Swiss Rail Pass vs ZurichCard for Zurich & Lucerne

Anonymous · 2017-06-23T22:11:01+02:00

Hi - My husband, teenage daughter and I will be traveling to Zurich for 2 days and then on to Lucerne for 1 1/2 days. From there, we will be traveling to the Rhine Falls and meeting up with friends from Germany. I'm having a hard time deciding if the Swiss Rail Pass would be worth the $. We'll definitely need to get from airport in zurich to hotel, then maybe some bus/tram trips around town. Train to Lucerne (hoping to get in a boat tour of lake or Mt. Pilatus trip). Then train to Rhine Falls. I've tried to check prices of the various train trips and it seems like it might be more affordable to just get a ZurichCard for use in Zurich on buses and trams (it'll also get us into some museums for free) and pay for the train trips by themselves. Any suggestions?

Short summary – read this first

A couple traveling with their teenage daughter plans to visit Zurich for 2 days, followed by 1.5 days in Lucerne. They are unsure about whether to buy a Swiss Travel Pass or a ZurichCard for transportation and activities, specifically for the train trips and potential boat tours during their stay.

Key takeaways:

Consider getting a ZurichCard for public transport and museum entry in Zurich, as it may be more cost-effective than the Swiss Travel Pass.
For the rest of your trip, consider the Swiss Half Fare Card if you plan to take expensive train or mountain excursions.
Sum up the individual travel costs for trains, buses, and boats to determine the best option for your itinerary.

➤ We can plan your Switzerland trip for you. Save time and avoid mistakes! See how it works

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Anonymous
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23 June 2017 at 22:11:01 #812381

Hi – My husband, teenage daughter and I will be traveling to Zurich for 2 days and then on to Lucerne for 1 1/2 days. From there, we will be traveling to the Rhine Falls and meeting up with friends from Germany. I’m having a hard time deciding if the Swiss Rail Pass would be worth the $. We’ll definitely need to get from airport in zurich to hotel, then maybe some bus/tram trips around town. Train to Lucerne (hoping to get in a boat tour of lake or Mt. Pilatus trip). Then train to Rhine Falls. I’ve tried to check prices of the various train trips and it seems like it might be more affordable to just get a ZurichCard for use in Zurich on buses and trams (it’ll also get us into some museums for free) and pay for the train trips by themselves. Any suggestions?

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Reply 1 of 1 • 24 June 2017 at 0:20:10 #865667

Hi Jennie, and welcome to MySwissAlps!

I agree that it’s not worth using a Swiss Travel Pass for Zürich. A Swiss Half Fare Card might be worth it for the rest of your trip, especially as you hope to include a fairly expensive mountain visit. But there is only one way to know for sure, and that is to add up the cost of all trains, buses, boats and cable cars you intend to take and compare the point-to-point costs with other options.

There is a page here that can help you with that:

http://www.myswissalps.com/tr ain/ticketspasses/prac tical/chooserailpass

If you have no compelling reason to be in Zürich, I would recommend you minimise your time there and spend more time in Luzern. If this is your first visit to Switzerland, I would skip the museums and spend time in the mountains and on the lakes 🙂

Alpenrose

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