[Removed user]

6 April 2018 at 1:39:47 #815158

Hello All,

Please can you suggest the type of train tickets we should buy and also please suggest things to do and places to see.

We are from Sydney, Australia – My husband, 8year old daughter and I will be leaving Paris on the 2nd of July and heading to Geneva. we have booked a hotel for 2 nights. My husband wants to have a relaxed time and not do too many things (I’ve been to Switzerland before so I’m not too fussed). We are happy to do day trips to nearby places and also just discover the city of Geneva.

From Geneva, on the 4th of July, we plan to go to Zurich for 2 nights – we haven’t booked our hotel yet. Again there, we are happy to do day trips to nearby spots and just discover the city. From Zurich, we plan to go to Germany on the 6th of July to visit my cousin in Stuttgart – we will then travel within Germany and then head to Amsterdam on or about the 12th of July .

Please can you tell me what is the best type of train ticket to buy – I have read so many websites and all the information has confused me. We will be travelling from Paris to Geneva by train, Geneva to Zurich by train, Zurich to Stuttgart by train. We would be happy to do day trips by train, depending on your suggestions. thank you so much in advance.

cheers,

Roopa

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[rockoyster]

6 April 2018 at 6:30:20 #881079

G’day Roopa and Welcome to MySwissAlps,

It depends how much travel you are doing in France and German as to whether a Eurail pass makes sense.

For Switzerland you should read “How to choose the best travel pass” (http://www.myswissalps.com/tr ain/ticketspasses/prac tical/chooserailpass).

Use the Swiss Train Timetable (http://www.myswissalps.com/ti metable) to plan your travel. If you haven’t used it before it will pay to read the instructions at this page before delving into the timetable.

I’d suggest you go to Lucerne (http://www.myswissalps.com/lu cerne) instead of Zurich. It’s a lovely city.

From Geneva to Lucerne take the Golden Pass Line (http://www.myswissalps.com/go ldenpass) which starts at Montreux. Hubby can just sit back and relax.

See also http://www.myswissalps.com/tr aintickets/france/pric e and http://www.myswissalps.com/tr aintickets/germany/pri ce.

[Slowpoke]

6 April 2018 at 6:44:40 #881080

G’Day, Roopa-

If I recall correctly, a high speed rail line has been built between the Swiss border near Zürich and Stuttgart.

The forum moderators know the most about rail passes, and a lot more than I do, so I always let them make recommendations.

However, this page could help you get started:

http://www.myswissalps.com/tr ain

I suspect that what will drive the choice is the number and distance of the day trips, so you might be thinking a bit about just how long those trips might be.

By the way, although Rockoyster as given you the link for the SBB/CFF timetable, we usually recommend this site to get instructions on some of the subtleties:

http://www.myswissalps.com/ti metable

Pwerhaps your previous experience makes that unnecessary.

By he way, I happen to like St. Gall for a possible day trip. There is a nice Altstadt, the Abbey and environs, especially the Bibliotek, are a Unesco World Heritage site, and one of my favorite small Swiss Restaurants with a lot of atmosphere is Weinstube zum Baümli, in the Old Town.

There are some comments in this thread:

http://www.myswissalps.com/fo rum/topic/20-days-in-switzerland-could-you-please-check

In this thread, there are some comments about a famous museum in Winterthur, if you are interestesd, as well as St. Gall:

http://www.myswissalps.com/fo rum/topic/advice-on-our-swiss-itinerary-late-april

Slowpoke

[Removed user]

8 April 2018 at 3:39:40 #881081

Thank you so much, I sincerely appreciate your help with my request. Cheers,

Roopa

[Removed user]

8 April 2018 at 3:40:48 #881082

Thank you! Appreciate your tips.

Cheers,

Roopa

[Peterli]

8 April 2018 at 20:30:56 #881083

I just got cut off again when I was most of the way through a reply, and lost everything. That really ticks me off. Sorry, but I am sick of this. So all I will say for now is think about visiting Yvoire, near Geneva in nearby France. Very close and quite relaxing. Don’t take it from me, though, Google the word and see for yourself. If the cost of your basic train travel; Paris – Geneva – Zurich – Stuttgart- Amersterdam (-Paris?) is anywhere near the price of a Eurailpass, buy the Pass. I hope the SNCF trouble will be over by then ! If the Eurailpass price is wickedly higher, consider just buying tickets, but keep in mind that having the pass will allow you go on other side-trips and jaunts. If the Eurailpass cost is lower, then it is obviously a no-brainer. Buy it ! Oh yes, if you take the fast train from Geneva to Zurich, you will be running in the Swiss plateau and will miss being close to the Alps. Rockoyster’s suggestion of going to Lucerne is a great idea. If you hadn’t already booked your hotel in Geneva, I would have suggested doing so in Lausanne, a much more central and picturesque city.

[Slowpoke]

8 April 2018 at 20:48:17 #881084

Bonsoir Peterli-

<<“just got cut off again when I was most of the way through a reply, and lost everything. That really ticks me off. Sorry, but I am sick of this.”>>

I’ve had the same problem. If I am working on a long post, sometimes I’ll save a copy to my text editor.

If I compose in MS Word ( with autosave) , for example, and save as text, it can be copied into the forum with only minor problems. The forum software does not follow Windows conventions well, so working in text mode helps. Carriage returns, etc., don’t translate well, however. Don’t know if RTF would work.

Slowpoke

[rockoyster]

8 April 2018 at 20:49:50 #881085

Hi Peterli,

If you have been logged on to the forum for a while you get automatically logged off after 6 hours – no questions asked. So after being bitten a few times I have taken to logging off then on again at regular intervals. Pretty sure it is controlled by a cookie so closing your browser does not log you off.

