Ferry, boat, train trips with Swiss Travel Pass
TravelElla plans to visit Switzerland for 25 days in August/September, focusing on using the Swiss Travel Pass for efficient travel. They have questions about the pass's validity for various boat trips, train journeys, and whether to book tickets for cable cars in advance. They seek clarification and confirmation on their travel plans and itinerary details.
- The Swiss Travel Pass covers unlimited travel on all main transport, including trains, buses, and boats, but some mountain excursions may require additional tickets.
- Boat trips on Lake Zürich and certain sections of the Rhine are included with the Swiss Travel Pass, but it's wise to check specific routes with the boat company.
- For cable car tickets, purchasing on the spot is generally fine, but consider booking in advance during peak season to ensure availability.
- Plan for ample time when hiking from Aescher to Seealpsee, especially on steep sections, and bring walking sticks for support.
AI-generated summary-
Hello SwissAlps Forum Members
Hopefully we will be visiting Switzerland during August/September 2022 for 25 days. I have done the math regarding the different tickets and it will definately be cost effective to buy a 8 Day STP & a 15 Day STP with the 25% discount promotion until 11 December 2021.
I have looked at the map for the validity of the STP, but just want to make sure if I understand the different colour lines of the map correctly.
1. Is a Ferry/Boat trip on Lake Zürich from Rapperswil to Zürich included in the STP? Can we board any Ferry/Boat with the STP? Where can I find the time schedules of this?
2. We are going by train from Zürich to Schaffhausen to leave our luggage at our hotel and then take a train from Schaffhausen to the Rhein Falls. Are the trains or buses from Schaffhausen – Rhein Falls included in the STP? Regarding the validity info of the STP it seems that it is only the boat trips at the Rhein Falls that are not included in the STP.
3. We are interested in a Boat trip on the Rhine River from Schaffhausen or Stein am Rhein either to Steckborn or maybe the whole cruise up to Kreuzlingen. Is this line on the Rhine River included in the STP? We are going to spend a few hours in Stein am Rhein. We want to do a combination of train and boat travel for the return back to Schaffhausen where we will overnight. I have already printed the “Schiffsfahrplan 2022 Untersee und Rhein”, so this will be easy to plan a daytrip. I see there is different companies who advertise these kind of cruises. Is the STP valid on all the boats and can we just board a boat on a specific scheduled time?
4. We will also stay 2 nights in Gais near Appenzell so that we can do a daytrip to Ebenalp (by cable car), Aescher Restaurant, Wildkirchli and hike down to Seealpsee. Regarding the Red train lines, the train travel on our arrival day from Schaffhausen – Winterthur – Gossau – Appenzell – Gais and on our departure day from Gais – St Gallen – Luzern (we will get off at Küssnacht am Rigi and then take the Bus to Weggis to our accommodation) is included in the STP. Is my homework correct ?
5. Is it necessary to buy the different tickets for the Cable Cars / Mountain excursions (Mt Titlis / Mt Pilatus / Grindelwald / Jungfrau region) in advance or do we buy it on the day of the trip at the kiosk and show then our STP to get the discount or what is the procedure with these kind of tickets?
Thank you very much for your help and assistance with my questions.
TravelElla
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Hi TravelElla! The 25% discount (http://www.myswissalps.com/forum/topic/swiss-travel-pass-25-off-until-11-december-2021) is great for sure. I think you’ll love the flexibility it provides during your 25-day stay in Switzerland!
You did a good job interpreting the Swiss Travel Pass validity area (https://www.myswissalps.com/swisstravelpass/validity). Let’s have a look at your questions:
1. Correct, this boat ride is for free (http://www.myswissalps.com/boatlakezurich/tickets). You’ll find links to schedules here: http://www.myswissalps.com/boatlakezurich/gettingthere.
2. Correct, you can reach the Rhine Falls for free, but you’ll have to pay additionally for access to some of the promenades and for (optional) boat trips along the falls: http://www.myswissalps.com/rhinefalls/gettingthere, http://www.myswissalps.com/rhinefalls/tickets.
3. Yes, it’s a bit difficult to see, but the white lines from Schaffhausen along the southern, Swiss banks of Lake Constance indicate free boat rides there. There may be exceptions or additional payments for special culinary cruises. In case of doubt, I suggest you contact URH (the boat company for “Untersee und Rhein”): http://www.urh.ch/en/kontakt.
4. That’s all correct. Even the trips up and down to/from Rigi are included: http://www.myswissalps.com/rigi/tickets. You’ll only need additional tickets for the excursion to Ebenalp.
