Is the Jungfrau Travel Pass worth it? An honest review

What is the Jungfrau Travel Pass?

The Jungfrau Travel Pass is a convenient ticket that grants you access to a network of trains, cable cars, and gondolas within the Jungfrau Region, allowing unlimited travel for a set number of consecutive days.

What does the Jungfrau Travel Pass include?

The Jungfrau Travel Pass validity is best explained by the map below, but here’s a list of specific transportation that’s included

• The Eiger Express cable car from Grindelwald to Eigergletscher
• The Jungfrau Railway from Kleine Scheidegg to Eigergletcher
• A discounted price for the final leg of the Jungfrau Railway from Eigergletscher to Jungfraujoch (Top of Europe), 63CHF return outside of peak season, 75CHF return from June to August. This is the best price available, vs. 147.80CHF for the Interlaken-Jungfraujoch round trip with the Swiss Travel Pass, 111CHF for the Half Fare Card price for the same trip, or 99CHF for the Berner Oberland Pass.
• A discounted price for the Stechelberg to Schiltorn cableway, 81CHF (instead of 108CHF)
• Trains between Interlaken, Grindelwald, Wengen and Lauterbrunnen
• The Harder Kulm funicular
• The mountain railway to Schynige Platte
• The Wengernalp Railway from Lauterbrunnen to Kleine Scheidegg and Grindelwald
• The trains and cable cars to Grütschalp, Winteregg and Mürren
• The gondola to Grindelwald-First
• The cableway from Grindelwald or Wengen to Männlichen
• Boat Thunersee and Boat Brienzersee
• Grindelwald Bus local lines

Phew!

And here’s the map:

What does the Jungfrau Travel Pass not include?

The Jungfrau Travel Pass doesn’t include:

• The full trip to Jungfraujoch – Top of Europe (no travel pass includes this anymore!). It covers you all the way to Eigergletscher and then provides a discounted rate for the final leg of the trip to Jungfraujoch.
• The full trip to Schiltorn (it covers you until Mürren and then offers a discounted rate on the cable car to Schiltorn)
• Activities like ziplining at Grindelwald-First
• Any travel beyond the map of validity, i.e. getting to or from Interlaken

Jungfrau Travel Pass prices

This pricing is in CHF and is valid for the 2024 season.

*The reduced price is available to holders of a Half Fare Card or Swiss Travel Pass, and the pass must be valid and active on those days.

Kids aged 6-15 years old pay a flat fee of 30CHF for any Jungfrau Travel Pass regardless of validity when they’re accompanied by an adult with a valid pass.

The Jungfrau Travel Pass Winter is 20CHF cheaper for all pass lengths for both full fare and discounted rates, because the validity is slightly more limited due to seasonal closures.

Where to buy a Jungfrau Travel Pass

You can purchase a Jungfrau Travel Pass on the Klook website if you want to get 10% off with the promocode above, or book it direct if that’s what you prefer (no promocode sorry!).

Is there a Jungfrau Travel Pass app?

There’s no Jungfrau Travel Pass app. When you purchase your JTP online you’ll get send a confirmation email with a PDF attached, this ticket can be presented on your phone or you can choose to print it if you prefer.

How long is the Jungfrau Travel Pass valid?

You choose! There are options for 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 or 8 consecutive days of travel.

Is the Jungfrau Travel Pass available all year?

The main Jungfrau Travel Pass is available until 27 October 2024.

If you’re travelling outside of these dates, there’s a Jungfrau Travel Pass Winter. This one is a bit cheaper as some of the mountain railways shut over the winter (like Harder Kulm and Schynige Platte).

Do you need to make seat reservations with the Jungfrau Travel Pass?

Generally, no. Most of the trains within the Jungfrau region don’t require reservations, you can simply hop on and off as you please and your JTP acts as your ticket.

But the exception is Jungfraujoch – Top of Europe, this trip is highly popular so seat reservations are recommended during busy periods if you want to guarantee your train time rather than waiting in line. You can book them on the Jungfrau website.

