Jun 27, 2016 - 9:12 AM
in reply to lasexton1
Hi Linda, welcome to MySwissAlps!
On average, Rail Europe prices are slightly higher than the "regular prices" through the Swiss Railways. That's why they are listed lower in the list of purchase options here. But when they offer a promotion like the one discussed here, they usually are the cheapest option. Of course you will have to check whether the promotion makes sense for you.
If you just buy the Swiss Travel Pass through them, they charge a $7.95 handling fee for smaller orders and nothing for larger orders (2 passes, for example). They offer a "Rail Protection Plan" but you don't have to buy that. In all, two 3-day passes are about 1.5% cheaper than the regular prices when taking advantage of the promo code. You may save a bit more because you can pay in USD instead of CHF if your bank charges a fee or bad exchange rates for foreign currencies. Savings will be bigger if you need more passes or more expensive passes. I don't know whether you would save less if adding the seat reservations (that might explain the $18), but you can buy these elsewhere if you want (links are on our Glacier Express and Bernina Express pages).
Last modified on May 17, 2018 - 11:42 AM by Arno