Advantage of Swiss Travel Pass vs Eurail Pass?
A couple of active senior citizens is planning a 22-day trip exclusively in Switzerland during May-June, focusing on hiking and scenic train rides with little interest in museums. They are comparing the Swiss Travel Pass and Eurail pass, looking for insights on the best value for their itinerary, particularly concerning extra costs and benefits.
- Consider the 15-day Swiss Travel Pass Flex as a potential option to save money.
- The Swiss Travel Pass offers better benefits for mountain excursions and local transport compared to the Eurail pass.
- First class may not be necessary for mountain journeys as many don't have first class; upgrading as needed might be more cost-effective.
- Plan a detailed itinerary to determine which pass fits best based on your travel plans, as it varies per individual needs.
AI-generated summary-
- Who: 2 active senior citizens
- When: May-June for22 days
- Where: Exclusively Switzerland
- How: 1st class
- Interests: Hiking on mountainsides, and hanging out in villages, interspersed with scenic train rides (little or no interest in museums or buses)
- Costs in USD for 15-day consecutive pass: Eurail $553 Swissrail $810
- Extending out to 22 days: Eurail +$92, Swissrail +$663 !!!!!
As I read the posts on this and related forums, the Swiss Railpass seems to be far more popular than the Eurail/Interrail pass. I know and understand the stated features and benefits, and I have seen the spreadsheet for cost comparisons, but maybe I am missing something that is unstated.
The only advantages of the Swisspass, for a lot of extra money, is that it includes a few inexpensive fares in the BO, and the more expensive Lauterbrunnen – Schilthorn route. Certainly nothing that justifies the extra $828 that 22d of Swisspass would cost over Eurail.
Are there some unspoken/unwritten advantages of the Swissrail pass, e.g. better service, fewer hassles from reservation agents or conductors, more reasonable replacement policy if lost (I understand that Eurail is wholly unaccommodating)?
Am I missing something, or do y’all just go to a lot of expensive museums?
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Hello PnBA,
As far as main rail network travel goes there is nothing to choose between the two passes. It is only if you want to travel a on buses, boats, cableways, mountain cog-wheel railways that the Swiss Rail Pass comes into its own. You certainly wouldn’t make up the difference in visiting museums unless you were an extremely dedicated culture vulture. 😉
Most of the mountain excursions don’t offer 1st class so if you are doing a lot of those then paying for a 1st Class Pass is overkill.
Our standard line is that you should read “How to choose the best travel pass” (http://www.myswissalps.com/tr ain/ticketspasses/prac tical/chooserailpass), download the handy spreadsheet calculator and do the math. But you have clearly done your research and arrived at a conclusion whilst understanding the limitations of the Eurail Global Pass.
Which pass suits you depends very much on your personal itinerary.
The 15-day Swiss Travel Pass Flex (http://www.myswissalps.com/sw isstravelpassflex) may be worth a look. That’s what I used for 21 days and padded it out with free local passes such as the Ticino Ticket in Lugano.
“Are there some unspoken/unwritten advantages of the Swissrail pass, e.g. better service, fewer hassles from reservation agents or conductors. . . .“?
Not that I know of.
“. . . . more reasonable replacement policy if lost (I understand that Eurail is wholly unaccommodating)“?
If you have electronically delivered passes you always have a backup – although the Swiss Travel Pass Flex is not deliverable electronically and if you lose it then you need to pay for a replacement.
Hope that helps.
I felt the same way when I first started looking at the passes.
Look at the Eurail map for Switzerland and compare it to the Swiss Travel Pass map and you will see the differences. Nothing above Interlaken is included in the Eurail pass – you have to pay extra for all those trips. Same with Rigi and Pilatus. And nothing in Zermatt.
The Eurail pass does not include city transport. So around Lucerne, for instance, you will pay for all your rail tickets.
It is frustrating but the best way to work out which card is best is to do a detailed itinerary and list all the trips you want to take. For us the 15day Swiss travel pass worked out cheapest, when I included everything. And that isn’t counting city transport that I know we will be taking. I have not taken into account any other benefits (like museums) that might be covered by the card. It was a close run thing with the half fare card but the fact that we don’t have to buy tickets each trip was the thing that sold us on the STP. If it is pouring with rain one day we might choose to get on a train and travel out of the rain, if possible, and I think the STP will allow us to do that easily.
For us, personally, we want to travel first class where it is available. You can buy the 2nd class pass and upgrade where you want to travel 1st class. But, when I did the numbers, for us, it was cheaper to buy the 1st class pass outright.
