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MANY THANKS! I AM BEYOND EXCITED!!
You are incredible and I cannot believe the time you spent replying to me. Thank you so much. I already have my accomodations booked so I will stay in Bern. You DID make a very good suggestion about a week in one place but I just need a home base. My life is always so hectic so, again, I just cannot conceive the thought of moving every week. I do that so many times. I will see all that I can. I have been looking into tickets for your special festival. They are SOOOO expensive. But, considering it occurs ONCE every generation I will attend. I can’t seem to obtain an account; they keep indicating that my birthdate is wrong! Maybe they think I am too old (LOL
I am NOT!!!)
< they keep indicating that my birthdate is wrong! >
It may be a long shot, but did you follow the pattern DD/MM/YYYY? (1 January, not January 1).
Besides that, I think it would be great if you posted a summery of your findings in the “Trip Reports” section of this forum. Enjoy your trip!
SBB for example requires dates as dd . mm . yyyy. Have you tried that?
I FINALLY realized that i was not using the dots in between! Thank you!
A few days ago I referred to the wonderful view from la Tête-de-Ran (canton de Neuchâtel) which is very close to la Vue-des-Alpes, between the cities of Neuchâtel and la Chaux-de-Fonds. I did not find the photo I was looking for (lack of organization on my part) but even better is the Roundshot view from la Tête-de-Ran. Here it is: tete-de-ran.roundshot.com/ You see the neat fields of the Val-de-Ruz, then Lake Neuchatel, the mish-mash of Vaud and Fribourg on the far shore and the Lac de Morat almost hidden behind Chaumont, and then (if you are lucky), off in the distance, a wonderful panorama of the Alps. Right now you can see them a bit, but there is a haze over there.
Hello again. I am sure I thanked you already for the information you gave me (at least I hope so!!). I am trying to plan my trip while trying to close up the school year with 5th graders, plan for my son’s college graduation, and balance a trip to San Fransisco in between. So I am not ON TOP of this as much as I would be if I were retired (I only WISH…..) I wanted to pick your brain about the day trip you suggested. WIll that be possible in one day? I am quite energetic and am not worried about that. It is just that you mentioned quite a few places and want to make sure it can be done in one day. I am trying to plan WHEN to buy the 15 day excursion Swis Rail ticket for….. I need to carve out a day when I can sit with the map and see where I want to go and how it all fits in. Argh! Why does life get in the way of this exciting planning???
What must it be like to see this every day??? I cannot imagine, commuting to a suburb and viewing traffic on the other side of the highway. I often wonder: WHY am I staying in THIS routine? I want to look out on the mountains on a DAILY basis!!!
Keep in mind that most of the Swiss who commute every day do so on the main lines and most of these trains do not go through the more visually appealing parts of Switzerland. (Refer to the animation I posted back on May 21). I agree that even this beats the twice-daily routine of commuting by car over miles upon miles (I assume you are in the USA) of interstates and other four (or more)-lane highways, as at least you can relax and leave the driving to the CFF, but after a while the views become very familiar and you tend to do other things rather than gaze out of your window. Usually such a look out is just for visual confirmation on how close you are to your destination. During parts of the year a commuter leaves during the early daylight and returns when it is dark. Again, still better than driving home in the dark ! And yes, there are some lucky ones who go to work or school along very scenic lines, and get to marvel at the lakes and villages and mountains they pass by, and this as much as they want.
Yes, I agree. Point taken. The grass is always greener. But I still have visions of walking along the bridge Ponte Vecchio and going into little stores and thinking: Isn’t it amazing that, if you HAVE to work (which most of us do) what could be better than looking out on this? When I look out of the window of my classroom, I see a brick wall and windows to other classrooms. But, you’re right! Yes, I AM in the USA, which is a beautiful country. And I live in a GORGEOUS state (taxes too high but I can eat, work, and have fun; more than 90% of the population in the world!) I often drive to parts of my state and am in awe of the beauty! Thanks for grounding me!
Anotnher question: Is it worth it to buy a Swiss Rail Pass?
Oops!I meant : Another question…….. (I am so excited I can’t type!!!)
I recall that in your original post you mentioned a couple of days in northern Italy, so I assume that you are looking forward to the Ponte Vecchio in Florence ! That’s a good choice for an Italian city. Pisa is nearby, and San Gimigano with its many towers is only about 60 kilometres (36 miles) to the south-west of Florence. (see attached photo).
