Swiss Pass
 

we are traveling in Swizerland for 3 weeks late May and early June. We will have own transportation as that is what we want to do. Is a Swiss pass worth the cost for museums and scenic train/lift rides in a few places. Does anyone know the cost? I do not know if attractions give a senior rate? If so, we are seniors.

The site below has a lot of info on the various Swiss passes. If you aren't using the Swiss rail system, then it may not make financial sense to get one. Unless you plan on lots of cable car rides, museums, ferries, etc. It also covers intracity transportation such as street cars and buses.

https://www.ricksteves.com/travel-ti...nd-rail-passes

thanks, it sounds like many of the hotels provide a transportation voucher when staying with them. I will take a look at this.

Defnitely NO to a Swiss Pass or anything else for you. First of all Swiss Passes only cover lifts and gondolas 50% and you'd have to go to practically every one of the 470 or so places the Swiss Pass gets free entry to make that pay off.

To check on pass prices however to see why it is not nearly a good thing check these fine sites: www.ricksteves.com (as Edward2005 mentions above and www.budgeteuropetravel.com and www.seat61.com.

some Alpine areas don't allow cars in past a certain town so you will also have to buy train fares to get around.

Is a Swiss pass worth the cost for museums and scenic train/lift rides in a few places.>

No but the Half-Fare Card, sold locally at stations, could well be IF you take some very expensive trains like from Interlaken/Grindelwald to Jungfraujoch - the half-off would almost pay for the Half-Fare Card, valid for a whole month everywhere or the gondolas to The Schilthorn or in Zermatt trains up to the Matterhorn's summit area, etc. And all gondolas and trains and lifts in the whole country with very few exceptions.

There is only one official site concerning Swiss Travel Passes:
http://www.swisstravelsystem.com/en/...-overview.html
I suppose you know that many cableways in the Alps will NOT run before mid June.

It would be worth checking the individual websites of the mountain cable cars and funiculars to see when they open rather than relying on the rather vague answer in the last post.

I have been to the Jungfrau region several times in the late May to mid-June area and have experienced minimal closures. Certainly not many.

The Allmendhubel funicular near Murren closes for a few weeks for maintenance in this spell, so that could be hit or miss. But every other cable car in the region I have wanted to use has been available in late May to mid-June.

I have not been there since 2009 so my experience is getting dated.

Tipsygus, if you want the whole list, open http://www.fahrplanfelder.ch/en/welcome.html
or just use http://www.sbb.ch/en/home.html

But according to my experience, not many people in this forum like to read timetables or maps.

I suppose you know that many cableways in the Alps will NOT run before mid June.>

from what time to mid-June - just a few weeks I understand many are closed for maintenance during the off season between winter hiking and summer winter sports season.

These are the lifts that we are considering:Schilthornbahn, Jungfraubahn, Pilatus (Lucerne) , Mt Titlis, & Chamonix. It seems that I read that one of them is closed for maintenance but it was early May. The half fare card sold at local stations could be the way to go.

I don't know about Chamonix but the others have always been open when I visited late May to mid June.

Yes i think the closing are in early to mid-May.

oops, don't know what happened. Schilthornbahn

I don't know about Chamonix but the others have always been open when I visited late May to mid June.>

Chamonix offers to me the thrillingest gondola ride in Europe - from Pt Aguille to Pte Heilbronner in Italy and back - it goes high above a sea of ice and when the cars stop to let people on or off at either ends you end up in those small 4-person gondolas eerily dangling high above the ice, which you can hear cracking down below - not for nervous Nellies that's for sure. check dates but if it is running this is a trip of a lifetime! Starts right from Chamonix itself with a large cable car going up to the Pt Aguille - then changing to the tiny cars to swing over the sea of ice to Italy and back (though you could descend into Italy if you want):

https://www.google.com/search?q=agui...w=1745&bih=868

The Swiss cog wheel railways and gondolas you mention will all run in June. You could have checked yourself by opening the links I gave above.
Chamonix is a holiday resort and not a mountain railway station. Tell me which of the 10 mountain railways/gondolas in the Chamonix Valley you plan to use and I can tell you whether it will run.

Chamonix is a holiday resort and not a mountain railway station.>

Just to be clear it does have rail service from Martigny, Switzerland and France and the Martigny-Chamonix train is awesomely scenic - great way to go between Switzerland and France - glaciers tumble nearly down to the tracks at places.

Of course: Chamonix is a station of French National Railways SNCF. But I thought we were speaking about cog wheel railways and gondolas to the mountain peaks.
....

We were but folks with little first-hand knowledge may have thought otherwise. If one has a Swiss Pass it is fully valid to Chamonix from Martigny, Switzerland.