rail pass
 

hello, pls help me identiy, which pass should i purchsae
i would be staying at wenger for 4 nights,
2 nights at lucerne

heard there are many passes swiss pass/half euro pass/ etc

or would i be better off paying for individiual tickets.

i plan to see
arrival from basel to wengen
+
BO area during my stay at wengen
+
Luceren area during my stat at lucerne
+
on last day going to zurch airport from lucerene

Without knowing exactly what you intend doing while you are in Wengen it is impossible to say which pass would be best you need to go to the Swiss Rail website and see what the fares are www.sbb.ch/en the website gives you the half fare cost unless you enter full fare.

Swiss Passes can be very useful in the Wengen area as they cover in full trains up there and also to Murren and Grindelwald and Gimmelwald and Lauterbrunnen, etc and also are valid on boats on Lake Brienz and Lake Thun - the two lakes bookending Interlaken - give free entry to the famous Ballenberg Open-Air Museum, etc.

But if you just go to Wengen and hike and not take trains then a pass may not be the best deal - passes do give 50% off all aerial cableways (some are covered 100% - to Grutschalp/Murren and Stechelberg to Gimmelwald/Murren. they also cover boats on Lake Lucerne and the Golden Pass rail route up and over the Brunig Pass to Lucerne from Interlaken, etc. and give free entry to museums in Lucerne, etc.

So it all depends on what you are doing - if unplanned the pass may be a good thing to keep options open - say the not so unusual rainy day sets in in the hills - well a day trip to Bern could still be nice in any kind of weather, etc.

The only Swiss Pass you would consider is the 3 day Swiss Flexipass (Saver if two or more traveling together on one pass) - Half-Fare Cards mean you must know exactly what you are doing to calculate its worth and do not forget that a Swiss Card gives everything a Half-Fare Card does plus a train trip from any border station/airport to any place in Switzerland and back to any airport or border station - this could be better than the Half-Fare Card because between those two trips you get 50% off everything that moves in Switzerland except cows!

For lots of great info on Swiss trains, passes, etc I always spotlight these IMO fantastic sites - www.swisstravelsystem.com; http://www.budgeteuropetravel.com/id3.html; www.ricksteves.com.

ttt

a pass will get you a discount on trains and cableways used to get around In the Berner Oberland (above Lauterbrunnen and above Grindelwald, for example). The pass will not get you a full 100% off some of these conveyances.

You need to look at the swisstravelsystem site that Pal has pointed out.

PalenQ is the expert on this, but let me add that the Transport Museum (Vehrkersmuseum) in Lucerne is 50% off with a valid rail pass (and no discount with a half-fare pass), not free as it once was.

Yes indeedy - Swiss Transport Museum a few miles east of Lucerne's center, on Lake Lucerne is now 50% off and not the formerly free with a pass - still saves a sizable chunk of money - most other museums remain free.

a pass will get you a discount on trains and cableways used to get around In the Berner Oberland (above Lauterbrunnen and above Grindelwald, for example)>

Actually dukey the cables from Lauterbrunnen to Grutschalp and cliffside train to Murren and cable from there to Gimmelwald and from Gimmelwald back down to the Lauterbrunnen Valley at Stechelberg and postal bus back to Lauterbrunnen are all 100% covered by a Swiss Pass - some of the very few aerial cableways in Switzerland to be so covered in full.

Above Grindelwald it is 50% on cables but only 25% if going to the Jungraujoch - reduced from 50% a few years back - ditto for Wengen to Kl Schiedegg and Jungfraujoch.

The rule for whether the Swiss Pass covers something in full is, I've been told, if a conveyance actually connects two towns or villages, etc but not just to mountain tops.

Thus the thrilling aerial cable way from Lauterbrunnen to Grutschalp and the equally awesome one plunging down from Gimmelwald to Stechlberg are completely covered because they are a means to go between Lauterbrunnen/stechleberg and Gimmelwald and Murren.

Most aerial gondolas only go to mountain tops or places like Mannlichen that are not towns and thus are only 50% covered.