Some great input on here about the Golden Pass, will follow up on this. Thank you swandav2000 and PalenQ.

Re: Swiss Pass
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I priced my itinerary approximately...

CHF 510 - Full price
CHF 436 - Swiss Pass (170 + 266)
CHF 361 - Half Fare Card (251 + 110)

And, given that the fare from -

Wengen - Jungfraujoch (CHF 157 rt)

And

Murren - Schilthorn (CHF 86 rt? Murren LSMS-lsms to Schilthorn gives "station not found" on sbb.ch, so used Rick Steves' chart for pricing this; what am I doing wrong here?)

= CHF 243 Full Price,

The Half Fare Card makes sense. And almost every transportation during my stay gets to half price.

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Three more questions:

1. Murren LSMS-sbm to Allmendhubel -- on sbb.ch says "station not found"; what am I doing wrong?

2. From Windersil to Schynige Platte -- is this 100% covered by Swiss Pass?

3. The Golden Pass train is also covered by Half Fare Card, is that correct?

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I'll follow up about the Golden Pass train, but a quick logistics question in the meantime: if I have 1.5 hours at Montreux, will it be enough to visit the Chillon Castle? If not, how much time should I factor in for this?

Thanks so much for the help with my trip.

Hi again,

Yes, the GP is covered by the HFC (as is just about everything that moves). I personally always use the HFC for my travels in Switzerland.

Well, I personally don't think you'll have enough time to get to and enjoy Chillon castle in 90 minutes. The castle is about a 45-minute walk from Montreux, but you can get there by bus in about 15-20 minutes (walk to the bus stop, wait for the bus, get to the castle). Plan for the same to return. That leaves you only about an hour to tour the castle itself. I haven't done this in about 40 years, but I read recently that one should allow two hours to tour it.

Also, imo one of the best things to see in Montreux is the flowered lakeside promenade, so missing that would be a true shame. It will be a very tough decision, to choose between a little longer stay in Montreux and the Golden Pass.

s

I believe Schynige Platte is only covered 50% by a Swiss Pass and to me if I had never been there it would be relatively low on my list - not that it ain't great but other excursions IMO even greater if time is limited. I suppose if you are interested in teddy Bears or Alpine Gardens it could be a must - the famous Alpine Garden and tacky Teddy Bear Land tourist trap awaiting up top.

Thank you swandav2000 and PalenQ for the very helpful input.

It would be nice to spend a bit more time in Montreux. Given the time I have, I might only be able to pick one of the two places swandav2000 mentioned, and only get a cursory look.

PalenQ, I was planning to go to Schynige Platte for the hike to Daub Peak (a suggestion from Rick Steves' book) First would be too long, as folks advised here, so picked Daub peak. Zero interest in Teddy Bears.

Since I have three full days there:

Day 1: Schilthorn + 1 hike
Day 2: Jungfraujoch + 1 hike
Day 3: Lauterbrunnen waterfalls + hike from Schynige plate

Plan is, if I get bad weather on the first or second day, might use the third day instead to visit Jungfraujoch or Schilthorn.


Do you guys recommend taking the Golden Pass from Interlaken to Lucerne, do the regular trains cover the same route? Thanks for the input.

one addition to PalenQ:
Golden Pass don't track thru Gstaad I believe if getting off at Gstaad is your goal - have to change for Gstaad I believe off direct GP route Montreux to Interlaken. Not sure but think so --> isn't correct!

The Goldenpass Trains track directly through Rougemont-Saanen-Gstaad-Zweisimmen. In Zweisimmen you have to change for Interlaken. A short (or longer) stopp in one of the above mentioned villages is always worth the time.

Now I know how to spell Zweisimmen, assuming pb is referring to the same place where GP route passengers have to change trains. And thanks to the correction (as swandaav above also made). I thought I remembered years ago the train going to the north of Gstaad but I must be membering wrongly.

About the GP. I spent two weeks in Chateau d'Oex one year>

I spend two weeks one night in Chateau d'Oex - stopped overnight there - man talk about church mouse quiet and rolling up the sidewalks at night - basically seemed like a farming town - not bad and nice scenery all around - anyone wishing to stay in a place off the tourist path should check out Chateau d'Oex - don't recall seeing a chateau there though. Just a lot of large cow barns.

One weird thing to watch for when taking the GP rail route IME is when you cross from the French-speaking part of Switzerland into the German-speaking part - you need no map to tell you when you cross the invisible border - we found that just by looking at the woodpiles stacked outside houses we could tell.

The German part had wood stacked very evenly - each piece cut exactly to the same length so the ends of the piles were smooth

We could tell when, around Chateau d'Oex the wood piles all of a sudden appeared more haphazardly cut and stacked - so look at the wood piles to see which part of linguistic Switzerland you are in.

@PalenQ: :-) You're a good observer. And as always both sides of the "coin" have there +/-.

ah yeh - hard to judge which way is better - German way probably takes longer?