4 days Lucerne trip on way from Paris to Milan

Hi

I am from India and planning a european holiday in May 2016 along with my family consisting of 2 adult and 2 youths ( 16 yrs & 20 yrs). After visiting Paris , I will be travelling to Basel on 16th May by Tgv. From Basel to Lucerne, I plan to travel using Swiss pass (assuming that is best option) and stay at lucerne for 4 nights and then travel on to Milan.

day 1 - arrive in Lucerne in late evening , check in at hotel.

day 2 - visit Mt Titilis & lucerne sightseeing

day 3 - visit jungfrau

day 4- travel by panoramic train , open for suggestion.

day 5 - morning travel upto italy border- Domodossola ?- using swiss pass , and thereafter use trenitalia ticket to Milan.

Pl let me know

1) is 4 days swiss pass (plus one day free) the best option for my travel ? Is 4 day + 1 free day pass offer available in May 16?

2) what is cost for titlis return & Jungfrau return travel with swiss pass starting point being Lucerne.

3) can you suggest sightseeing options on day 4 of my lucerne stay ?

4) do i need to compulsorily reserve seat in advance for Basel-Lucerne sector ?

Thanks

Sethu

Welcome Sethu!

1) There has recently been a promotion offering an extra day of traveling for free, but we can't assume it will be available again. You can keep an eye on the Discounts tab of the Swiss Travel Pass page. We'll list it there if this or any other promo becomes available.

Note that the Swiss Pass no longer exists. It has been replaced by the Swiss Travel Pass.

2) About CHF 40 for Titlis and CHF 125 for Jungfraujoch. Links to exact prices and discounts can be found on the Titlis and Jungfraujoch pages: myswissalps.com/ titlis/tickets and myswissalps.com/ jungfraujoch/tickets. Note that Jungfraujoch is a very long trip from Lucerne (see the timetable).

3) For local options, please see here. Regarding a scenic train ride: there are multiple options. The small train up Mount Rigi is very nice, but if you're looking for a longer ride you can consider the Bernina Express or Wilhelm Tell Express on your way from Lucerne to Milan.

4) No, you don't. Here's how it works: myswissalps.com/ train/reservations.

Hi

Thanks. I have a couple of more questions

1. if i buy a Swiss Travel Pass , can i use it for the travel from Paris to Basel ?

2. After buying the swiss travel pass , if my travel plans gets postponed or cancelled for some reason, is it possible to cancel the pass and get full refund. If not for how long is the pass valid ?

3. I plan to buy the swiss travel pass through Internet from India. Which website offer the lowest price ?

sethu

Hi Sethu,

Thanks for getting back here. As for your questions:

1. No, that route is in France. Everything after Basel is covered. A map of what's included can be found through the first link I gave you. Click "Where it's valid".
2. That depends on where you buy it. Print at home passes usually have a fixed start date on them. In case of cancellation you'll get a 85% refund. But you'd better check with the retailers. They are listed on the same page I referred to earlier. Click "Price" for an overview.
3. Please see answer 2. The retailer overview will help you with this. Here's the direct link: myswissalps.com/ swisstravelpass/price. I expect prices in other currencies than CHF to rise soon, so if you're sure you want the pass it may pay off to buy before Christmas.

Thanks Arno

If i buy the 4 days pass now for use in May 2016 and later on there is a offer for 4 days + 1 day free will my pass automatically also get the offer.

Hi Sethu,

No, a purchase will not be adjusted later. Likewise, if you buy now you won't pay more if prices increase later on :-)

I understand where you're coming from. When to buy can be a hard choice.

Arno

i assume if i activate the 4 day pass on 16th may at 11.30 am it is valid untill 11.30 am on 20th May ? right or is it valid only from 16th to 19th midnight ?

on last day i am travelling from luzern to milan. if i have the swiss travel pass then which sector do i need to buy ticket ?

Hello Sethu,

The time is not taken into account when activating the pass. If you click to the "How to use" section of the Swiss Travel Pass page you'll find a detailed explanation.

As for your second question: you can find that on the map Arno referred to. Is it not clear to you? I can't give you a definitive answer as I don't know your route, but most probably you'll travel via Chiasso or Domodossola. That's where the validity of the pass ends.

Hi Arno & Annika

Wish You a very happy New Year.

