[Fognorth]

26 April 2015 at 19:45:38 #807134

Arrive June 24th Zurich Airport. These are travel days.

Day 1 Travel Zurich to Wengen.

Day 2 Round trip Wengen cable to Mannlichen

Day 3 Round trip Wengen to Lauterbrunen

Day 4 Wengen to Gerra

Day 5 Gerra to Biasca

Days 6 Gerra to Lugano

Day 7 Gerra to Chiasso from there to Florence Italy.

Day 8 Mals to Zurich Airport return from Italy

IF? I calculated right the 8 day Travel Pass Flex would be tight but would work and price wise it is about the same as a Half Fare Pass. However with the Half Fare Pass we would have to to buy tickets for each trip. Is it advisable in this instance to buy tickets in advance online or purchase at each train station upon arrival for departure? Where do I find the rates for cable cars?

Further…is there a helpful website/forum similar to yours for travel in Italy? Thanks soooo much.

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[Arno]

27 April 2015 at 12:21:34 #842712

Hi Fognorth,

How long will this trip be in total? The 8 days are only the travel days, right? Do you indeed expect to only use one cable car during your entire stay?

As far as I can see now, I don’t see a need for an 8-day Swiss Travel Pass Flex. Only day 1, 4 and 8 seem to be longer trips within Switzerland. A 3-day Swiss Travel Pass Flex Combi includes 3 days of free traveling and a 50% discount on shorter trips in between the free travel days. That should work out much cheaper, but perhaps I don’t understand your plan correctly. Pass details are here. Please see here for an explanation on how to do the math, and the timetable page explains all about how to find prices.

I don’t know that much about Italy, nor do I know similar websites about Italy, but I do know that point to point tickets are much cheaper there than in Switzerland. So traveling there without a pass may work for you. I have not heard of Gerra before. Be sure to check its spelling before checking ticket fares. Unlike Switzerland, long distance trains in Italy do require seat reservations, so you may want to book these when you purchase your pass. Please see here for that. Alternatively, there’s a Eurail Pass for Italy: raileurope.com/rail-tickets-passes/eurail-italy-pass/index.html.

I hope this was useful!

Arno

[Fognorth]

27 April 2015 at 23:49:50 #842713

We will be in the area for 30 days, but family will only be there for 10. They catch a flight out of Florence as shown. We will work our way around Italy most of remainder and then return to fly out of Zurich. And yes family only has time for a quick taste of Switzerland before heading to Italy and that is why I choose to get them into the Jungfrau area as the highlight. After rethinking I tend to agree with you on a 3day Swiss Travel Flex Combi. Only short trips will require us to get a ticket at the time of travel. Gerra is a location a family member found on Lake Maggoire..small town..looks interesting. I have to tell you I have spent hours trying to find out itinerary cost info on the Wengen/Mannlichen cable car lift. I assumed it would be in the SBB search area and only today found out that the info is on a different website. Thanks for all your help. I am a 75 year old man and my brain works much slower than it used to.

[Arno]

28 April 2015 at 7:01:40 #842714

You’re welcome Fognorth! I see, so it’s Gerra (Gambarogno) in Switzerland, near the Italian border. Well, I don’t think that changes our conclusion: there are just a few longer travel days in Switzerland, so the Swiss Travel Flex Combi for less days should work fine. You can check myswissalps.com/ swisstravelpassflex/ price in order to see where you can best purchase it.

I’m not sure if the Wengen to Männlichen fares are not in the timetable, but the difficulty in such a case is that you must pick a travel date in its opening season, and if that’s more than a month from now, it won’t give you any prices. So in some cases it’s much easier to check the website of the cable car itself.