Originally Posted by
BMWMOT
Hi, as someone mentioned above, I too find the SBB site lacking and to me as someone never using it before, not very user friendly. There seem to be so many pricing/ticket options, I'm completely confused.
Here is what I'm try to do. I'm hoping someone can lend guidance.
My wife and I will be in Switzerland for about 1 week (our first time).
The agenda is arrive ZRH in the morning. Take the train to Lucerne.
3 days in Lucerne.
Train to Lauterbrunnen.
3 days in Lauterbrunnen
Train to Zurich for 1 night
Train from Zurich to ZRH in the morning.
Keep in mind while in Lucerne, we'd like to visit Mt Rigi and/or Pilatus etc. While in Lauterbrunnen we'd like to go to the mountain tops, Jungfrau etc. Some passes give you discounts on these things and some may be included?
Hi
BMWMOT,
The SBB site is not the most pretty to look at, but it's quite straightforward once you get the hang of it. The pricing is actually reasonably simple, with 2 base "walk up" fare types available on all departures for a given itinerary:
- The full fare
- The half-price fare
There is no reason to buy these tickets until you get to the station. They are valid for any departure time on the specified route on the day of travel, or you can specify a later date of validity at the time of purchase. There is no discount for booking a roundtrip vs. 2 singles. Ticket machines that take all credit and debit cards are widely available at every station, or you can queue for a human teller at larger stations.
The full fare is available to anyone, obviously. The half-price fare is only available to children aged 16 or younger, dogs(!) and holders of various passes. The relevant pass for you as a foreign visitor is the one-month Swiss Half Fare card, which costs CHF 120.
In addition to those base fares, some trains have a limited number of discount tickets available. These can only be purchased online, are bound to a specific train and cannot be modified or cancelled. When discounted tickets are available, this will by flagged "%" sign and a lower price next to a given train/itinerary. The fares are also further reduced if you have a Swiss Half Fare Card. My advice to you would still be to ignore this option, as the savings are not that significant vs. the loss in flexibility - but that's my personal view of course.
There is a regional pass available for the Bernese Oberland area, but it's quite expensive at CHF 240 (full) / CHF 180 ("half price") for 4 days. I wouldn't take the risk even if there are potential savings (which I doubt anyway), as weather can be iffy in the area, and there's no point in going up to the Jungfraujoch or Schilthorn if the views are obstructed. Slightly OT: my 3 recommendations for the Lauterbrunnen area are: Schilthorn, hike (easy) from Männlichen to Kleine Scheidegg and Jungfraujoch.
Potentially more interesting for you, there are combo offers available for day trips
here on the SBB site. Currently, the selection is heavily skewed towards ski trips, but the summer deals should be up by May/June, and may include some of the peaks you intend to visit anyway. These deals are generally attractive, and can be purchased directly at any departure station in Switzerland, just like a normal ticket. Again, there are always "full" and "half price" fares available for these packages.
Finally, if applicable, you can add a day card for the local public transportation network at your cities of origin and/or destination to the walk-up fares (not the non-flexible ones or the combo deals) - this is called a "City-City Ticket". This is the only type of open ticket that it makes sense to buy ahead of time, if you will use it to get to your departure train station (could be the case in Luzern for example).
It's quite easy to get fare data directly from the timetable query results: the default "from" cost displayed is the half-price flexible fare - so use that to calculate total ticket cost with a Swiss Half Fare card. If that total cost is above CHF 120, it's worth buying the Swiss Half Fare card; if not, just buy full-fare tickets.
So to answer your specific questions:
Originally Posted by
BMWMOT
1. What is the best pass for us, if any?
I would just price the individual fares for the journeys you expect to take, and decide based on that whether a Swiss Half Fare Card makes sense or not. If the total expected cost on a half-price fare basis is above CHF 120, then buy the Swiss Half Fare Card; if not, just pay the full fare total of max. CHF 240.
Originally Posted by
BMWMOT
2. Once I have bought my pass what's next?
If you decide to buy the Swiss Half Fare Card, do so when you arrive at Zurich Airport station, no sense in purchasing it in advance. The only train that it could possibly make sense to book in advance is the Jungfraujoch train, and even that is not mandatory. So just print out the schedules for the train journeys you intend to take, or save them to your calendar (very easy to do if you install the SBB app), and buy your tickets on the spur of the moment.
Have a great time visiting some of the world's most beautiful mountains!