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Thanks for this forum, 2 of us from Australia both 60+ years travelling austria and switzerland January 2020, i am assuming we can use our 10 day flex global pass to travel on trains Innsbruk-st moritz on one day then do return st moritz-tirano on another day just using regular trains which travel same route as Glacier and Bernina Express trains. we need 10 day pass as our trains inc Vienna-Klagenfurt; Klagenfurt-Salzburg; Salzburg-Innsbruk; Innsbruk-St Morits; St Moritz-Tirano (return); St Moritz-Zermatt (Glacier ); Zermatt-Interlaken (inc Jungfrau); Interlaken-Zurich airport. We also plan en route St Moritz to Tirano to hop off cable car to Diavolezza then back on and complete trip to Tirano. I tried to do the sums on swiss half fare card, Austria voltezien seniors card but with trains in 3 countries I think 10 day global is best ???? Thanks in advance.
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G’day TonyW and Welcome to MySwissAlps,
Your assumption about regular trains on the Bernina route is correct.
See also http://www.myswissalps.com/tr aintickets/austria.
Whether the Eurail Global pass is the best its difficult to say without the details of your plans. I could say you should read “How to choose the best travel pass” (http://www.myswissalps.com/tr ain/ticketspasses/prac tical/chooserailpass), download the handy spreadsheet calculator and do the math. But I suspec tyou may have already been there. 😎
Thanks so much, i did try spreadsheet but i have 12 days in austria prior which brings the global pass into play, i have attached my spreadsheet if any guide as to what i’m after cheers from down under
Hi Tony,
Greetings from down under yourself! 😉
You won’t get any discount for Gornergrat train at Zermatt (which I think you mean by funicular to Matterhorn).
All rail links south of Interlaken including the Jungfraujoch train (not funicular) are discounted only 25% with the Eurail Global Pass. See http://www.myswissalps.com/eu railglobalpass/validit y.
So now i have a spreadsheet on all my proposed train trips, as best i can, have costed fares in aud and swiss franc, the 15 day flex global pass is 745 aud, so if my calculations are correct its 50% off regular fares or about $50aud or sf 35 per day of travel, even for some extra fares like jungfrau and matterhorn and gorengrat i think its best option ???
Could be but l’m not sure what you are comparing your Global Pass option with.
One of the advantages of the Eurail Flex is you can use it on discounted routes even on non-travel days. eg Interlaken to Jungfraujoch still gets you 25% discount without using a travel day.
I was comparing with swiss travel pass and swiss half fare card for switzerland but then have 4 train trips in austria which are total $405aud. so 8 days flex too short and works out about $85aud per day/trip.
Hi Tonyw!
It’s hard to tell whether the numbers in your Excel sheet are accurate. I’m not sure if you’ve listed discounted prices you’d have to pay in addition to your Eurail Global Pass, full fares or something else. Just as an example: a return ticket Interlaken-Jungfraujoch with a 25% discount would be about CHF 176, not 107. Did you follow the guidelines explained on the “How to choose” page Rockoyster linked to? You can also download an Excel sheet there that may help you to compare your options in detail.
Note that you’ve listed 13 travel days and that you’re thinking about a 10 day Eurail Global Flexi Pass. So some of your days won’t be covered, and you can’t use free train/bus/boat traveling on the non-free travel days, so you might run into quite some additional costs. So I think one of the options below makes sense:
- get Swiss Half Fare Cards (http://www.myswissalps.com/sw isshalffarecard/price) in addition to your Eurail Global Pass (http://www.myswissalps.com/eu railglobalpass/price), offering a 50% discount on pretty much all trips in Switzerland;
- get different passes for the Austrian and Swiss legs of your stay. For Switzerland, you might consider either a 15 day Swiss Travel Pass (https://www.myswissalp s.com/swisstravelpass/ price), which would be most convenient, or a Swiss Half Fare Card.
Good luck!
Its a 15 day gloal flexi i am talking about not 10, I thount i could use global flexi for train interlaken to Kleine Scheidegg, then pay for balance to jungfrau ?? i think any of the swiss passes be fine but i have extra travel in austria and now thinking ill fly into zagreb and train it to klagenfurt as we already been to vienna, so global pass again, as to fares, its really confusing from both chh and obb websites, chh quotes fares as half price, as for 13 days 10 is not enough and 15 bit too much but best value still just $53aud per day even using short trip vienna airport to city or zagreb to city. as 1 day of the 15 making total train days 14. stil very confusing as to what global flexi gives u in switzerland.
Hi Tony,
Like I said earlier “All rail links south of Interlaken including the Jungfraujoch train (not funicular) are discounted only 25% with the Eurail Global Pass.” There is a big sign at Interlaken Ost saying “Eurail Pass not valid past this point” or words to that effect. Don’t panic – it just means it’s not valid without also having a 25% discounted ticket. You can’t get from Interlaken to Kleine Scheidegg for free with a Eurail pass.
What is covered by the Eurail Global Pass in Switzerland is explained at http://www.myswissalps.com/eu railglobalpass. Check the map on the “Where it’s valid” tab.
SBB always quotes half-fare because it is designed for domestic travellers who almost always are equipped with a half-fare card. You need to double that to work out full-fare cost.
I still don’t understand your spreadsheet because it is not obvious what the cost of full fare tickets is versus the cost after the pass benefits have been applied (and including the cost of the pass). I can’t help thinking you’d be better with a shorter Eurail pass and an 8 day Swiss Travel Pass or Swiss Half-fare Card (if you don’t mind buying tickets along the way). Do you really need a pass on your first day just going from the airport to the city?
The Swiss Travel Pass is incredibly convenient.
Hi Tonyw!
As Rockoyster explained, the SBB timetable displays discounted fares by default. We explain how to get full fares at the timetable page: http://www.myswissalps.com/ti metable.
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