[Anonymous]

12 November 2019 at 2:59:16 #824441

Hello,

I am trying to determine what pass will be the best for me from 12/10 to 12/19. It seems like I will not be on any of the panorama trains so I am not sure if i need to swiss travel pass?

Here is my itinerary:

Dec 10- Zurich

Dec 11- Zurich to Lucerne

Dec 12- Lucerne to Bern

Dec 13-15 Bern to Zermatt

Dec 15-17- Montreux

Dec 17-18- Geneva

Dec 18-19 – Geneva to Zurich

Day trips may include: Zurich to St. Gallen, Lucerne to Mt. Pilatus, Bern to Interlaken, Montreux to Gruyure or Gstaad.

Is the Swiss travel pass the best option for me?

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[rockoyster]

Reply 1 of 4 • 12 November 2019 at 4:43:04 #924991

Hello all and Welcome to MySwissAlps,

Based on your personal itinerary 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. The spreadsheet also includes links to the “Where it’s valid” page for all available passes. Be sure to check those pages for each pass you are considering. Study the map AND read all the text on those pages to fully understand what is covered by the respective pass.

Whether or not you are on the “panoramic” trains is of little significance as the fares are the same as regular trains on the same routes and the seat reservations mandatory on some “panoramic” trains are not covered by any pass.

I’d have a good hard look at the Swiss Half-fare card as well as the Swiss Travel Pass(perhaps an 8-day pass from 12th to 19th).

I wonder why you would move from Montreux to Geneva for a day? You might also look at going direct to Luzern on arrival at Zurich Airport. It is only 1 hour away and in my opinion Luzern is a better base than Bern. You can do a day trip from there to Bern.

[User]

Reply 2 of 4 • 12 November 2019 at 5:10:59 #924992

Thanks for the suggestions. I was looking at the validity map and it’s a little confusing to look at. But thanks for the suggestions I’ll take a closer look.

I am a Marriott traveler for work and most my hotels are based on Marriott points so I thought why not check out Geneva for the day and the Ritz Carlton there. Luzern may be a better base for me as there is a marriottt there too. That’s a great suggestion and would save me money since I splurged on a spa hotel in Zermatt

[rockoyster]

Reply 3 of 4 • 12 November 2019 at 6:11:58 #924993

On the page where you see the validity map be sure to read the text which follows as it describes a lot of the excursions and attractions which are covered or discounted.

Also look at the “How to Use” tab for the passes that you consider. It will provide pretty clear instructions on how the passes work.

[User]

Reply 4 of 4 • 13 November 2019 at 0:04:36 #924994

As a veteran of 50 years of Swiss rail travel I would suggest you get the Swiss Travel Pass(8 days). It gives you the peace of mind and freedom to jump on and off all the main network trains as you fancy. For your itinerary it would allow easy trips on the main line trains and cater for many of the side trips you are thinking of doing.

A few hints:

Don’t just look at the Validity map as a way of getting to know the geography of Switzerland, you need to look at ordinary maps as well, and take time to think about how small the country is and how short some of the journeys are.

Zurich– Geneva takes only 2 hours 40 minutes , and for a bit of fun I actually checked online and you could visit all of your proposed destinations in one 11 hour day if you started early enough. Obviously this is not what you will do but I offer it here as an illustration of rail travel in Switzerland.

By way of comparison, I am a regular traveller in Switzerland but in summer 2019 my wife and I travelled from New York to Toronto by train. We were on the train for 10 hours in the USA and in that whole time we didn’t even go beyond the boundaries of New York state!