jlm43

My wife and I will be arriving in Zurich on Sept 1st of this year. We will be looking to purchase an 8 day SwissSaver pass for the two of us. When and where should I purchase the passes? Now, before we leave, or when I get there? Thanks.

swandav2000

Hi jlm43,

There are no discounts for early purchase, so you just have to price it out in your home currency (plus mailing fee) and compare against how much it costs in Switzerland in chf. I think I would just wait and buy it there.

s

Dukey

At the first rail station ticket window you get to in Switzerland..i.e., at the Zurich airport.

jlm43

How much is the SwissSaver Pass in CHF right now? The swiss travel system website will not give me a price. It just gives me a 15% discount when I buy 2 or more of the regular Swiss pass.

swandav2000

Hi,

It will give you a price at

www.swisstravelsystem.ch

(not .com)

Then go to "offers" and then "tickets" (though it's not a ticket . . . )

Then of course select "Europe/Switzerland"

Good luck!

s

jlm43

Thanks Swandav2000. It looks like it would be cheaper to buy it here in the states. $558 with free shipping. Otherwise it is $640 chf and the exchange rate is around 93% right now. I do have a month before we leave so maybe I will wait and see what the echange rate does.

Palenque

Swiss Passes have been significantly cheaper if bought in the States for a few years now - exact same pass - why? Who knows but everytime i check they have been - many agents have free shipping - (the Swiss Railways owns a good chunk of Rail Europe, which is the wholesaler of Swiss Passes sold in North America, which makes this discrepancy in prices mysterious to me - ironically RailEurope is often lambasted on Fodor's for its 'rip-off' pricing - a rather bogus charge IMO but in this case it's the Swiss Railways in Switzerland 'ripping folks off' i'd say). For lots of great info on Swiss trains and passes i always point out: www.ricksteves.com; http://www.budgeteuropetravel.com/id3.html; seat61.com plus swisstravelsystem.com that swandav gave - this site links you to various scenic trains, lake boats, and sbb.ch, the official Swiss Federal Railway site. There is no reason to wait to buy it in Switzerland - jlm43 has pointed out that it would be about $75 cheaper to buy the exact same pass before leaving the U.S.
As for waiting for a better exchange rate keep in mind that Swiss Pass prices in dollars are not set in stone and during this past years prices have gone up and down as they are now pegged to the Swiss franc i believe.

swandav2000

Hi Palenq --

I gave a link to the swisstravelsystem.ch site, not the .com site, which are totally different.

And Raileurope is frequently criticized for charging more for point-point tickets, not for their pricing on rail passes. They DO charge more for point-point tickets.

s

Palenque

Well yes they do charge more for point to point but whether it is a rip-off or not is debatable IMO

thanks for pointing out the difference between .com and .ch i'll check it out.

Dukey

Yes, and RailEurope is a wholly-owned subsidiary of a combo of the SNCF and the SBB/CBB etc., etc. so this pretense that the railroads have little to do with their supposed "rip off" pricing is absurd.

AQ

I followed the advice at this Fodor forum link (http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...ass-dilema.cfm) and called Byron at Budget Europe Travel (http://www.budgeteuropetravel.com/id3.html), when helping my nephew figure out rail travel in Switzerland recently. It's true...Byron is the "go to" person for Swiss passes...any kind of Europe rail pass or ticket! He was so helpful and knew so much, plus, their price for mailing the pass to my nephew was only $5 first class (they mailed it "insured") v. Rick Steves' website charging $12 and Rail Europe $15. It's the same pass, of course. My nephew received the pass in just a few days. I will always contact Budget Europe Travel, and likely Byron, for any future Europe rail travel!

sapu

i would order hte Swiss Pass at http://www.swiss-pass.ch.
You can pick up the Swiss Pass at the service centre at Zurich Airport.

cheers, ps

Palenque

sapu - yes but passes bought in Swiss francs cost significantly more than the same pass bought in the U.S.in dollars so waiting to pick up the pass in Switzerland means paying typically about $60 or more on a typical saverpass i believe.

Palenque

I checked www.swiss-pass.ch (Swiss Railways web site) and compared prices and going that route currently means paying about $70-80 more for a typical Swiss Saver Pass (for two travelers on one pass) than buying it in the U.S.

