cars are free, such as the funicular and connecting train from Lauterbrunnen to Murren, and the cable car from Murren to Gimmelwald and Steckelberg.

You also get free transport on city transportation in many Swiss cities.

Edward-

Thanks for posting this. I'm leaning towards the Swiss Pass, as opposed to Half Card and this information is quite helpful.

Does anyone know if the Swiss Pass covers the cablecars around Wengen?

Also, is it possible to purchase a second class pass and then upgrade selectively to first class? E.g. on boats, VIP seats on Golden Pass?

Hi Folks,

Edward2005, I've loved that discount on renting bikes -- on two of my recent trips I've rented bikes and enjoyed those discounts.

stillhouse, you get some of those same discounts with the Half-Fare Card; specifically, the rental bikes were almost 50% off with the Half Fare Card.

Yes, you can upgrade your Pass for certain days. I'm not sure where the information is -- maybe peck around www.rail.ch and their Swiss Travel System pages.

No, the Pass doesn't give free cable cars above Wengen, but it does give 10% or 25% off -- just as the Half Fare Card does. I'm pretty sure this information is somewhere at rail.ch; see if you can find some kind of map of coverage.

As you can see, I'm a big fan of the HFC. I think the big advantage of one of the Passes is the convenience (vice economy).

s

The PASS gives 25% of of the cable lifts around Wengen, and it is valid to Lauterbrunnen and Grindelwald.

The Swiss CARD gives 50% off almost all of the cable car lifts and mountain trains,which is why it is my choice.
For example, I have surpassed the breakeven point because of the free trip in and out of the country and half price on the Jungfraujoch ride.

The calculations get to be tricky because they are 100% dependent on where you go and what you ride.

If you are doing 80% standard rail travel, the pass is probably the best cost wise. I do very little standard rail travel in Switzerland, other than the ride in and out of the country, so the 50% off of the cable systems is a better deal for me and my travel style.

It all depends on what you do and where you go and how well you can predict what you actually do.

Edward stated "The Swiss Museum Pass, though, gets you in free to all these and a lot more for only 30 SF." When I looked up the Swiss Museum Pass I only saw an annual pass rate quoted for more than 100SF. Where did you find info on the 30SF version?

The museumspass.ch website only shows the 1-year pass for 111SF. My Rick Steves guidebook says there is a 1-month pass for 30SF available at TIs, post offices, major museums, and at the website above. I didn't see it on the website.