How do you book mountain railways with the Jungfrau Travel Pass

Super simple, simply show your Jungfrau Travel Pass at the mountain ticket office and they’ll give you your ticket to access the mountain railway or cable car.

How do you book Jungfraujoch – Top of Europe with the Jungfrau Travel Pass

To book your discounted Jungfraujoch ticket with a Jungfrau Travel Pass you can either go to a station at Interlaken Ost, Grindelwald or Wengen and show them your pass to get access to the discounted price, or book through the official Jungfrau website if you’d prefer to do it online.

There are specific webpages you have to go through to get the discount as it doesn’t come up in the normal search, the links are:

Connecting ticket during summer >> (this will work until 27 October I think)

Connecting ticket during winter >> (this link will work after 27 October)

How to calculate if the Jungfrau Travel Pass is worth it for your trip

You need to look at your actual itinerary (or lack of itinerary) to figure out if a Jungfrau Travel Pass is worth it for your trip.

Here are some ways to calculate the value of the Jungfrau Travel Pass and nail down once and for all whether it will save you money or not.

If you know your itinerary

If you already know your itinerary, you can easily figure out whether the Jungfrau Travel Pass will be worth it.

1️⃣ Write each trip in the region into a spreadsheet, e.g. Interlaken to Jungfraujoch return, Interlaken to Grindelwald-First return and Interlaken to Lauterbrunnen return

2️⃣ Create three columns in the spreadsheet, for the full fare price, the Swiss Half Fare Card price and the JTP price

3️⃣ Go to SBB.ch and search each train/bus/boat route you’re taking on the public network. Note down the price for each trip with the Half Fare Card as well as the full fare price. Note: The SBB website automatically shows you the half fare price as the ‘from’ price so you’ll need to select full fare on the next page to see the actual full price.

4️⃣ For mountain railways and cable cars, you’ll have to go to their websites to find the full fare and half fare prices

5️⃣ For all trips within the validity map except Jungfraujoch, put ‘0’ in the JTP column as these are all covered

6️⃣ For Jungfraujoch, put the special discounted price in the JTP column (63CHF return in low season or 75CHF from June-August)

7️⃣ Add in a final row with the pass price (120CHF for the Half Fare Card and whatever price for the length of Jungfrau Travel Pass you need)

8️⃣ Total up the columns and see which one comes out on top!

Your spreadsheet should look something like this:

If you don’t know your itinerary yet

It’s a bit trickier to determine is a Jungfrau Travel Pass is worth it without knowing your itinerary in advance, but we can do some estimations to see whether it’s going to be an obvious good or bad idea.

First up you’ll want to decide whether you want to visit Jungfrau or not.

If you want to visit Jungfraujoch from Interlaken, you’ll immediately save 160CHF in the shoulder season or 149CHF from June to August with the JTP vs. paying the full fare price. That makes the pass vs. full fare tickets a no brainer, it would only take one or two other trips for the pass to pay itself off.

If you’ve got a Half Fare Card then you’re only saving 37-49CHF on the Jungfraujoch trip, but you also get a discount on the Jungfrau Travel Pass which makes it even better value for money. Combining the two is probably the best option for most itineraries, but we really need to look at the specific itinerary to get a final verdict as it will depend on what you’re doing outside of the Jungfrau region.

If you’ve got a Swiss Travel Pass, you’ll save 73-85CHF combining it with the Jungfrau Travel Pass vs. full fare tickets and you get a discounted JTP, so the pass miiiight be worth it if you’re doing three or four other trips during your time in the region, like Grindelwald-First, Harder Kulm and visiting Lauterbrunnen.

Just be aware that the Swiss Travel Pass must be valid during the time you combine it with the JTP, meaning you’re essentially paying twice for those days, and this often means it’s not a worthwhile use of the Swiss Travel Pass. You could get the full price Jungfrau Travel Pass for travel within the region, then a shorter Swiss Travel Pass to cover travel outside of Jungfrau.

