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Hi,
Am planning to visit Switzerland on a 4 day trip in August. Planning to take the Swiss 4 day Travel Pass at 255CHF. On the 5th day, i plan to travel to Paris (early morning) using the TGV Lyria from Zurich.
I can see that Swiss Travel pass offers a Passholder fare on TGV Lyria. I wanted to know that since my 4day Swiss Pass expires on Day 4, will i be able to use this to book a Passholder fare on TGV Lyria on Day 5?
i mean will this Passholder fare be valid when i travel? Since one would need to show a VALIDTravel Pass while travelling on the TGV Lyria since we have booked utilising the Passholder Fare.
Also wanted to know what are the activities on the Rhine Falls not covered by the Travel Pass? Since Travel to Rhine Falls is free from Zurich.
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Welcome to MySwissAlps Roh26!
An expired pass can’t be used to get the discounted fare. You’d better purchase a regular ticket for your Zurich to Paris trip: myswissalps.com/ traintickets/france/ price. The pass can be purchased from the websites listed here.
Indeed the trip to the Rhine Falls is free with a Swiss Travel Pass. The entrance fee to the observation platform and other activities there are not included.
Have fun!
Hey Arno,
Thanks for the quick reply 🙂
Had a few other queries:
i) JungFrau has a Good Morning Ticket from Murren/Wnegen. WIll the 25% discount of Swiss Travel Pass apply to even that?
ii) Also, what do you think about the below itinerary for 4 days in Switzerland?
Day 1: Zurich
Rhine Falls Visit from Zurich
Go to Lucerne
Day 2: Mt Rigis + Lake Lucerne
Day 3: Mt Titlis
Go from Lucerne to Murren
Day 4: Visit Jung Frau with Good Morning Pass
Leave to Zurich at night
Day 5: Leave to Paris from Zurich early morn.
Any suggestions from your end? Maybe skip Rhine Falls & spend a day at Murren or so?
Hi Roh26,
i) You don’t need to consider that ticket. Your Swiss Travel Pass provides a better discount without time restrictions.
ii) Your plans look fine to me. Be sure to keep an eye on the weather during day 2 to 4 so you can do things in a different order if needed.
Hey Arno,
Regarding visiting JungFrau from Wengen or Grindelwald, the following link shows costlier normal round tickets than the Good Morning ticket from Wengen:
Jungfraujoch line 170.00 CHF
Good Morning Ticket 135.00 CHF
Jungfraujoch and to Grindelwald 177.00 CHF
Could you please tell me if am missing something as to how My Swiss Travel Pass provides a better discount for the JungFrau via normal fares rather than using the Good Morning ticket?
Also, i read that the Jungfrau is better visited early in the day as less cloudy. Is that true?
Hi Roh26,
The Swiss Travel Pass gets you 25% off the first price you mentioned.
Indeed, mornings are better on average, but you need to check the forecast as it can also be the other way round.
Hey Arno,
1. Am a lil confused here. Does the Swiss Travel Pass not provide me a 25% discount on the Good Morning Ticket too?
2. Also, was planing to take the Golden Pass from Interlaken to Montreaux. Visit the Chillon Castle & then proceed to Geneva with a boat ride of 45mins Sandwiched on my way from Montreaux to Geneva..i believe the Chillon Castle is covered by my Swiss Travel Pass & so is the Boat trip on Lake Geneva..
However wanted to know if its better i drop my luggage at a hotel in Geneva & then take the boat ride or should i take this boat ride enroute while coming from Montreaux from an intermediate location..
Hi Roh26,
1. No, you can’t combine discounts. The Good Morning Ticket is only useful for travelers without a train pass. You don’t need to consider it.
2. The easiest way is to ship your luggage to Geneva so you don’t need to deal with it at all. That’s what I would do. If you don’t like that option, you’d best store it in a central place, Montreux probably. It takes too much time to travel all the way to Geneva and back to Montreux just to store luggage. A boat ride from the castle back to Montreux would be most practical in that case, although it’s a short ride. There may be boats via Villeneuve or Saint-Gingolph so you’ll have a longer ride.
Hi Roh26-
I see two issues with your itinerary
#1- Long term members of this forum have figured out that I think there are better ways to spend precious time in Switzerland than to visit the Rhine Falls, especially on a short trip. Waterfalls are not unique to Switzerland. Just a personal opinion. Many don’t agree.
#2.- One day in the Jungfrau (one word) region leaves no maneuver room for cloudy weather. The more days that you spend there, the better chance for good weather/no clouds on high.
http://www.myswissalps.com/we ather
I’d move the time from the Rhine Falls to the Jungfrau region if i were doing it myself.
Slowpoke
I have changed the itinerary as below to avoid the Rhine Falls.