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Hello again !
You have just asked << Is it worth it to buy a Swiss Rail Pass? >> I suspect the answer is “yes”, but which type is probably more the question. Keep in mind that when you go to Germany and Italy, you will have to pay for your travel beyond the Swiss border. Once you work out, as closely as possible, where you plan to go for each of the days you will be in Switzerland, then it will be easier to make a determination of which pass is best for you. I suspect that the train travel experts on this forum will suggest that you buy a half fare card. These days I do 99% of my travel by car so I do not consider myself one of these experts. If you are going to be traveling back to your accommodations in Berne for most of your days in Switzerland, you are going to be riding the rails quite a bit !
Hi Carole Ann,
For a month, a Swiss Half Fare Card is probably best as Peterli suggests. You can combine that with 1-day travelpasses or Saver Day Passes for days with longer trips. You can buy two 15-day Swiss Travel Passes but that only makes sense if you plan to travel a lot on most days. Please see:
Thank you again! Last question: I am thinking of renting a car for a few days. I have driven in NYC for probably 35 years (midtown, all around….) , so I am quite an experienced driver. I am in no way a fearful driver, to say the least. As long as they drive on the right side of the road, I am good! I rented a car in Rome to travel to Sienna (I was lost a lot; that was before the better GPS systems we have). I also rented a car another time to get home from Venice to Milan because we missed the last train out. I had a two-week car rental in Sicily and, except for some scratches, fared well. So, in my reserach, it appears that some travels would be easier by car. Opinion? Again, thank you SO MUCH for your time!!!
You are so very kind! I plan to take a day very soon to map everything out. Then again, the best laid plans…….LOL
Arno: I did not know you were the owner of this site!!! It is amazing!!!!!
Hi again,
I think that at this point you should map out entire European stay, day by day, at least a first draft. Perhaps you can start with the easy stuff. Where do you want to go in Germany and for which days ? Same question for Italy, although you did mention the Ponte Vecchio so may I assume that Florence on your list ? I mentioned San Gimignano, which is not far from Florence, and going between these two places is probably easiest by car. Arno mentioned that a STP can be for 15 days, and two of these might work if you were going to do a lot of travel. I sense that you want to do a lot of travel, leaving Berne early each morning and returning to Berne at the end of most of these days. But if you are in Germany for X days and in Italy for Y days, maybe something else might work. STPs are also available for 8, 4, and 3 days. But looking at the math for the prices I found today, a 15 day STP is CHF 513, the 8 day one is CHF 418, the 4 day one is CHF 281 and the 3 day one is CHF 232. So two 15 day STPs will cost you CHF 1026, and one 15 day STP plus an 8 day one will cost you CHF 931. I would suggest that this savings wouldn’t be worth all the hassles that might arise on the other 7 days, such as getting to the German border or to the Italian one. You may have also looked at the Swiss Flex Pass which is a bit more expensive as you are not required to do your travel on consecutive days. So you could spread out a 15 day Flex pass over your entire month. The cost of one of these is CHF 563. But since you plan to come back to Berne each night for most of the days in your month, you will be on the trains more than 15 days. So this brings us back to the Swiss Half fare Card, which is valid for a whole month and only costs CHF 120. And this brings us back to what I said at the beginning of this post. Where do you plan to go during the portion of your European trip that will be in Switzerland ? For each of these days, you can then calculate how much you would be paying for half-fare. Add all those half-fare amounts to the initial CHF 120 and see what these total up to and you will see what is the best deal for you. Please note that all the prices I have mentioned here are for 2’nd class travel. Of course the Half Fare Card entitles you to buy 1’st class or 2’nd class tickets.
Once we know where you plan to go in Germany, then we will be in a better position to advise you whether renting a car might be a better option. Just keep in mind that the German train network is not as great as the Swiss one (depending on where you want to go), and so a car may be the better option. German roads are excellent and the road density (km/100 square kilometres) is far higher that the km of railroad per 100 square kilometres. As for Italy, I have already mentioned Florence to San Gimignano as a possibility for an excursion by car.
Looking forward to seeing your plans.
Thanks Carole Ann 🙂
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