If you don’t want to visit Jungfraujoch, the best way to determine is the Jungfrau Travel Pass worth it would be to divide the pass by the number of days to figure out the per-day price. The full price 3 day pass is 70CHF per day which would be hard to hit without Jungfrau, but the 8 day pass combined with a Half Fare Card or Swiss Travel Pass ends up being less than 32CHF per day which would still be great value if you plan on doing all there is to do in the region aside from Jungfraujoch.

Pros of a Jungfrau Travel Pass

✅ Hassle-free travel: Just jump on and off public transport and show your online pass when asked for your ticket, and show your online pass at the ticket counter for mountain trains and cable cars to get the physical ticket to access those modes of transport
✅ Cheapest Jungfraujoch ticket: Access to the best price for Jungfraujoch, cheaper than the Swiss Travel Pass, Swiss Half Fare Card or Berner Oberland Pass
✅ Potential cost-savings: If you’re planning on doing a lot of travel in the Jungfrau region then you’re most likely going to save money with a Jungfrau Travel Pass
✅ Flexibility: Choose a pass length that suits your trip, ideal options between 3-8 days (vs. the Swiss Travel Pass which has annoyingly spread out options)
✅ Extra discounts: Save 10% on the pass with the promocode FINDINGALEXXKLOOK, get an even better deal if you combine it with the Swiss Half Fare Card or Swiss Travel Pass, and you can use the promocode to save 10% off them too! Buy them all at once for the discount to be applied to the whole bundle.

Cons of a Jungfrau Travel Pass

👎🏼 Upfront cost: The pass can be a bit of an investment, especially for shorter trips
👎🏼 Limited area: The pass is only valid within the Jungfrau region, so if you’re travelling on a longer Switzerland itinerary you’ll probably need to get a Half Fare Card or Swiss Travel Pass to cover travel within other regions
👎🏼 Activities not included: The activity packages for Grindelwald-First aren’t covered so you’ll need to pay extra to do things like the First Flyer, First Glider or Trotti bikes
👎🏼 Weather dependent: If the weather is poor during your Jungfrau visit and you decide to skip some mountain excursions, you might not get the full value of your pass

Swiss Half Fare Card

The Swiss Half Fare Card does it exactly what it sounds like it does, it gives you a 50% discount on trains, buses and boats in the Swiss Travel System network. It also gives you half price on most mountain railways and cable cars.

It’s just 120CHF for a one month pass, which means you only need to be using 240CHF worth of transport to make the Swiss Half Fare Card worth it.

The best news is that you can combine the Swiss Half Fare Card with the Jungfrau Travel Pass for a 21-23% discount depending on the pass length, so you can use the Half Fare Card for all travel outside of the Jungfrau region, then get the Jungfrau Travel Pass for cheap and use that for travel within the region.

💰 Save 10% on the Swiss Half Fare Card with the promocode FINDINGALEXXKLOOK

Read my full guide to find out if the Swiss Half Fare Card is worth it 👉🏼

Swiss Travel Pass

The Swiss Travel Pass covers unlimited travel across trains, buses and boats on the Swiss Travel System network. Your pass acts as your ticket so there’s no need to buy tickets for each trip you take (unlike the Half Fare Card).

The pass also gives you discounts on most mountain railways and cable cars (although the Half Fare Card and Jungfrau Travel Pass both get Jungfraujoch for cheaper), free public transport in 90+ towns and cities, and free museum entry to 500+ museums.

The Swiss Travel Pass is expensive but it can sometimes be worth it, especially for expensive panorama trains like the Glacier Express.

You can also combine the Swiss Travel Pass with the Jungfrau Travel Pass to get it at a reduced rate, but this requires your Swiss Travel Pass to be valid that day, and it usually wouldn’t end up being very cost effective to double up these two.

