Best Swiss rail pass for 7 days

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    15 July 2018 at 10:44:25 #817278

    Dear Swiss experts,

    Hello once again! After december that i visited engadin valley now i have chosen again Switzerland for my summer holidays. Your help to choose engadin valley and finally stay in pontresina was of significant importance! This trip was one of the best for us so far!

    To the present now, i am coming with my husband for 8 days (9-16 of august), airport of arrival and departure is zurich. I have read A LOT to plan this trip and choose which places to visit, however the most difficult thing to do, still remains the choice of the best “pass”. I have done the math in your recommended excel for the option of swiss travel pass for 8 days and the swiss half fare card, as well as with some other passes with the cost to be approximately the same high (around 500 euro pp)!!! We are going to stay in lauterbrunnen and we are going to visit murren, wengen, interlaken, harder kulm, mount pilatus and mount rigi, lucerne, bern, do the golden pass to montreux, jungfraujoch, schilthorn plus the route to and from zurich airport to lauterbrunnen (just to give you an idea of the area of interest).

    I am also thinking that the days of travelling will be 7 full days so buying an 8 days pass will not be used to the best of it! I have also taken to consideration tell pass, jungfraujoch pass and bernese oberland pass as well as a combination of them (3 days and 4 days from 2 different passes) without being a less expensive option. All in all,i am of the opinion that the best choice is the swiss travel pass for 8 days because it provides us with the freedom of unlimited travelling with no need to have tickets.To sum up, i would like your opinion on this based on your experience, in case i am missing something that may be a cheaper option. We are travelling from Greece but as far as i can see there is no available promo.

    Once again thank you for the great job you do!

    Sofia

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    15 July 2018 at 16:10:06 #891407

    Hi Sophia,

    I’m glad to hear your last trip to Switzerland was a good one!

    I agree the Swiss Travel Pass (https://www.myswissalp s.com/swisstravelpass) sounds like the best bet. If all the passes or combination of passes come out to a similar price point then at least you just buy one pass – keeps it simple, and you get a lot of ticket-less travel (except some mountain trips of course). Rigi and Schilthorn being free exceptions though.

    Don’t get too wrapped up in buying an 8 day pass for 7 days of travel – it is often still cheaper overall and that is the main objective!

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    17 July 2018 at 19:39:36 #891408

    Dear Lucas thank for your reply!

    Swiss Pass can be bought online from various sites, but none provides paying through paypal i think, for which i am interested, right? Now, regarding the jungfraujoch, i have read that tickets in high season is recommended to be bought in advance, and i have also read that weather permitted, tickets should be bought even the day of visit, in order to ensure nice weather! Now, my question is if tickets will be available if we buy them on the spot and hop on the train or should we buy in advance? sorry for changing topic in this last question!

    thank you for your help once again!

    sofia

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    18 July 2018 at 5:48:06 #891409

    You can check payment options here: https://www.myswissalp s.com/jungfraujoch/pac kages but I think you are right and none accept PayPal.

    Yes, you should be ok to still get a reserved seat the day before you want to depart. They set aside one or maybe two carriages (or just 1/2 a carriage) for reservations. So reserved guests go to that carriage and sit wherever they like.

    Everyone else finds a seat in the other carriages. I went up on this train at Lauterbrunnen last Saturday at around 08:30 and I’d guess the train was 80% full. If, later in the day it is very busy you may have to wait for one or two trains if you don’t make reservations.

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