5. You can either buy your cable car tickets on the spot or in advance. In some cases, advance reservation might come in handy as you’ll be visiting Switzerland during (part of) the summer high season: http://www.myswissalps.com/besttimetovisit. The advice is different for each mountain trip though. I suggest you study the “Tickets” tab of each of our attraction pages for more information, e.g.:
Our attraction pages for the Jungfrau area are listed here: http://www.myswissalps.com/jungfrauregion/activities.
I hope this confirms your thoughts and answers your questions! Let us know in case you need more help :-).
All ‘main network’ rail, bus, post bus, local bus, city bus, tram, light railway and boat routes are valid for unlimited travel with an STP. As per the dotted lines on the validity map a few mountain railways and most cableways are discounted but not free. In 60 years of travelling in Switzerland I’ve never made an advanced reservation – even in peak summer season, and I have never not been able to ride the service I wanted to ride.
When I stayed near Appenzell a few years ago we got a free Appenzell travel pass (which gave free travel to Ebenalp) because we stayed in accommodation, but I think the minimum stay is 1 week.
By the way I don’t know your hiking ability level but allow plenty of time as the path down from the Aescher Inn to the lake and then down to Wasserauen is very steep and quite rocky in places. It took so long that we had to get the evening bus from Wasserauen because the train had finished for the day!
Hello Annika
Thank you so much for your feedback and all the extra links provided.
This will surely help a lot with all the planning and arrangements that must still be done.
Regards
TravelElla
Hello 1960man
Thank you for the info provided. I really appreciate your help and concern especially with the hiking down from Ebenalp to the lake.
I am a 1960woman….. hiking ability not too bad at this stage, but due to a previous broken wrist, I am a little bit cautious 🙂
So therefore I am going to take your first hand experience and advise and then rather buy a return cable car ticket.
Regards
TravelElla
You can see from this picture how steep the mountainside is and how deep the bottom of the valley is:
It doesn’t help that after a refreshing drink at the hotel at Seealpsee you then have no choice but to walk down the sometimes steep access road, which has no bus
Hello 1960man
Thanks for the Google photo. I had a look at a few of the streetview photos on the hiking trail from Ebenalp to the bottom of the valley and the route is quite steep and rough.
Do you think it will be a good option then to take the return cable car and then walk from Wasserauen to Seealpsee and back? And then to catch the train late afternoon back to Appenzell and Gais. I have looked at a few google streetview photos for this part and most of the route from the train station to the lake looks okay?
Please advise.
TravelElla
Hi TravelElla,
The road from Wasserauen to Seealpsee is a service road. Some parts are rather steep but not as steep as coming down from Ebenalp. I’ve seen a lot of families with strollers and children walk on this road so it is fairly do-able. Might be a good idea to bring walking sticks just in case.
Regards,
Anna
The road between Wasserauan and Seealpsee is used for access by locals and maintenance vehicles so is not a rough path, but there are some very steep sections. Having worn out our legs on the descent from Aescher to Seealpsee, we found the steepest sections of the service road also very hard. One of the problems is due to the known fact that going down steep rocky paths is actually harder on the leg muscles than going up.
You need to decide for yourself based on what we’ve discussed already plus the following:
I’m concerned that the idea you now have might be time-inefficient, as it comprises: Going up the cable car, walking down to Aescher, walking back up to the cable car, coming back down the cable car, walking up to Seealpsee, walking back down from Seealpsee.
As long as you start the day as early as possible and don’t hand around, you could do it the way we did it, essentially the point is that you need to allocate as much time as possible to the Aescher – Seealpsee walk so that you can take several rest breaks on the steepest sections.
Hello Anna
Thank you for your reply and info regarding the service road from Wasserauen to Seealpsee and then back to Wasserauen.
We will take the walking-poles along 🙂
Regards
TravelElla
Hello 1960man
Thank you for your detailed info regarding my inquiry.
We will start the day early and I think best will be then to play the afternoon depending on the available time left.
As soon as we have reached Wasserauen again after the return cable car ride, we can make a decision. First see how we will handle and cope with the down and up walk from cable car station to Aescher.
If our legs are not feeling like jelly when we get down to Wasserauen, we can see if we still have enough energy to walk to Seealpsee and then back to Wasserauen station.
Seealpsee will be our first Swiss Lake experience, but we are planning some other lake excursions as well. So maybe if we do not get to Seealpsee, I think there will be enough other lakes to experience 🙂
Regards
TravelElla
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