A lot of conflicting info here.

We've used the Swiss Pass many times, but on our last visit we used the Half Fare Card for the reasons Thin has pointed out. I later crunched the numbers and it was a better deal for us for our two week trip than a Swiss Pass would have been, but not by a huge amount.

We purchased our tickets as we went along, buying them right before boarding a train. It couldn't have been easier, and lines weren't a problem (April). If you miss one train, you just catch the next, no big deal.

Printed time tables are available in the train stations. You might want to pick one up for your next destination the day you arrive, so you can plan for the next leg.

I think buying all of your tickets on the day of arrival... tried and fuzzy from a long flight...just increases the chance of errors which might cost you more time in the long run.

Buy as you go, piece of cake.

ttt

>A lot of conflicting info here<

I'll say.

We will just buy our tickets at Zurich Bahnhof before we get on the train to Wengen on August 20.

No buying ahead of time.

Thank you,
Thin

I wrote :
> And your ticket will normally be good for 1 month for long routes,

Ok, above is wrong. 1 month might have been the case quite a long time ago. Obviously I am not far from up-to-date on this one.

Schulwer wrote :
> Tickets are only good on the days they are issued for.

I have checked with the SBB/CFF info.

Oneway ticket : valid for the day you bought it for, disregarding the distance. So what Schuler wrote is correct.
Round-trip ticket : For the travel of less than 110 km one way, only valid for the day (you have to do the return part the same day). For more than 110km travel, return part is valid within 10 days.
A round trip ticket USED to get you some considerable reduction compared to buying 2 single tickets (that was until about 15 years ago). Maybe 1 month thing I thought was from those days from my vague memories. Today return ticket simply costs double of the oneway.

If Thin is returning to Zurich airport and doing so within 10 days, he could consider buying a round trip ticket, just so that he doesn’t have to queue another time to buy the return part. He can also ask for one way via Lucerne as mentioned above and the return via Bern (quicker but more expensive), unlike a round trip ticket, that’s called a circular ticket.

But I think we agree about ticktes are valid for any train on the day of validity.

I think it would be much cheaper to buy the 1/2 fare card because we will be in Switzerland longer than 8 days and you still only get 1/2 fare with the Swiss Pass for Mannlichen cable car and trip to Schilthorn or Jungfraujoch>

but with the Swiss Flexipass - good for x number of days over a 1-month period you get x number of 100% covered travel days for your longer trips then in between the first and last day of use you get, like the Half-Fare Card 50% off everything that moves in Switzerland (except 25% Kleine Scheidegg to Jungfraujoch) - i always have a pass and always do more than i expect - like i may have said above and forgot - like on a whim on a nice afternoon hopping on a lake boat in Interlaken and just floating around Lake Thun - but if going to one place like Wengen and not traveling around on day trips then the Half-Fare Card probably will be better.

For loads on Swiss trains, boats, etc i always spotlight these fantastic info-laden sites - www.swisstravelsystem.com; www.ricksteves.com; www.budgeteuropetravel.com; www.seat61.com