Travel in Switzerland

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After Budapest, Vienna and Salzburg we will spend about two weeks in Zurich. (Got the tickets, thank you for your help.) From there we intend to explore Switzerland. We are thinking about We were taking  Bern/Lausanne, Gruyere, Basel, Ticino,  Luzern/Pilatus, maybe Appenzell/St. Gallen, probably one or two more plus some smaller trips.

What makes financially the most sense? I saw a 6 day Flexipass $366, 15 day consecutive $421 (per person with 2 traveling together). Can we do better with individual tickets? Is the convenience factor sufficient for a pass?  The 15 day pass is tempting, but is it worth it? IF yes are we better off buying in the USA or wait until Swizterland so that we can check special offer availability and make up our mind then?

Thank you so much for all your help, Karin

What makes financially the most sense? I saw a 6 day Flexipass $366, 15 day consecutive $421 (per person with 2 traveling together). Can we do better with individual tickets?

Switzerland is convenient, but rather expensive country to travel by rail, so there is not a lot of possibilities to travel really cheap. Though you still can find some more or less pass competetive option - in your case it will be SuperSaver tickets. SBB tends to attract customers with such almost last minute (SuperSaver tickets can be bought from two weeks or less time until sold out) ticket sale and if you catch good SuperSaver it can beat almost any day value of a pass. Although as almost any type of discounted ticket SuperSaver is tied to a specific train and date, thus restricts you in terms of flexibility.
As result, it probably makes sense just to right down all the potential travel segments you intend to travel, visit SBB Ticket Shop, input date two weeks in advance (it will ensure best SuperSaver deal) and simply check the sum of all tickets. Then compare it to pass price and make decision.

Is the convenience factor sufficient for a pass?

Imho, biggest plus of a pass is flexibility. Missed the train - just take the next one, bad weather - travel tomorrow etc. Also Swiss pass gives certain non rail related discounts (like for some ferries, museums etc.), those usually not used often, but still can be a nice surprise. So if the pass is only slightly more expensive it might make sense to go with pass option, but if point-to-point tickets are much cheaper, then you really need to think and weight all the pros and cons.

The 15 day pass is tempting, but is it worth it? IF yes are we better off buying in the USA or wait until Swizterland so that we can check special offer availability and make up our mind then?

Probably worth it. Zurich is a nice place, but you'll likely want something more rather soon. Switzerland is a known place to visit countryside and various small towns, so 6 travel days might be just not enough to enjoy different parts of the country. And don't think there are any discounted Swiss pass (only some 'Specials' (like 2for1), although might be difference in price, since US agency can charge additional commission or any surcharge, so better to recheck