[Removed user]

9 June 2017 at 2:48:21 #812186

Dear forum,

I asked about the difference between a travel pass and a half-off card a few weeks ago and thanks again for explaining things to me. I now have a question that I believe will be a silly one. Do I purchase several tickets if my itinerary involves several switches before I get to my destination? I am traveling from Lugano to Zermatt and most itinerary generated through Google shows that I will have at least two connections in between Lugano and Zermatt. For some connections, I need to switch trains within 4 minutes! My silly question is whether this is possible at all? My second question is when I purchase the ticket at Lugano, do I get a stack of tickets or one ticket that I will use on all the trains that I will ride for the day in order to get to Zermatt? Are all of the other train connections settled once I purchase the train ticket at Lugano?

What am I going to get when I purchase a train ticket for a multi-connection itinerary?

Thanks lovely community!

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[Removed user]

9 June 2017 at 10:16:11 #864765

Hi Li,

Questions 1: Yes, short connection times are possible (they won’t make impossible connections) but you must walk quickly to the next train! When you have a 4 or 5 minute connection time the rail station is usually very small so you don’t walk far! Sometimes there are only 1 or 2 tracks.

Question 2: When you buy a ticket from one town to another town you will get one ticket only (it doesn’t matter what the connections you take (as trains may take different connections throughout the day) only that you do so on that day and you are traveling in the correct direction 🙂

If you have the Swiss Travel Pass you don’t have to buy any tickets at all (except for the odd train or gondola etc. going to a mountain attraction like Jungfraujoch where the pass doesn’t cover the full cost of travel). You only need to buy separate tickets if you travel on the Swiss Half Fare Card.

Lucas

[Removed user]

9 June 2017 at 17:16:10 #864766

Thank Lucas! We all plan to purchase the ticket together at the train station on the day of departure. We will all get a half-off card except one student, who will travel with a Europass. Her mom wants to book a ticket for her in advance using the Europass and wants to make sure that she still ride on the same train for all the connections with us between Lugano and Zermatt.

When I book the Bernina Express I was able to select the train #, seat # before I proceed to pay. I found that I am unable to do this with the itinerary between Lugano and Zermatt unless I pay online, maybe because this is a regular itinerary. This means that I am unable to tell the mom which train # we will likely ride on that day, except a rough time frame (like departing between 6:30-7am).

My new question is, is the Google itinerary, which shows various connections along the way, accurate? Is it safe to use it as our reference when making decisions? Next, what if we miss the 4-min connection? Does that void the rest of our trip, or we can wait for the next available connection? We will travel with luggage and somehow the short connection makes me nervous. Sorry for the extensive replies!

Li

[Slowpoke]

10 June 2017 at 2:18:14 #864767

<<“My new question is, is the Google itinerary, which shows various connections along the way, accurate?”>>

Hi Li-

Use the SBB timetable, not Google.

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

You can pick any train because it will not require reservations ( most intra-Swiss trains do not, unless they are special excursion trains, such as the Bernina Express). Then you can tell your friend what train you will take.

I have no idea whether Eurail pass requires a reservation..but normal Swiss travel does not.

Slowpoke

[Arno]

10 June 2017 at 6:43:36 #864768

Reservations are not required regardless of the pass or ticket you travel with, apart from the few scenic trains Slowpoke mentioned. So you can just take any train you like. If you actually miss a connection, which is rare, you can simply take the next train. Taking a train in Switzerland is as simple as a subway: no pre-planning required, just get a ticket or pass and board any train you like.