bhureka

Hi,

Can somebody please help us with this. It is our first time going to switzerland. We'll be there for 4 nights and will be staying in zurich for 3 nights & interlaken for 1 night We would also be having a rental car with us since we plan on driving from paris to zurich.We are a family of 2 adults & 1 child. I looked at raileurope.com and do not understand which pass should i be taking the swiss card or the swiss pass or should we not be taking a pass at all. Is a swiss card valid only for 1 day? We definitely plan on visiting 2 mountains and going to rhine falls one day. We leave in end of june.

bhureka

Forgot to mention that our daughter is 6 six years old.

clevelandbrown

If you are going to have a car, why not drive instead of taking public transportation.

I would look again at the decision to drive from Paris to Zurich. Fuel is expensive, and on rentals you usually pay extra for the privilege of turning it in in another country, so taking a train may be more pleasant and affordable. I'm a bit biased in favor of public transportation in Europe, as it is quite good. When we stay in Paris, we don't keep a car as its easier to walk or take a metro than to drive and find parking.

If you do decide to use public transportation, you should plan your itinerary and see just how much public transporation you will use before committing to buying passes. If you are staying in Zurich three days, then going to Interlaken for one day, and I presume then back to Zurich to fly home, you are very likely to find it more economical to buy point to point tickets than to get passes. A complication might be if you intend to visit Jungfrau or Schilthorn, where the price is as steep as the ascent, and some passes do give you a discount. I've not travelled with kids, but I recall reading that they ride the trains free if with you and you have passes; I don't know if the same applies when you buy point to point tickets.

It seems there are thousands of variants of passes and cards, so deciding whether to get one, and if so, which one, takes a lot of planning and research. You could do a forum search for Switzerland and review some of the many threads there on this subject.

Most often, if you post your precise itinerary here and ask for assistance, you will get good advice on how to proceed.

Incidentally, if you are new here, you can call up a list of all the threads you have posted on by clicking on your underlined screen name at the top of the page.

PalQ

Swiss Card is good for one-month of 50% off everything almost that moves in Switzerland. Swiss Pass starts at 3 days of travel in a one-month period and during the whole month on the days you do not use the pass for 100% valid transport, on the other days, you also get 50% off for the month. So what's better for you is easy to compute.
Go to www.sbb.ch and get ordinary fares in SF (worth about 83 cents US) and then see what, with the Swiss Card, you'd pay on the all 50% off basis and then using the three 100% days on the Swiss Pass + 50% off on everything else, see what's cheaper.
You could also use the pass to train to Basel or Geneva and pick up your rental car there at the train stations (may be better as these may be considered French pick up points and you won't have a potentially steep drop off charge for picking up car in one country and dropping it off in the other. This would make a Swiss Pass more viable.
Both Swiss Cards and Swiss Passes can be bought in Switzerland but they are actually currently significantly cheaper here thru RailEurope due to currency exchange rates and the falling dollar. and in U.S. you get a free Family Pass - a free pass or Swiss Card matching whatever the parents buy. In Switzerland this card costs about $18 - the Family Pass means your child (any under 16 traveling with a parent) always go free on anything in Switzerland - even when you have to pay 50% with a Swiss Pass or Card - like on the Jungfrau trains - child would be free as long as you buy half-off ticket with pass or card. In the U.S. i always recommend Bundget Europe Travel Service(www.budgeteuropetravel.com) for their Swiss rail expertise and if going the Swiss Card route a $10 cheaper mailing fee than RailEurope, who they work thru. On their site's home page you can also request their free European Planning & Rail Guide that has an excellent chapter on Swiss trains and travel). Other good sources on Swiss rail travel online are at: www.ricksteves.com and this site i think also talks about regional passes (like the BOB or Jungfraubahn passes which you should also investigate). www.euraide.com too has good info on railpasses and Swiss train travel. www.myswitzerland.com is the web site of Switzerland Tourism, the country's national tourist office (877-794-8037).

bob_brown

I have usually gone with the Swiss Card. It is good for 30 days as stated.
Last year and in previous years, I did my initialization with a pen.

You do need a passport number to buy it because the number is stamped on the Card.

One BIG feature of the Card is that the price includes a trip in from the border and out again.

The Swiss Pass offers free rail riding on Swiss National trains and other means of transportation as well.

In the mountains of the Berner Oberland, it gives a 50% discount as well.

The choice depends on how much you plan to use mountain transportation, which is all private lines, and how much you plan to use the national system.

Budman

We used the Half Fare Card which costs 99 SFr for one month. You have to use 200 SFr's worth of full fare transportation to/from wherever you want to go to hit the break even mark. Anything over that is 1/2 fare.

We had a car and drove to/from areas then took boats/gondolas, etc.

You almost have to do the math to find out what best suits your needs. We were there 10 days, and with 4 days, you just might be better off paying full fare, unless you plan on lots & lots of cable cars, trains, gondolas, and boat trips.

Maudie

PalQ,

I am wrestling with this decision as well, would I be right in assuming that with the Swiss Pass that you are referring to is the Swiss Flexi Pass? On this pass, if I am reading it correctly, states that once you have used your last 100% day the pass is no longer valid?
Also with the Swiss Pass that you pay for your chosen number of days (we are looking at 15 days) then everything is covered for that time, taking in to consideration the 50% off on cable cars etc.
I am using the info from myswissalps.com

Thanks.

clevelandbrown

The Swiss pass gives you consecutive days of the size you pick. An eight day pass gives you eight consecutive days of travel.

The Swiss flexi-pass gives you the number of days you pick, but they need not be consecutive. An eight day Swiss flexi-pass is good for a month, but you can only use it to travel on eight days within that month.

