What pass suits my France-Switzerland trip best?
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Hi there!
I’ll be visiting Switzerland on mid July since I will happen to be on Paris for work during the summer. I’ll be couting with 7/8 days to visit around and I’ve been investigating hard on how to make the most out of this journey since it has always been a dream of mine to visit the Alps. Eventhough it is my plans to spend a week there I am eager to find out which is the train pass that suits my trip the best since I am not travelling with the widest budget. I have figured out that I want to visit Geneva, Bern, Luzern, Zermatt and the Jungfrau region and I solved my scheduled to be something like this
Saturday the 15th: Go to Geneva right from my flight to Paris via the TGV Lyria.
Sunday the 16th: The final goal for this day would be to arrive to Zermatt and spend the night there. So, Id start from Geneva and check out Laussane and Montreux along the way.
Monday the 17th: Zermatt (Matterhorn Glacier Paradise and Gornggrat, if possible). I wouldnt know if it could be possible to do all of these and still travel to Lautterbrunnen that same day.
Tuesday the 18tyh: The Jungfrau Region: Schilthorn and around
Wednesday the 19th: The Jungfrau Region: Jungfraujoch and around
Thursday the 20th: Like Sunday, the final goal for this day would be to arrive to Luzern, getting to know Interlaken and Brienz along the way.
Friday the 21st: Luzern (Mt. Pilatus) and then spend the night at Bern.
Saturday the 22nd: Bern and go back to Paris via TGV Lyria.
I have read along the way that prior to buy a predetermined pass I should calculate every single move and then compare it with the available Train Passes, having in mind to choose from the 3-day Swiss Travel Pass (which at the zermatt.ch web only costs 216 CF) and the 120 CF Swiss Half-Fare Card. Then, I also had in mind to also get a 4-day Eurail Select Pass (FR-SW) in order to cover my journey in and out of Switzerland, one latter day I’ll spend in Paris and one day in Switzerland.
As I have been warned, I found out that I could save considerable ammount of money with the Half-Care Card instead of the Swiss Travel Pass (more than 100 CF, to be honest), having to pay half of the train fares every single time in exchange of the confort of having the (almost) unlimited STP and considering the mountain top excursion prices do not diverge that much from one to the other.
In conclusion, I will be getting the Eurail Pass to cover my way in and out of Switzerland and one day there and the Swiss Half-Fare Card for the rest of my stay there. Or would it be wiser to pay for the TGV Lyria alone without having to buy the Eurail pass?
It may look like I have everything sorted out but I just wanted to write this down here in case anyone could point out something that I could be missing or not yet considering. Opinions and advices are more than welcome.
PS. Where is it the best place to buy passes online?
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