4 day Swiss Travel Pass validity

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    17 April 2017 at 10:50:00 #811430

    Hi

    We (Husband and I) will be arriving into Zurich from Salzburg in Mid August for 5 nights (4 full days). Our Plan is to base ourselves in Zurich as we will be flying out from there for the whole time. I am looking at the 4 day Swiss Pass x 2 to cover our sightseeing . We are wanting to do the following day trips by train: 1 day to Lucerne/Return; 1 day to Jungfraujoch (this will be train to Interlaken via Bern, then to Lauterbrunnen and onto Kleine Scheidegg for Jungfraujoch / Return. 1 day in Zurich seeing the city and lake; and last day to Rhine Falls and Stein am Rhein.

    My question: Will the 4 day pass cover all the travels I have mentioned? Is it just the Kleine Scheidegg to Jungfraujoch portion that it does not cover? If it covers all the trains; does that mean we do not reserve seating albeit being peak summer and crowded or can we still book seating with the pass but not pay anything extra?

    We will take the train to the airport when we leave the following day; and I do know the pass will not cover this.

    I hope I am on the right track with the pass. I am also looking at the 2 country (Austrian/Swiss) pass as we will be travelling by train through Austria also; however not sure yet. Would my above itiniery be covered by the 2 country pass?

    I look forward to any advise possible.

    K

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    17 April 2017 at 12:08:12 #861667

    Hi KoulaLJ and welcome to MySwissAlps!

    Yes, it covers everything but the route between Grindelwald (or Wengen) to Jungfraujoch. This ticket can be purchased ahead of time and you do get a 25% discount with the Swiss Travel Pass.

    Please note that the trip from Zurich to Jungfraujoch is about 4+ hours one way.

    No reservations are required on Swiss trains nor are they needed. If a train for some reason is completely full another train will take you on within 30 minutes from Zurich – there are many many trains running. If you did want to reserve, you sometimes can but it would be an extra cost so I have never bothered.

    If the Swiss Travel Pass is still valid on your last day it will definitely cover the route to the airport – virtually all routes in Switzerland are covered.

    You can compare what the two passes cover here: Swiss Travel Pass validity and Eurail Select Pass validity. The coverage in Switzerland isn’t quite as good with the Eurail Select Pass but it may be enough for you and your plans.

    Lucas

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    17 April 2017 at 21:50:52 #861668

    >> Our Plan is to base ourselves in Zurich

    I am looking at the 4 day Swiss Pass x 2 to cover our sightseeing

    1 day to Lucerne/Return

    1 day to Jungfraujoch (this will be train to Interlaken via Bern, then to Lauterbrunnen and onto Kleine Scheidegg for Jungfraujoch / Return

    1 day in Zurich seeing the city and lake

    last day to Rhine Falls and Stein am Rhein.

    A 4-day Swiss Travel Pass would cost CHF 259, or CHF 64.75 per day. Using it on the day you spend in Zürich would be a bit of a waste of money. Perhaps you could consider swapping your day in Zürich with your visit to the Rhine Falls and Stein am Rhein, then you could get a 3-day Swiss Travel Pass to cover Luzern, Jungfraujoch and Rhine Falls/Stein am Rhein, and get a ZürichCARD for CHF 24.00 to use in Zürich on the final day. The ZürichCARD will cover a Short Round Trip on the Zürichsee (Lake Zürich), which takes an hour-and-a-half, as well as local transport etc. More information is here:

    http://www.zvv.ch/zvv/en/trav elcards-and-tickets/tickets/other-tickets/zuerichcard.ht ml

    >> We will take the train to the airport when we leave the following day; and I do know the pass will not cover this.

    That’s OK, as it would be a waste of money to use it just to get to the airport. To get to the airport from the main station, you need a 3-Zone ticket for CHF 6.80 second class. You will be travelling in Zones 110 (central Zürich) and the adjacent Zone 121 (where the airport is located), but Zone 110 counts as two zones for fare purposes, so you need a ticket for 3 zones. There is a Zone Map at the link below, and they are also displayed at tram and bus stops:

    http://www.zvv.ch/zvv-assets/abos-und-tickets/zonen/tarifzon en_d_e_16.pdf

    >> I am also looking at the 2 country (Austrian/Swiss) pass as we will be travelling by train through Austria also; however not sure yet. Would my above itiniery be covered by the 2 country pass?

    Coverage in Switzerland is not so good with the Eurail Pass. Some travel that is free with the Swiss Travel Pass is only discounted with the Eurail Pass. You can compare the coverage of both passes, by downloading the coverage maps and seeing what routes are free or discounted with each pass.

    As explained in the legend on the maps, red lines are trains, yellow lines are buses, black lines are cable cars, white lines are boats. Solid lines are free, dotted lines are discounted, mostly by 50%, but only 25% in the Jungfrau region. The main differences that are relevant to your plans are reduced coverage with Eurail in the Luzern/Lucern area, and in the Jungfraujoch area.

    Swiss Travel Pass

    http://www.myswissalps.com/sw isstravelpass/validity

    Eurail Pass

    I can’t find a way of linking directly to it on the SBB site, which has recently been redesigned, and the file size is too large to upload here. However, if you do the following search in Google, you will be able to download it:

    eurail area of validity site:sbb.ch

    It will be the first search result, a PDF file called “[PDF]Geltungsbereich Schweiz für Interrail/Eurail Rayon de validité Interrail…”

    Alpenrose

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    18 April 2017 at 7:51:01 #861669

    Thank you Lucas and Alpenrose. You have been most helpful.

    We have always avoided passes; however here in Australia many people use them, so I thought I would look into it as we are doing all our travel by train.

    Initially we were to go to the Falls on day 3; however there is a street parade in Zurich on Sat, 12 August; thought it would be great atmosphere in the city in the afternoon and evening.

    It is a shame the passes are for consecutive days. We are still likely to get it as it will be useful for the 3 days we travel out of the city.

    Thank you once again.

    Koula

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    18 April 2017 at 9:50:26 #861670

    Hi Koula,

    There is also the Swiss Travel Pass Flex for non-consecutive traveling days, it can get a bit expensive but might be worth it for you.

    Lucas

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    18 April 2017 at 13:02:00 #861671

    Hi Lucas

    I just had a look to compare the 4 day Pass (259CHF) vs the 3 day Flex Pass (248 CHF) + 24 for the city pass per person. We will purchase the 4 day pass.

    Thank you for your advise and assistance

    Looking forward to our visit, albeit a short one. Next time we will do the other half 🙂

    K

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