Swiss Pass and Euro Pass

  • Removed user
    Participant
    72625 posts
    14 November 2010 at 13:48:42 #804052

    Hi

    Kindly advise me, I have go through read the Swiss pass and Euro pass, but I am confuse?? Do not know which Pass to buy. I and my family (2 Adults + 2 children > age 13 and 17 years old) will travel from 15/12/2010 to 30/12/2010 to Switzerland and French (Paris).

    Our itinerary will be:
    15/12 Arrive Zurich, Zurich to Lucern > Stay at Lucern 2 nights
    16/12 Lucern
    17/12 Lucern to Interlaken > Stay at Interlaken 1 nights
    18/12 Interlaken to Grindelwald > Stay at Grindelwald 2 nights
    19/12 Grindelwald/Jungfraujoch
    20/12 Grindelwald to Interlaken to Zermatt > Stay at Zermatt 2 nights
    21/12 Zermatt
    22/12 Zermatt to Montreux (Montreux/Lausanne/Bern/Geneva)
    23/12 Bern? Geneva ?
    24/12 Geneva to Paris (by night train > need/how/when to book?)
    25/12 Paris > Stay 3 nights
    26/12 Paris
    27/12 Paris
    28/12 Paris to Zurich (by night train > need/how/when to book?)
    29/12 Zurich > Stay 1 night
    30/12 Zurich to Singapore (by morning Flight)

    Kindly advise can I purchase a Eurail France-Switzerland rail pass or Swiss Pass+Euro Pass
    and which type of pass is suitable for my family.

    Thank you and awaiting for your reply.

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    Annika
    Moderator
    7104 posts
    15 November 2010 at 12:58:49 #831960

    Hi pheliayeo, and welcome to the forum! Based on your travel plans, my advice is to purchase either a Swiss Saver Pass or a Swiss Saver Flexi Pass. It wouldn’t be cost effective to supplement this with a Eurail pass, or to buy a Eurail France-Switzerland Pass. Your stay in France is relatively short, and the trip from the Swiss border to Paris and back seems to be the only French journey you’ll be making. Therefore, it wouldn’t be economical to pay for a pass that covers travelling throughout France. Only very precise calculations would give a definitive answer as to which pass is cheapest, but I hope that the information below helps you decide.

    A 15 day Swiss Saver Pass would cover almost all days of your stay and offers free travelling throughout Switzerland in trains, buses and boats on all days. Mountain trains and cable cars are discounted. Please take a look at the map under the link ‘Overview of the network on which the Swiss Pass is valid’ at the Swiss Pass page to find out which routes are included. The Swiss Saver Pass is a convenient option, as you don’t have to buy reduced tickets for your train, bus and boat trips. If you order a free STS Family Card along with your Swiss Saver Passes, your 13 year old child will traveling along for free. A Swiss Youth Pass can be purchased for your 17 year old child.

    A Swiss Saver Flexi Pass allows free travel on a number of days, which you can determine yourself. The maximum validity is 1 month and between the first and last day of free travelling, a 50% discount applies throughout Switzerland. The free travel days can be used for the longer and more expensive train journeys in your itinerary, such as Zurich-Lucerne, Interlaken-Zermatt, Montreux-Bern, and so on. On the remaining days, you’ll profit from a 50% discount. This does require you to buy discounted tickets for your trips on these days. Again, your 13 year old can travel along for free with a free STS Family Card. There’s no Youth variant of this pass, so a normal Swiss Saver Flexi Pass should be purchased for the 17 year old as well.

    As for your other questions: train journeys between Geneva and Paris, and between Paris and Zurich, can be booked through this page. Simply fill out Geneva as your departure station, Paris as your arrival station, and pick one of the connections offered by the timetable. Repeat the procedure for your journey backwards from Paris to Zurich. These international train trips have to be booked in advance indeed, and it’s wise to arrange for this as soon as possible, as prices may be higher when booking shortly in advance.

    I’m not sure which schedule you have in mind for December 22. There’s quite a direct route between Zermatt and Montreux, and it would be a long detour to travel via Lausanne, Bern of Geneva. You can plan your trips using the Swiss timetable.

    I hope this provides some answers! Kind regards,

    Removed user
    Participant
    72625 posts
    16 November 2010 at 20:07:02 #831961

    Hi Annika
    Thank you for your advise. I have book a 15 days consecutive STS Family Card and a Youth pass for my family for travel
    in Switzerland. But for Geneva to Paris and Paris to Zurich any overnight train I can buy, and from website, buy e-ticket or buy from Singapore?
    Thanks again for you very helpful advise.

    Phelia

    Annika
    Moderator
    7104 posts
    18 November 2010 at 4:39:29 #831962

    Hello Phelia. You’re right, the system I mentioned before isn’t very useful for Singapore travellers. If you are Singapore residents, you can best purchase your tickets from Geneva to Paris and from Paris to Zurich through RailEurope Singapore, where you’ve probably purchased your Swiss Passes as well. Please get to this order page, click ‘Get quotes or order through the RailEurope System’ and follow the further procedure at the RailEurope website. In the box at the left of the page, you can fill out the travel date, your destination and arrival station and the number of travellers. Then you can pick your connection and order the tickets. The tickets can either be collected at a shop or sent to your home address in Singapore.

    I hope this helps!

    Removed user
    Participant
    72625 posts
    22 November 2010 at 2:33:40 #831963

    Hi Annika
    Thank you very much for your last reply.
    May I know is Montreux chocolate Train operate in Dec?
    Thanks

    Annika
    Moderator
    7104 posts
    23 November 2010 at 14:15:09 #831964

    Hi Phelia. Unfortunately, the Chocolate train only runs from May to October, so you can’t make this special trip in December. However, you can travel to Broc by regular train and bus in December as well and visit the chocolate factory.

    Removed user
    Participant
    72625 posts
    24 November 2010 at 6:40:40 #831965

    Thank you Annika for your reply.
    Yes, after I go through a few reading some info, Chocolate train don’t run in December!
    But I manage to find out Chocolate and Cheese factory @ Gruyeres, will take train from Montreux.
    Regards

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