[Anonymous]

18 June 2018 at 17:42:59 #816730

Hi, we are a family of 4, (including 2 kids), travelling to Switzerland for the first time. The following is our itinerary.

Day 1, arrive in Zurich, move to Weggis.

Day 2: spend the day in Lucerne city and go back to Weggis for the night.

Day 3: mount pilatus/ mount Rigi. Go to Interlaken spend the night there.

Day 4: visit the jungfrau top. Back to Interlaken.

Day 5: travel to Geneva. Staying there with family for 3 days.

Day 8: go to Italy (Florence).

Can you recommend the rail travelcard that we should buy.

We also want to know if we can take a train from Geneva to Florence?

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[User]

Reply 1 of 7 • 18 June 2018 at 17:50:04 #888707

Hi Deepti and welcome to MySwissAlps!

To know which rail pass is the best for your specific itinerary you need to plan out all trips you will make (train, bus, boat, cable car) and compare the prices for regular tickets to the rail pass price (and which routes/mountains are free or discounted). Once you have that information you can read our page here on how to choose the best rail pass. There is a spreadsheet there to help with the math. 🙂
https://www.myswissalp s.com/train/ticketspas ses/practical/choosera ilpass

You can definitely take a train from Geneva to Florence yes. The Swiss railways timetable will show you the schedules: https://www.myswissalp s.com/timetable and you can buy tickets to Italy here: https://www.myswissalp s.com/traintickets/ita ly

[Arno]

Reply 2 of 7 • 19 June 2018 at 7:57:20 #888708

Hi Deepti,

It will also depend on your plans while in Geneva. If you plan to travel around a lot there too, the 8-day Swiss Travel Pass makes sense: http://www.myswissalps.com/sw isstravelpass. Doing the math as suggested by Lucas will be worth it to make 100% sure.

[User]

Reply 3 of 7 • 19 June 2018 at 16:02:43 #888709

Hello Deepti: I spent many weeks trying to sort out train travel from Zermatt to Lucca, Italy, and yes it can be done. I have the tickets on my desk as I write!! We are arriving Geneva and will then take the train to Zermatt. This route is Geneva to Visp, and then on to Zermatt. After our stay in Zermatt we will go to Firenze as I will describe here.

I don’t know where you are (I am in California), but our phone number for RailEurope is 1-800-622-8660. There are a few prompts to go through and you may be offered a call-back from them, which you can rely on. These people were SUPERB!.Everything I needed to know about train travel from Zermatt through Italy to Lucca was clearly explained. I knew the Swiss Half Fare Card (HFC) would be the best for my wife and I, but the customer service person wanted to go check our travel plans to make sure the HFC was worth it (it was NOT for train travel, but when we factored in the lifts and cable cars, it was….by 30 CHF).

From Zermatt you go to Brig, then to Milano Centrale, then to Firenze on the Frecciarossa (the fast ‘Red Arrow’). Our itinerary has us leaving Zermatt at approx. 8:15 am, and arriving Firenze SMN (Santa Maria Novella stazione) at approx 2pm.

We purchased the HFC on line, and were able to purchase our train tickets while on the phone with the customer rep. The spreadsheet for passes and modes of travel can be a bit daunting; speaking with someone who was a good listener and who (amazingly) really wanted to make sure we got just what we needed was a huge relief. Everything was mailed to us in 2 days, with no charge for postage. If your children are young, they may be able to travel free of charge on certain routes/modes of travel. Happy Rail was the source for our HFC; it was the least expensive of all, and I was able to print it from home within 30 minutes of placing the order. FYI, our train travel as described (Geneva to Zermatt, then Zermatt to Firenze) cost approx. 338 USD for 2 adults. The HFC was valid for Swiss travel, but it does not reduce any travel cost in Italy. If we were not going to use the lifts/trams, the HFC would not have helped, but since we are hiking a lot, we came out ahead (enough for 2 beers, which we richly deserve).

So….that’s my .02 re: travel from Switzerland to Italy. I hope you have a good trip!

[User]

Reply 4 of 7 • 19 June 2018 at 17:26:32 #888710

Hi Dalcubo

Thank you so much for your reply, very detailed n very helpful iindeed.Enjoy your vacation.

Deepti

[Swissophile]

Reply 5 of 7 • 23 June 2018 at 7:18:53 #888711

Hello Deepti, Arno’s suggestion re the Swiss Travel Pass makes a lot of sense when you consider that the Schiltorn and the Rigi are both free with this. The cable car from Rigi Kaltbad down to Weggis is spectacular and not to be missed. Make sure you do it going down for maximum thrill! Also, allow for a ten- minute walk at the bottom down into Weggis. The Schiltorn would be very expensive without the pass. Be sure to use the Pass on Lake Geneva as trips along the Swiss side have stunning views over the vineyards and their pretty chateaux, and you can also explore the French resorts of Evian and Thonon-les-Bains. Hope you have a wonderful trip.

[User]

Reply 6 of 7 • 23 June 2018 at 8:34:44 #888712

Hi Gladys knight

Thank you so muvh for your help..

Yes, will do the maths and choose the pass, although we have changed our first location from Weggis to Stans. So will.need to rework.

Thanks

Deepti

[Swissophile]

Reply 7 of 7 • 23 June 2018 at 13:58:59 #888713

Hi, I can recommend the following trip from Stans if you got a really nice day. Take the 311 bus from the Bahnhof to Beckenried and it is a 5 minute walk to the Klewenalp cable car. You get great views over Lake Lucerne from this and from the top.There are rabbits and marmots just outside the top station. Then there is a pleasant family-friendly walk to Stockhutte which takes about an hour and a half from which there is a gondola down to Emmeton, or go back down on the cable car. Either way, catch the 311 again to Seelisburg and go right to the terminus. (The buses to Seelisburg are only hourly). There is an excellent little funicular from there down to the lakeside at Trieb. Catch a boat from there across to Vitznau and take the train up the Rigi. Then come down on the cable car from Kaltbad to Weggis and back to Luzern by boat and to Stans by train.

We did this about four days ago and it was a great day out.