[Anonymous]

12 August 2017 at 15:22:52 #812933

We are leaving for Switzerland in two weeks! We already have our Swiss Rail Passes & know our basic itinerary. We will be finishing our Swiss travels in Zurich & going from there to Munich, Germany. I have looked on this site at the possible trains for this part of our journey but still have some questions.

(1) Will our Swiss Travel Passes cover any part of our train ride to Munich, like from Zuirch to the border?

(2) When I look at the Timetable portion of this website to see which trains will take us from Zurich to the Munich Hbh, it keeps changing my date of travel from Saturday 09/09/17 to Friday 08/09/17. Do these trains not travel on Saturdays??

(3) What is the difference between the IC & IR trains?

(4) If we take the train from Zurich to Konstanz to Munich, will our Swiss Travel Passes cover more?

Thank you for any help you can give us!!

💡 Save time and get daily forum questions & answers by e-mail

[Arno]

Reply 1 of 9 • 12 August 2017 at 16:03:04 #868239

Hi Swakba,

Welcome here, and good to hear your trip is about to get started!

(1) (4) Indeed any part of the route within Switzerland is covered, please see the map: http://www.myswissalps.com/sw isstravelpass/validity.

(2) Trains operate 365 days per year. I’m not sure what is causing the issue you described. Please fill out your trip on http://www.myswissalps.com/ti metable. I found several trains on September 9, including direct ones (e.g. at 9:09).

(3) IR trains stop more often, on average. But the difference is not very important actually. You can take any train that suits your planning: http://www.myswissalps.com/tr ain/practical/traintyp es.

[User]

Reply 2 of 9 • 12 August 2017 at 17:56:13 #868240

Thank you Arno!!

[User]

Reply 3 of 9 • 22 August 2017 at 13:38:26 #868241

Our trip is fast approaching – we leave for Geneva this Saturday, the 26th! I’ve still not been able to find how to make reservations on a train from Zurich to Munich, Germany Hbh AND use the Swiss Travel Passes that we have. We got our Travel Passes from Raileurope.com. From the Timetable, it looks like the direct trains from Zurich to Munich’s Hbh will be busy so we’re leery of waiting until we get to Switzerland to make these reservations. Any suggestions on the practicalities of how to do this??!

Thank you!

[User]

Reply 4 of 9 • 22 August 2017 at 16:06:29 #868242

Hi Swabka,

Unfortunately you can’t use two rail passes online to get a discount (you can only select one). I would make the reservations once you are in Switzerland, in Geneva or Zurich rail stations.

I would be extremely surprised if the train seats are all booked two weeks before travel. It is possible that a few days before travel you could not find two seats together on a very busy train but it looks like you arrive in Switzerland on the 26th and leave to Munich on the 9th? You would also have many trains to choose from each day (unless you need to get to Munich for a flight/ tour?)

Lucas

[User]

Reply 5 of 9 • 23 August 2017 at 0:09:59 #868243

Thank you Lucas! We’ll wait & make our reservations for Zurich to Munich once we get to Geneva. This forum really provides wonderful help!!

[User]

Reply 6 of 9 • 28 August 2017 at 9:00:37 #868244

We are now in Morges, Switzerland & the beginning of our Swiss journey! When we arrived in Geneva, we found the train station office & they made our reservations for the Zurich to Munich train next week- FREE since our Swiss Travel Passes are 1st class!! What a great surprise! Just wanted to add that new piece of information here…

[User]

Reply 7 of 9 • 28 August 2017 at 11:06:13 #868245

Oh nice to know!

I doubt that happens as a rule, but a nice surprise when it happens!

Lucas

[User]

Reply 8 of 9 • 15 September 2017 at 14:05:04 #868246

An update -> We returned home yesterday from a wonderful trip to Switzerland & Munich. This forum is incredibly helpful – thank you!!

Wanted to let you know that on the train from Zurich to Munich, when we reached the Swiss/German border we DID have to pay an extra $100 (dollars or Swiss francs, I’m not even sure – he did take a credit card). The conductor looked at us like we we had lost our minds when we told him that they had told us in Geneva that our trip would be free with our 1st class Swiss travel passes…..

Also, the same man in Geneva said we shouldn’t need reservations on the train from Zurich to Munich but did make the reservations for us. If we had not had reservations, we would not have been able to find a seat, even in 1st class – just another FYI!!

[User]

Reply 9 of 9 • 15 September 2017 at 16:07:39 #868247

Thanks for the update Swabka!

Very strange that someone in Geneva told you the Swiss Travel Pass would cover a train trip outside of Switzerland – definitely not!

Also, good to know about train reservations. It is common on international trains to make reservations (I usually don’t unless it is longer than about 4 hours and just chance it). But the Zurich to Munich route is busy especially the few direct trains that are available. Glad the reservations worked out.