Day 1: Mt Rigis + Lake Lucerne
Day 2: Mt Titlis
Go from Lucerne to Murren
Day 3: Visit JungFrau from Murren
Day 4: Leave to Montreaux enroute to Geneva(final destination)
Day 5: Early morn train to Paris
Was contemplating taking the follow Swiss Rail passes to Mt Rigis & Mt. Titlis from Lucerne on Day 1 & Day 2.
Mt Rigis excursion – 93 CHF per person from Lucerne:
leisure.sbb.ch/selecti on/package?productId=582366711
i) Wanted to know if this includes all transport from Lucerne to Mt Rigi including Boat on the Lake Lucerne plus a voucher of 10 CHF to be used in restaurants at Mt Rigis? Or is something excluded?
Titlis Excursion for 113CHF per person from Lucerne :
Does this include all transport from Lucerne to Mt Titlis (including the RotAir Gondola) and back? Also what about the the Ice Flyer ChairLift ? Is that included? I guess entry to the Cliff Walk & Cave is anyways free
Hi Roh26,
So you did not buy a Swiss Travel Pass and decided to buy separate tickets for all your trips?
yes.
Was looking at Seperate Tickets or cobining these seperate tickets with a Swiss Half Fare Card of 120 CHF.
Hi Roh26,
Buying separate tickets is almost always more expensive than buying a train pass. The offers you mentioned usually include a discount of around 10%. A Swiss Travel Pass or Swiss Half Fare Card provide a 50% discount on mountain excursions, and the Rigi trip you mentioned is entirely free with a Swiss Travel Pass.
If you have a pass you still can make use of those offers if needed as they would deduct the travel portion of the package (100% or 50%, depending on the pass).
If want to be sure, you need to do the math as explained here and compare your options: no pass, Swiss Half Fare Card, Swiss Travel Pass. If you want one of the passes, be sure to order in time as it takes 1 to 3 business days to e-mail them to you so you can print the pass at home. That will save you time on arrival.
By the way, I just noticed in your itinerary that you plan to travel from Lucerne to Paris via Zurich. There is no need to travel via Zurich. The direct route via Basel is quicker. That’s where you normally board the train to Paris if coming from Lucerne. You could stay in Basel for the night and only buy a Basel – Paris ticket (see here), which is cheaper than Zurich – Paris.
Hi Arno,
Thanks for the quick reply. As suggested by you, the Swiss Travel Card or Swiss Half Fare Card makes much more sense for me.
With the Swiss Travel Card, How do I validate the start of the 4 day Period? Do i need to mention the date on the pass during booking or should i have it validated on 1st day at a Station itself?
Also, my return is as follows:
Day 4: Leave to Montreaux enroute to Geneva(final destination)
Day 5: Early morn train to Paris
We thought on the 4day we could leave Interlaken via the Golden Pass train & reach Montreaux. Stop there for an hr or 2 & visit the Chillon Castle and then move on to Geneva…
Hi Roh26,
The Swiss Travel Pass can be purchased via http://www.swissrailways.com/ en. They will ask for the first day of travel. After filling out your address, they will show the delivery options. Pick “Online Ticket” from the bottom of the list. They will e-mail the pass (no delivery fees), so you can print it at home. It is ready to use; you don’t need to do anything else.
Your outgoing journey would work fine. You can indeed take the Golden Pass route and visit the castle on day 4. Then stay the night in Geneva (you’ll find hotels here) and take the train to Paris the next day.
Thanks Arno… I picked the 4day Swiss Travel pass from http://www.raileurope.co.in on 8th August
Will I be be getting any mail from them containing the tickets? Am travelling from 12 i.e. Friday morn. So should i mail them asking for the soft copy of the tickets or will it available on the Rail Europe App as an e-ticket?
Hi Roh26,
You should receive an e-mail with the pass soon. You do not need an app.
Enjoy your trip!
Hey Arno,
We had to cancel our trip to Europe at the last minute as my father fell sick & had to be hospitalized for 10days. Thankfully he has recovered now.
I was looking at the refunds (if any) for all the bookings i had done. Could you pls let me know what is the refund policy regarding the Swiss Travel Pass & a booking on TGVLyria incase of medical emergency involving family?
Raileurope indicated that i would be getting a 85% refund on my Swiss Travel Pass. regarding the tickets on TGV Lyria from Geneva to Paris – the tickets indicate them as being non-refundable. Any precedent for refunding these tickets incase of medical emergencies?
Hi Roh26,
I’m sorry to hear that, very unfortunate! As for Swiss Travel Passes: you normally indeed get a 85% refund. For the TGV tickets it depends on the type of ticket. If it says not refundable then that’s what it is. You can contact the retailer you purchased from in both cases, to be sure. If you have travel insurance, they may reimburse 100% of the costs of cancelled trips because of medical reasons.
Good luck! I hope you’ll be able to plan a new trip some day.
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