Rockoyster’s suggestion of the 15 day flex pass maybe supplemented with a few super saver day pass might work for you.
By “above” Interlaken, I take you to mean “south of”. My understanding is that Eurail gives a 25% discount, but most of the fares are only $10-$15 (except JFJ ~$200, and Schilthorn ~$100). Also, Eurail reportedly does offer 50% discounts on the mountain excursions around Lucern (Rigi and Pilatus).
However, I’d love to see a list what you did over 15 days that justified the extra $257 for the Swissrail pass!
Sounds like the STP won’t work for you. Each to their own.
Hi PnBA,
‘Interests: Hiking on mountainsides, and hanging out in villages, interspersed with scenic train rides (little or no interest in museums or buses)’
We have been visiting Switzerland for a number of years. You are there for 22 days. Don’t underestimate the number of trips you will be making on the transport not fully covered by the Euro pass around the Bernese Oberland and other mountainous areas in order for you to hang out in villages or hike on the mountainsides (however, the later activity is likely to be limited at altitude at the time of year you are visiting).
I have used the spreadsheet to work out the best passes for our trip at the end of June and am buying an 8 day second class Swiss Travel Pass and a three day discounted Jungfrau pass even though it worked out 77 Chf cheaper to buy the Interrail pass. With the Swiss Pass we will be able to visit the Schilthorn, Mount Rigi and the Stanserhorn free and get a discount of 45 Chf off the Jungfrau Pass. I can see no reason to buy a first class travel pass in Switzerland, bearing in mind that the mountain railways do not have first class coaches, however, we do upgrade to first class for boat trips so we can sit on the top deck. We are based in Wengen and Lucerne during our trip.
Once you go above Interlaken or into any other mountainous areas you will need to buy discounted tickets for every journey you make and the discounted fares will soon mount up.
Jane
The term “above” is often used to refer to altitude as in this image. 😉
If you reach Interlaken a see the sign saying “Eurail Pass not valid beyond this point” don’t panic. It simply means it is not valid without a supplementary 25% discounted ticket.
Hi PnBA,
You have got a lot of good advice already on this thread.
As has been said before, the best pass or pass combination depends really on your detailed itinerary – all mountain top excursions, boats, buses. You do not need a 1st class Swiss Pass as you can always upgrade if necessary for a particular part of the trip and most cable cars do not accommodate it anyway as has been stated before.
Therefore in order to see which Swiss pass (if any) you should take, you should compare the different options using the spreadsheet on this page: http://www.myswissalps.com/tr ain/ticketspasses/prac tical/chooserailpass
It might also be that you only need the Swiss Travel Pass for certain days you’re here whilst you are in the Bernese Oberland, or a regional pass might make more sense. However you will only know that by comparing the different options against your itinerary.
Maria.
Yep, as I wrote: been there, done that. What I’d really like to know is: what have people actually done that could justify the extra $828 that 22days of STS would cost over the Eurail pass?
You (Maria) and others have suggested that 1st class is of no advantage – that’s fair, but 2nd class only brings the extra cost of the STS for 23days (cp Eurail for 22 days) down to around $500. I’ve done the math, and just can’t see how one could come close to that in BO fares. That’s a lot of museums! What is everyone doing?
BTW, have y’all noticed how the STS costs vary on different websites? Eurail passes are the same on every website.
On further thought, maybe I can answer my own question by making a few assumptions.
If I assume that most others on this thread do not get a senior discount for Eurail (which is not offered for STS), and most others are making much shorter trips, and most others are choosing 2nd class … well then I see that the difference in cost largely vanishes, leaving the STS advantageous because it includes trains in the BO that Eurail does not.
So the advantages of Eurail > STS for me has little to do with itinerary, but more to do with Eurail offering
- a senior discount, as well as
- a discount for >15 days travel.
In fact, the lack of an STS pass for >15 days may be viewed as a surcharge for slightly longer trips because the cost-per-day of the 8 day pass is higher than the cost-per-day of the 15 day pass.
Well done. You’ve cracked your own conundrum.
We were at the beach
Everybody had matching towels
Somebody went under a dock
And there they saw a rock oyster?
With apologies to the B-52s. But actually en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Sydney_rock_oyster.
Hello PnBA,
Thanks a million for sharing your thoughts an calculations with us. I’m sure it’s helpful for many current and future travellers!!!
And finally I have an answer to this question of Rockoysters name that I has been in the back of my head permanently since I’ve “met” him.… thanks PnBA for asking.. 😀
Best,
Steph
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