[Anonymous]

20 August 2019 at 15:58:07 #823498

Hello,

I’m a bit confused about the difference between the basic rail pass and the flex pass. It says the rail pass has to be used on fixed and consecutive days…if we plan to stay in 1 city for 2 nights and not use the train, does that still qualify?

thanks

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[rockoyster]

Reply 1 of 6 • 20 August 2019 at 21:28:57 #920534

Hello agreenberg70 and Welcome to MySwissAlps,

The consecutive Swiss Travel Pass is only valid for the period (3, 4, 8 or 15 days) you nominate. You don’t HAVE to use it on each day but if you don’t you’ll be wasting money. The Flex Pass allows you to use it for a nominated number of day in a month. But you’ll pay a premium for the flexibility.

See:

• http://www.myswissalps.com/sw isstravelpass/howtouse
• http://www.myswissalps.com/sw isstravelpassflex/howt ouse

Based on your personal itinerary 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. The spreadsheet also includes links to the “Where it’s valid” page for all available passes. Be sure to check those pages for each pass you are considering. Study the map AND read all the text on those pages to fully understand what is covered by the respective pass.

[User]

Reply 2 of 6 • 23 August 2019 at 18:52:45 #920535

/Thank you for your reply. Sounds like the Swiss Travel Pass is the best choice. Can I share with you our itinerary to get your feedback? I’m guessing there are trains at all times of day, so we should be able to get to our destinations when we need to. Should I be looking at specific train times at this point?

9/14-Arrive Zurich

9/15-leave for Basel

9/16-leave Basel late afternoon to Luzern

9/17-9/18 stay in Luzern

9/19-leave for Lauterbrunnen

9/21-leave for Montraux

9/22-leave for Zermatt

9/23-leave for Geneva

9/24-depart from Geneva to USA

Thank you,

Amy

[rockoyster]

Reply 3 of 6 • 23 August 2019 at 21:06:17 #920536

Hello Amy,

You seem to be doing a lot of hotel swaps so here are a couple of suggestions.

You might consider going straight to Luzern from the airport and using that as an initial base. You can easily do a day trip to Basel.

Not sure what your Geneva departure flight time is but unless it is early morning you could consider using Montreux as a base and doing a day trip to Zermatt and going direct from Montreux to the airport.

By far the best way to check timetables is using the SBB Mobile app (bit.ly/2ICIUHi). In the unlikely event you don’t have a device capable of running the app then you can use the timetable on the SBB website (bit.ly/2HH1U7B). If you are not familiar with using the timetable it will pay to first read the instructions on this page – http://www.myswissalps.com/ti metable.

[User]

Reply 4 of 6 • 23 August 2019 at 22:00:48 #920537

Thanks for your quick reply!

The reason we are going to Basel is my friend has meetings for 2 days there and we are being put up by her company to stay there. Do you think we’re better off staying in Montreaux 2 nights and just doing a day trip to Zermatt? Our Geneva flight is at 9:20am, so I think we should stay in Geneva the night before our flight.

Thanks for your insight!

Amy

[rockoyster]

Reply 5 of 6 • 23 August 2019 at 22:48:06 #920538

Hi Amy,

I can offer suggestions. Ultimately it’s your choice. Geneva for the last night makes sense. Montreux to Zermatt is at least a 5 hour round trip so you need to take that into account.

Happy travels.

[Annika]

Reply 6 of 6 • 24 August 2019 at 5:40:19 #920539

Hi Amy! A regular Swiss Travel Pass (http://www.myswissalps.com/sw isstravelpass/price) might make most sense indeed. The Swiss Travel Pass Flex is usually a somehwat more expensive option (http://www.myswissalps.com/sw isstravelpassflex/pric e). You’ll have to choose from an 8 day variant and a 15 day variant. The 8 day version will leave you with 2 non-covered days, if I understand your schedule correctly (not counting your last departure day from Geneva). The 15 day version would cover all of your days and the price difference with an 8 day version is CFH 95 in 2nd class. If you expect to make journeys which would be worth more than that amount in full-fare tickets on the non-covered days, the 15 day version would make sense.

You’ll find hotel suggestions for each of your base towns through http://www.myswissalps.com/ho tels/populartowns and http://www.myswissalps.com/la uterbrunnen/hotels.