For example on swiss-pass.ch an 8-day Saverpass would cost 320 Swiss Francs (CHF) p.p. but in the U.S. the exact same pass costs currently $280 p.p.

since the CHF is nearly on equal par with the dollar this would mean paying at least $70 more by picking it up in Switzerland.

I realize that some folks who always have seen passes like this cheaper in the country don't realize this but a Swiss Pass is one exception to that rule.

Palenque

But if anyone is reading this some months from now be sure to check www.swiss-pass.ch to see if things have not changed - again 3 or 4 years ago Swiss Passes were cheaper in Switzerland but since then not - so things can change, esp if the dollar goes up significantly, etc. so check each source andalso figure in the usual 3% for foreign credit card transactions.

flygirl

Hi

So as to not start yet another thread...

I was thinking it would be wiser to buy the pass when we get to Switzerland (planned June 1) because who knows if the volcano will perk up again and thwart our plans. Also, for as much as I want to go to Switzerland this year, if we have a repeat of 2008 and it's a high of 45 and raining during our planned 4 days, it's possible there will be a last minute switcheroo and we'll go elsewhere. I hope not...

I checked the site Palenque put up and apparently a three-person Swiss Pass for four days is 221 CHF per person for second class, which appears to be at least 15 bucks cheaper than through Rick Steves site. Can I assume that the price shown online there is what we will secure as a walk up in CH? It allows for a 15% discount because there are three of us.

I haven't decided if I should get first class, I think if we're mostly just using it for the inter-valley traveling it won't matter which one we get. The long haul from Venice will be first class but I'll buy that as a walkup and one full ticket.

Current plan is to leave Venice and head straight to Wengen for 4 nights. The last morning in Wengen will see us on the train to Zurich for the last night. I figure we can start using the pass the morning we wake up in Wengen for all of our valley travel, get the discount on the Jungfraujoch, take some boat rides on the lakes below, and get ourselves to Zurich on the penultimate day where we can visit at least one museum with the pass. We might even venture to Bern one day, it sounds charming.

Good plan?

gawlergirl

Hi Flygirl,
Theres probably no need to go first class as second is perfectly fine. I would though book your Venice long haul before you go because in our experience it is a busy time of year for travellers and train could be quite full and only runs once daily from what I can remember. We live in Australia and actually bought our passes online from a US site at a much cheaper rate than in AUD on Raileurope.

Palenque

checked the site Palenque put up and apparently a three-person Swiss Pass for four days is 221 CHF per person for second class, which appears to be at least 15 bucks cheaper than through Rick Steves site. Can I assume that the price shown online there is what we will secure as a walk up in CH? It allows for a 15% discount because there are three of us.>

the discount is for having a Saverpass. Period. I believe - here or there - but RailEurope just a few days ago lowered by about $30 the costs of Swiss Passes (someone reported on another thread - they had bought at the old price and were lamenting the new cuts which do NOT apply to passes bought. So check www.budgeteuropetravel.com as i know they have or IME know they should have the new lowered prices.

RailEurope, purveyors of Swiss Passes that agents like Rick Steves and Budget Europe get their passes from and have to sell them at prices set by RE (Steves adds a mailing fee on i believe, which is allowed - others have no fee)- anyway RE is part owned by the Swiss Railways and RE adjusts Swiss Pass prices to keep them about the same or even lower than in Switzerland - and with prices in francs you will add 3% if typical of credit card charges for foreign transactions and a fee for changing money - well not a fee but you do not really get the official rate you may be comparing with.

Pass prices can change anytime - price is only guaranteed after you buy it.

Palenque

Did a quick check of prices for Swiss Passes in dollars and those in Switzerland in francs

Used 8-consecutive day pass - Saver - two or more people on one pass - p.p. prices

(From www.budgeteuropetravel.com)

8-day Swiss Saver Pass - consecutive days = $297 p.p.

from sbb.ch = 321 Swiss francs

Using .92 francs to dollar = $295

but if you add the 3& for most credit cards used for foreing transactions would be about $304 or $7 more than here - but tomorrow exchange rates could go either way.

flygirl

The nickle and dime stuff doesn't matter if this volcano thwarts our plans and we don't even get to Europe. If this trip falls through, I'm sure to get back to Europe later this year but Switzerland is more doubtful. I'd rather be out 30-50 bucks pp on the ground there, than 250 bucks pp because we didn't make it to Switzerland.

Regardless, it still seems to me the pass is a cheaper and easier way to go than individual tickets for each and every transport we board.