How to travel cheaper - Car or train?

We are going to Switzerland on 29th June for 8 nights. We love driving so want to rent a car. We will be doing mountain excursions and boat rides and dinner cruise. We are planning to visit Zurich, Lucerne, interlaken, bern. So I want to know that rent a car will be cheaper or rail pass? We are two adults. And please advise if we can make only one base for our trip and if yes what that can be. Since its peak time we would like to save on accommodation also. So can u suggest any accommodation out of main cities. Thanks

Hi Rachna,

Welcome to MySwissAlps! There's no easy answer to this, as total costs depend on where exactly you go and how much traveling you do. This page provides some insight into costs: myswissalps.com/plantr ip/doityourself/savemo ney.

Without any rail pass, car traveling is definitely more expensive as you would pay the regular (pretty high) price for the cable cars and boats. So if you decide to drive I recommend to at least purchase Swiss Half Fare Cards to save on those tickets. Be sure to explore our section for drivers too.

A car is a good option if you plan to go to remote locations that are difficult or impossible to reach by public transport. Switzerland has the best train system in the world, or at least one of the best. It's an attraction in itself. I would not go to Zurich, Lucerne and Bern by car as it's hard to find your way around and expensive to park. The trains drop you right into the city center, where you can do all sightseeing on foot. Of course you can also rent a car for a few days for the day trips that require a car, and rely on the trains on the remaining days.

Budget accommodation can be found on www.myswissalps.com/ho tels/budget. If there's nothing that suits your needs on that page, we'll be glad to help with more specific suggestions. Note that your mode of travel is important when finding accommodation: a nearby train station is recommended, but in case of traveling by car it's more convenient to avoid the larger towns.