Each of the above comes in a saver version, which gives a discount if you have more than one person in your group. i.e., two Swiss saver passes (one for each of a couple) costs less than two Swiss passes of the same denomination.

There are also many other passes and cards, including some specific to certain locations, so you either have to plan your itinerary in exquisite detail and do the research on all of the passes and cards to get the best deal, or just give up and either buy tickets or get one of the passes or cards and hope for the best.

I don't like the Swiss pass, as my frugal nature would demand that I use the trains every day, even if its raining and I just want to stay in a museum. I like a bit of freedom in my itinerary, and I don't want to put in all the time it would take to find the absolutely perfect pass, so I just get the half-fare cards. Other people make good arguments for some of the other passes or cards and I certainly won't say they are wrong.

Maudie

Thanks for your input, clevelandbrown. I have spent hours getting all the point to point prices and doing the sums but its not an easy decision to pick "the perfect pass". To many choices!

escargot

bhureka: I had the same frustration you are having figuring out our rail pass on our visit to Switzerland last Christmas, I think it was PalQ whose recommendation I took and called BETS and, as he says, they were wonderful and really helped me figure out what I needed and sent me tons of additional info about the areas we were going to be visiting. Just another rec for you to try them, they returned my calls so promptly and were so helpful we called them on our return to thank them yet again.

bhureka

Thanks everybody! After much thinking and reading bought the swiss pass.

PalQ

Maudie: no the info you have about after exhausting your 100% travel covered days the 50% discount ends - you indeed get the 50% discount for the entire one-month period. I know where this language comes from - the Swiss Railways info that was written with a poor choice of wording. I've clarified with some higher ups in RailEurope who checked again and said yes for the whole one-month period - that's why they say "this year the Swiss Flexipass also acts as a Swiss Card" (the card gives a 50% everything for a one-month period). Last year the discount was 25% so of course 50% makes the pass more viable and you may want to order less 100% covered days (the min is 3) and use the 50% off for cheaper transport than saying paying for a 4th or 5th unlimited travel day.

Maudie

PalQ,

Ah, now that makes sense. I think I will have to have another look into the Swiss Flexipass in that case.

There are a lot of recommendations to contact BETS to get the best advice, but as we are not in the USA we can't get the booklet that everyone talks about which is a pain. So which is the best website to get the correct info from, in your opinion?

We are thinking of going from Zurich and picking up the Bernina Express, how do I get a price for this? Or is it the same price as the normal train? I would like this fare to add into my spreadsheet.

Thanks so much, your knowledge is very much appreciated to a bewildered Aussie.

PalQ

The bernina Express is simply an official tourist train that runs the exact same route - the world's slowest express train perhaps, taking two hours to go about 37 miles. But the basic rail fare is the same but you must pay a supplement/reservation fee to ride the official Bernina Express - i think about SF10 or so in Switzerland - not really that much. Regular trains go over the same route about hourly and on these you can't reserve at all.
www.ricksteves.com has good info on Switzerland rail and check out www.euraide.com as well. Prices for Swiss Passes in Australia should be about the same as in U.S. - check out RailEurope's Australian subsidiary or STA Travel, near campus communities.

enzian

Maudie---did you try www.railsaver.com? The website will give you a price (in U.S. dollars) for each leg or your train journey, so you can decide whether to include that day on your Saverpass or not (in which case you will pay only 50% of the stated price if you have the pass).

PalQ

In any case 50% off on the Bernina route would be cheaper than using an unlimited travel day unless you had a day to throw away. goodgle Bernina Express to get the fares. And there is no need to go all the way to Tirano, Italy but just half-way up to the summit for the Alpine lake walk and glaciers. www.sbb.ch for real prices.

Mimar

I think clevelandbrown was right about training rather than driving from Paris to Zurich. Trains are great for kids; they can move around, play on the floor, and the toilet is down at the end of the car. In a car there's less space, they're packed into a car seat, can't move much, and finding that toilet is not always easy.

Maudie

Thanks PalQ, I did find the fares yesterday on the offical rhb.ch. Yesterday I read Rick Steve's and Euraide and it is all getting clearer.

Enzian - Hi to you and thanks, yes I have spent quite a bit of time on railsaver too.

We look like having around 15 days, something like this.

Arrive Zurich midday - stay overnight or go straight onto to Chur.

Pick up Bernina or regular train down to Tirano - post bus to Lugano. Spend 2 or 3 nights, Centovalli to Domodosssola - Napoleon Route Express onto to Brig, then train to Villeneux (trying to stay in hotels from rooms.ch) 3 nights.
Train to Brienz for remainder of our time.
So far I have added up about around 900 francs each in travel. It looks like the 15 day Swiss Pass might be the best bet - all our trips fully covered apart from the private cable cars, Jungfrau etc. The Swiss Pass is $400AUD each plus $15 security (Swiss Franc and Aussie Dollar are pretty similar) but the Flexi Pass is $482 for 8 days then we still have to pay 50% on the rest of the time.

I am reading this right? We more than likely will be travelling somewhere each day, even if it is just a ferry ride. As far as I can see the cheap days make up for the expensive days. Or am I thinking wrong?

PalQ

Yes i think the consecutive pass is a better deal for you - if you were going to be there for a month and not traveling so much then the flexipass could be - yes a flexipass could be more expensive for less days than a consecutive day pass. You can buy Swiss Passes at stations in Switzerland but in the case of the U.S. they are more expensive now in Switzerland - not sure about Australia but you could check the www.sbb.ch web site for prices in Switzerland.

Maudie

PalQ,
Thank you so much for your help, I really do appreciate it. You are a pal Q. I can easily buy the tickets here, no problems with that.

Our son is off to Whistler at the end of the year and calling San Fransisco for a couple of days to visit a mates sister so I might get the train booklet on BETS sent on to her, then he can bring it home!

Maudie