[Peterli]

8 April 2018 at 21:24:07 #881086

Hi boys,

I usually notice typos after I have pressed “Post this reply” and so then I go back in (“Edit post”), correct my typos, and add this or that and each time I “Save changes” I know that whatever I have done up to that point is not lost. The thing is, in this particular instance, I had not posted or saved anything I had entered, and was merrily working along and then “pouf !“, it was all gone. The first couple of times it happened I thought that maybe I had inadvertently brushed one of the keys on the lowest row on my keyboard, but this time I knew I hadn’t, so that’s why I was sounding off. Thank you both for your advice/suggestions.

By the way, do either of you know if there is a limit on the number of times I can edit a post, or is there a time component in all of this ? I recall one time I wanted to continue to edit but that possibility was no longer there.

I am still hoping to hear from Arno about how I can remove an attachment. It’s pretty important to me because sometimes (only once so far, actually) when I am checking I see that it is not the image I intended to upload. I know I should check first, but accidents can happen.

[rockoyster]

8 April 2018 at 21:34:41 #881087

Hi Peterli,

Time limit on post remaining editable is 1 hour. Don’t know if that is from initial post time or most recent edit time. Suspect latter.

You have to get a moderator to delete photos at present.

Arno promises improvements coming soon. Not sure if photo delete will be one of them.

[Peterli]

8 April 2018 at 21:45:32 #881088

Hi Rockoyster,

So there is a 1 hour time limit. If it was the latter, one could go on for hours making edits. For this reason I suspect it would be the former, i.e. 1 hour from when you first save your post.

What I have noticed is that even while I am in edit mode, the last saved version of my post is visible to others. I know that because people have responded to me while I’m still working on the post

[rockoyster]

8 April 2018 at 22:06:33 #881089

Er, when I said latter, I actually meant former. Silly me.

Yes your post (last saved version) remains visible to others while you are editing.

[Slowpoke]

8 April 2018 at 22:14:20 #881090

<<“Er, when I said latter, I actually meant former. Silly me.”>>

Probably due to the fact that you are upside down in that part of the globe.

Do you have that problem after you come north across the equator?

😉

Slowpoke

[rockoyster]

8 April 2018 at 22:24:03 #881091

Makes no difference Slowpoke. I am perfectly capable of doing stupid things in either hemisphere (of the globe and brain). 🍷

[Removed user]

9 April 2018 at 6:03:47 #881092

Thank you. Sorry you had trouble completing the post. Appreciate your suggestions. So if I buy the Eurail pass, I can use it within Switzerland. I think I read somewhere that there is a charge even if you have the Eurail pass.

Thank you!

Roopa

[rockoyster]

9 April 2018 at 6:24:05 #881093

The Eurail Pass is OK for general travel but the coverage, especially once you get into the mountains is not as good as a Swiss Pass. You should check the Eurail coverage on the map you can download at (http://www.myswissalps.com/eu railselectpass/validit y).

[Peterli]

9 April 2018 at 6:29:01 #881094

Hello,

I strongly recommend that you look into the purchase of a Eurail Select Pass. I believe that they are for two, three, or four countries. France + Switzerland + Germany + Netherlands = 4. If you go from Amsterdam back to Paris that would add Belgium. I suspect that such a pass will be less expensive than a full blown EurailPass. Again, hopefully some of the train experts will see this thread and give their advice.

As for your questions about Switzerland, this may help you find answers: http://www.myswissalps.com/eu railglobalpass/validit y

[Peterli]

9 April 2018 at 6:35:26 #881095

Hej Rockoyster,

I think your compatriots are in Switzerland for only four nights, and if they are staying in Geneva for 2 and Zurich for the other 2, I really wonder how much they will be getting into the mountains. What say you ??

[rockoyster]

9 April 2018 at 6:50:49 #881096

I say I got what was coming to me for dropping in on a conversation late. 😖

[Arno]

9 April 2018 at 8:30:36 #881097

Hi guys,

I’m sorry for the trouble with the posts! Here’s a list of good-to-knows:

• Best practice is to log off when you’re done on the site. If you don’t, you’ll be logged off automatically after 6 hours, regardless if you closed the browser in the mean time. This could unfortunately be while writing a post. A few years ago we kept you logged on for much longer, but that needed to change for safety.
• Posts can be edited for an hour after the creation time. You can edit them as many times as you like within that hour.
• If we are performing maintenance, all pages show a warning in the top. Editing/posting should not be possible during that time.
• A short website reboot may occur from time to time. This is rare, but sometimes necessary and then it will take the site out for no more than 30 seconds usually. If you happen to click the post button right at that time you’re in bad luck unfortunately. Personally if I write a long post I quickly click CTRL+A and CTRL+C to copy the entire text before hitting the post button. To be honest, I do this on all websites when posting, submitting mail forms, etc. Any site can have an issue and that quick key combination makes sure I don’t loose all that text. Not to mention wifi and internet connections breaking down. If something goes wrong I paste it into Notepad and save it. This happens very rarely but if it does it saves time.
• The site does protect you from accidentally clicking the back button while writing a post, for example. It should show a popup with a warning.
• Posting using iOS (iPad/iPhone) does not work at the moment. I am planning to perform an update that solves that. I’m currently testing (there’s much more in that update), and if all goes well the update should be deployed this week.
• Attachment editing is bad, I totally agree. This will not change in the next update but it is pretty high on my wish list to make various improvements here.

Suggestions are always welcome of course. Please see http://www.myswissalps.com/fo rum/topic/suggestions-to-improve-myswissalpscom.

[rockoyster]

9 April 2018 at 9:44:28 #881098

Thanks for the update Arno.

The iOS fix will be extremely welcome. 🤓