💰 Save 10% on the Swiss Travel Pass with the promocode FINDINGALEXXKLOOK

Read my full guide to find out if the Swiss Travel Pass is worth it 👉🏼

Point-to-point full fare tickets

Buying individual tickets (also known as point-to-point tickets or full fare tickets) is almost never a good idea if you’re spending three or more days in Switzerland, they usually end up being a lot more expensive than if you used any of the travel passes.

Point-to-point tickets in Switzerland are priced dynamically, meaning they get more expensive when the demand is higher (e.g. when it gets closer to the travel date).

If you book well in advance, like months before your trip, you miiiiight be able to get a good deal on an individual ticket but these are generally for a specific time and aren’t flexible or refundable.

The best place to book individual tickets in Switzerland is the official sbb.ch website.

Eurail/Interrail Passes

If you’re travelling Europe by train, you might be considering a Eurail or Interrail Pass for your trip.

These are my go-to for train trips outside of Switzerland, but within Switzerland they don’t cover many (if any) mountain excursions so it really brings down their value. They do cover regional and panoramic trains like the expensive Glacier Express though so they can be handy for that!

Within Switzerland you’ll probably want a pass that covers or discounts mountain railways and cable cars, and you can save your Eurail travel days for inter-city trips, panoramic trains or travel outside of Switzerland.

Is a Jungfrau Travel Pass worth it? Four example itineraries

The best way to show that the Jungfrau Travel Pass is worth it (or find out if it isn’t) is by looking at some example itineraries and comparing the JTP with the Half Fare Card, Swiss Travel Pass and full fare tickets.

I haven’t included the Berner Oberland Pass here as the value of that really depends on where you’re coming from/going to before and after your time in the Jungfrau region, but I recommend you include this in your calculations to see the full picture.

I also haven’t taken into account the 10% promocode discount on any of the passes in these calculations either, so if you book a pass on Klook using the promocode FINDINGALEXXKLOOK you’ll save even more money than what I’ve shown below.

Here are four example itineraries, these are based on someone staying in Interlaken but it wouldn’t be hugely different if you stayed in Grindelwald, Lauterbrunnen or any other mountain village.

Three days in the Jungfrau region without Jungfraujoch – Top of Europe

Let’s say you’re based in Interlaken, want to see some epic mountain trips but don’t want to go all the way to Jungfrau. This might be your itinerary, with all of these trips as return trips to and from Interlaken:

• Interlaken to Grindelwald-First
• Interlaken to Eigergletscher
• Interlaken to Harder Kulm
• Using a three day Jungfrau Travel Pass

Here’s a table showing the breakdown, all prices in CHF and valid as of 1 March 2024:

JTP: Jungfrau Travel Pass, STP: Swiss Travel Pass, SHFC: Swiss Half Fare Card

🥇 In this example, the Jungfrau Travel Pass ends up being about 8% cheaper than buying full fare point-to-point tickets.

It’s also cheaper than the Swiss Travel Pass-only option or the Half Fare Card-only option, but these calculations don’t take into account the value of those passes for your other travel outside the region. For more detailed calculations on those passes you can check out these blog posts:

👆🏼 Is the Swiss Travel Pass worth it?
👆🏼 Is the Swiss Half Fare Card worth it?

Three days in the Jungfrau region including Jungfraujoch – Top of Europe

Let’s look at the same itinerary but go all the way to Jungfrau this time, assuming we’re travelling outside of the peak season and get the cheaper discounted Jungfraujoch ticket with the pass.

🥇 Once again the Jungfrau Travel Pass comes out on top, saving 22.75% compared to full price point-to-point tickets.

Four days in the Jungfrau region

Let’s look at a slightly longer itinerary with some more adventures involved.

• Interlaken to Grindelwald-First
• Interlaken to Jungfraujoch – Top of Europe
• Interlaken to Harder Kulm
• Lake Brienz + Lake Thun cruise day ticket
• Interlaken to Winteregg

You could cram these into a four day pass, the lake cruises and Harder Kulm could easily be done the same day.

🥇 The Jungfrau Travel Pass is significantly cheaper this time, saving almost 37% vs. full fare individual tickets.