I come from south India and many people from these parts like me do not have a Surname. I have only a first name and middle name mentioned in my passport. when i try to book a train ticket there is a column for surname and a column for first name. both are marked as * which means they are compulsory. Pl guide me on how to fill up the columns to enable me to book the ticket.

sethu

Hi Sethu,

Thanks you, and I wish you a wonderful 2016 too! I am not sure which site you are trying to purchase from. Is it one of the sites listed on myswissalps.com/ swisstravelpass/price? Either way, the most important thing is that the name you enter matches the name in your the passport. So I expect filling out your middle name as surname should work just fine. It's just to make sure only one unique person can use the rail pass.

Tks. It is clear now. The following instruction is provided in the above website for online ticket .

Printout.Online tickets must be printed with a size of 100% (unscaled), on white, previously unwritten paper of the A4 portrait (upright) format. A change in font sizes is not allowed. Smudged or incomplete printouts are not regarded as valid. The advertising in the lower third of the online ticket may be detached. We recommend downloading and printing a Test Ticket prior to the first purchase of an online ticket. If you encounter problems while doing so, you should not buy an online ticket and should read the document technical requirements or the FAQ part.

pl guide me on how to print a Test Ticket

sethu

Hi Sethu,

You didn't mention the website you're using, but in order to print the pass you need to go to www.swissrailways.com/ node/66. Then just enter all requested information. After you've filled out your address you can pick the delivery option "Online Ticket". That will get you a PDF-document through e-mail a few days later. I don't know how to print test tickets, but I've never heard of problems. It's simply a PDF file. If you have a decent printer that can print any other PDF it should work fine.

Hi

My D-Day for booking the ticket for travel from Paris to Basel is 16 Jan ( I will be travelling on 16th May) . When I go to book my ticket on en.Voyages.sncf.com there is 2 station listed at Basel 1. Basel (CH) and 2. Basel (68). Which one should be selected ?

I plan t buy a 4 day swiss travel pass. I am going to spend 5 days in Swiss. I have either the option to use it starting from 1st day for travel from Basel to Lucerne. I will not be doing any other travel on this day once reaching Lucerne. Or I can use starting from second day so that it can be used on fifth day for travel from Lucerne to Chiasso (then buy ticket from Chiasso to Milan). I will not be doing any other travel on this day also other than travelling to Chiasso. Which one will you recommend ?

Sethu

Hi Sethu,

I went to tgv-lyria.en.voyages-sncf.com/en (their TGV Lyria page) and found only one station: Basel (CH). That's the one to pick. You can't go wrong as trains from Paris all arrive at the same station.

As for the pass days: Lucerne to Chiasso is more expensive, so use your pass that day to save more. You can get the pass through www.swissrailways.com/ en.

Hi

When you go to next page then it shows option Basel SBB (CH) or Basel SBB (68) . Anyway it is now clear that i should select (CH)

Tks

Arno

I checked the ticket for Lucerne to Venice for 14th May . The cost of 4 tickets on SBB is 204 CHF while the same tickets cost 112 euro on Trenitalia. The train times are exactly Why is there so much difference. ?

sethu

Hi Sethu,

What's the departure time? Will you be using your Swiss Travel Pass that day, or do you need a ticket for the entire route?

hi

i will be leaving in morning around 8 am -8.30 am and will need ticket for entire route for 4 adults

sethu

pl note i will be actually leaving on 20th may and not 14th may. but i just checked for 14th may to get idea of cost if booked 120 day in advance. i am surprised in cost difference between SBB and trenitalia

I had a look but couldn't find tickets for May 14. I did find them for April 14 and got the same prices you mentioned. Both tickets seem to be non-refundable. Be sure to read the fine print, but if you're fine with non-refundable the cheapest option should work just fine. Also be sure to check the delivery options. There have been tickets (or perhaps there still are) that needed to be collected from a machine at an Italian station. Not very useful when you're in Switzerland.

Since you're in India I also checked www.raileurope.co.in/t rain/italian-international-trains and they're pretty cheap too: INR 2278 (about CHF 34) p.p. for non-refundable tickets including seat reservations. Note that you need to book two separate tickets: Lucerne - Milan and Milan - Venice.

And finally you can check www.captaintrain.com. They offer cheap tickets too, but only for the second leg from Milan onwards.