MySwissAlps.com features ads, commercial and non-commercial Rail pass for 14 days in Switzerland in December
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Hello, i am going to spend 14 days in Switzerland, from 10th to 24th December, with my family of 6 – 2 adults and my 4 children, age 16, 14, 11 and 9. First timer. Will not drive and intend to use public transport throughout entire trip. Main intention is to learn skiing in Andermatt, plus some sight-seeing in nearly places.
Base: Andermatt. Intend to spend 11 to 12 days staying at Andermatt. Also have the intention to stay either at Zermatt or Ticino (3 days 2 nights).
If stay over at Ticino for 2 nights, we are thinking of covering – Bellinzona, Lugano, Lake Maggiore and Ascona.
Thinking of doing some day-trips (either (i) full day or (ii) half day afternoon – morning skiing lesson and afternoon day visits to these places:
– Realp, Hospental, Furka, Interlaken, Grindelward and Engelberg
Kindly advise:
(a) which pass would be the most economical – Swiss Travel Pass, or Swiss Half Fare or Family Pass?
(b) for those places like Realp, Hospental, Furka, Interlaken, Grindelward and Engelberg – is it feasible to do a half-day visit, bearing in mind the short day-light during December?
Thank you!
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Hi celia, welcome to MySwissAlps!
Great that you get to spend two weeks in Switzerland! Let’s look into your questions. Which rail pass is best depends on your final itinerary. For example, it matters whether you indeed intend to make trips to destinations further away from Andermatt (like Interlaken, Engelberg and Grindelwald) or focus on a smaller region. Also, what will your point of entry and departure be? Will the Swiss legs of your inbound and outbound trips be done by train too? Assuming they are, you may want to look into a Swiss Travel Pass Flex Combi or a Swiss Transfer Ticket Combi to start off with. Both would allow a free inbound and outbound trip, plus discounted traveling on the days in between. The Swiss Travel Pass Flexi Combi would offer some more days of free traveling on top of that. Once you have a more detailed itinerary, it will be easier to pick the right pass. Explanation on how to do so can be found here.
Some of the locations you mention are fine for a half-day visit from Andermatt, like Realp, Hospental and Furka. Interlaken, Grindelwald and Engelberg not so much. For example, a single trip Andermatt-Interlaken takes well over 3 hours. You can best check the timetable to find such information. If you’re very interested in these towns, you may consider spending a couple of nights there (e.g. in Grindelwald), instead of traveling to and from Andermatt.
Thank you, Annika!We will be arriving at and departing from Zurich airport. Need some advice – As we will be staying throughout at Andermatt and the children will be taking skiing lessons in the morning, is it feasible to do half day visit (in the afternoon) to Bellinoza (think there is a castle which is worth visiting), Lugano,Lake Maggiore or Ascona? For example, perhaps Monday – visit to Bellinoza in the afternoon; Wednesday – visit to Lake Maggiore, Friday – visit to Ascona, etc.
Hello Celia!
Sorry, I didn’t include a link to the timetable in my previous post. It can be found here. That allows you to search for traveling times from Andermatt to the destinations you mention. Personally I’d say they’re too far off for half-day trips, as single journeys to these places take 1h30 to 3h00 from Andermatt. But it’s up to you to decide what traveling times you’re fine with.
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