Eight days in the Jungfrau region

• Interlaken to Grindelwald-First
• Interlaken to Jungfraujoch – Top of Europe
• Interlaken to Harder Kulm
• Day cruise ticket
• Interlaken to Winteregg
• Interlaken to Mannlichen
• Interlaken to Schynige Platte
• Interlaken to Lauterbrunnen

🥇 The Jungfrau Travel Pass wins again, saving 36% vs. individual tickets.

Jungfrau Travel Pass vs. Swiss Half Fare Card

As you can see from those example itineraries, the Jungfrau Travel Pass comes out as being between 8-19% cheaper than if you just used the Swiss Half Fare Card during your time in the Jungfrau region.

What that doesn’t include, though, is the value of the Half Fare Card if you’re travelling more of the country than just the Jungfrau region.

If you’ve got other travel to cover in Switzerland, it’s almost certain that a combo of the Swiss Half Fare Card and Jungfrau Travel Pass will save you money.

If we look at the eight day itinerary:

• Using a JTP only would cost 393CHF all up (330 for the pass + 63 for Jungfraujoch)
• Using a Half Fare Card only would cost 426.20CHF all up (all tickets half price + Half Fare Card price)
• Combining the two would give you the JTP for only 255CHF at the discounted rate, a Half Fare Card for 120CHF, and the Jungfrau return ticket for 63CHF, making the total 438CHF, and giving you half price travel on the rest of your itinerary which is much better than just getting the JTP alone and paying full price on travel outside the region.

I hope that makes sense but if it doesn’t then please let me know in the comments where you’re getting confused!

Jungfrau Travel Pass vs. Swiss Travel Pass

The Swiss Travel Pass generally isn’t as good value as the Swiss Half Fare Card, so for *most* itineraries the Half Fare Card + Jungfrau Travel Pass combo will end up giving you the best deal.

In saying that, if you’re travelling on the Glacier Express (where the Swiss Travel Pass saves loads!) and are only doing mountain railways that are free with the Swiss Travel Pass (like Rigi and Stanserhorn near Lucerne) then the Swiss Travel Pass + Jungfrau Travel Pass combo might end up being the most cost effective option.

Jungfrau Travel Pass vs. Berner Oberland Pass

Now this is a closer comparison for sure.

The Berner Oberland Pass gives some clear benefits over and above the Jungfrau Travel Pass:

👍🏼 It covers inter-city travel on some trains beyond the JTP’s validity, so if you’re travelling into Interlaken from Bern, Lucerne or Domodossola (by the Italian border) those trips are covered too.
👍🏼 The Swiss Half Fare Card discount is a higher percentage, making the Half Fare Card + Berner Oberland Pass combo potentially better value than the combo with the Jungfrau Travel Pass (dependent on your exact itinerary)
👍🏼 If you’re between 16 and 25 then you get access to the discounted rate (same as Half Fare Card/Swiss Travel Pass) without needing to hold a travel pass
👍🏼 There’s 10 day option if the 8 day Jungfrau Travel Pass won’t cut it for you

But the downsides are:

👎🏼 More expensive for every single pass, getting progressively pricier for longer passes
👎🏼 Only valid in the summer season from April to October
👎🏼 A higher price for Jungfraujoch, 99CHF return or 75CHF if you’ve got a valid Swiss Half Fare Card

The Jungfrau Travel Pass vs. Berner Oberland Pass again relies totally on your itinerary, it could really go either way.

There are a few posts online comparing the two that all clearly profess the Berner Oberland as being the best option, but from what I can see all of these were written pre-2023 when the previously-named Top of Europe Pass got a makeover and prices/inclusions changed.

These days the Berner Oberland Pass is quite a bit more expensive than the new (in 2024) Jungfrau Travel Pass which has evened the playing field, and whether it ends up being better for you will depend on your travel to and from Interlaken, if you need a 10 day pass and if you’re eligible for the reduced rate due to being under 25 (as opposed to needing to buy the Half Fare Card).