Location advise and rail pass selection

  • Removed user
    Participant
    72625 posts
    18 July 2016 at 7:56:38 #809706

    Good Day Dear Moderators, Participants and Readers of this very informative forum,

    Undersigned is planning a 8 day trip to Switzerland in August 2016. It’s one leg of a month long Euro Trip with Germany, France, Brussles being the other point of interests.

    Before I say anything else, I think this forum on MySwissAlps is a great platform for tourists and I’m totally thrilled by how much information is available in the threads as well as with the speed and rate of response from the moderators and members alike. Great job guys!

    Coming to my own query – I have flexible plans during my 8 day stay, but (for an overview) the places I’m looking at are: (I may skip a few places OR club multiples close by location to save time if required as I don’t want to rush through the places)

    • Lauterbrunnen, Grindelwald
    • Lausanne, Lucern lake, Mt Rigi
    • Mt. Titlis, Rhine falls, Lungern, Engelberg,
    • Murren, Wengen, Kleine Scheidegg
    • Jungfrau, Interlaken
    • Zermatt, Matterhorn
    • Santis

    I will be hosted by a person living in the small village of PORT (very close to the city Biel). So, on most of my 8 day stay, that will be my starting point of the day.

    Questions:

    1) Considering the fact that Port is accessible only by bus, I am thinking of opting for a 8 day Swiss Travel Pass. Also, based on the locations that I am looking to visit, I think it is a better option when compared to a “Regional-Pass Bernese Oberland” and a “Jungfraw Pass”. I also plan for mountain tops and rope cars, but Swiss Travel Pass still seems more suitable based on the 8 day stay along with the point of starting each day. Please correct/advise me if I’m wrong.

    2) For Euro Trip point of view, I will be having a Euro Rail Global Pass 22 day continuous pass. Unfortunately, the 8 day stay in Switzerland is going to happen between those 22 days and so, Euro Rail Global pass will be unusable during that period (but it still ends up being cheaper than 10 travel days in 2 months type options). I do plan to take Golden Panaroma Express, Glaciar Express and similar train for sight seeing purpose in Switzerland but I have not been able to determine if the Euro Global Rail pass can be of any use for that kind of day to day travel within Switzerland. I have read links posted by the moderators explaining what a Euro Rail Global Pass can do within Switzerland, but it seems to me that having a Swiss travel pass for within Switzerland is a better option. Please advise if this is correct?

    3) Please advise which order should I buy the pass – ? First buy the Global rail pass and then use that pass to get a discount on buying a Swiss Travel Pass OR the other way round?

    Sorry for the long nature of this post, but I believe to get the best advise from you guys it would be nice to explain myself in detail.

    Thanks everyone once again!

    Regards,

    Rahul

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    Arno
    Moderator
    15471 posts
    18 July 2016 at 12:44:38 #854292

    Hi Rahul,

    Welcome, and thanks a lot for your compliments about our website! As for your questions:

    1) It will be a lot of traveling if you want to do all of that from Port. Port does not have a train station, but the nearby village of Nidau does have a train stop so you can start your day trips there. Or you can take a bus from Port to the train station of Biel. In any case, it’s a lot of traveling (see the timetable for details) and your only option is the 8-day Swiss Travel Pass. The other passes only cover of few of the locations on your list.

    2) I suppose you mean a Eurail Pass, right? If so, it’s indeed not as good as a Swiss Travel Pass. Eurail does not include buses, so you could not take a bus to Biel, for example. Also the Glacier Express is just partly covered. You can compare the passes in detail here:

    3) The order of buying doesn’t matter. There’s no discount on one pass if you hold the other. There are several websites selling both passes, so that might be easiest. Please see here for purchase options and promotions:

    Does this get you started?

    Removed user
    Participant
    72625 posts
    18 July 2016 at 18:38:54 #854293

    Hi Aron,

    Thank you for the swift and precise reply as always.

    1) Swiss travel pass it shall be then! What a relief now that it’s finalized.

    2) Yes, I meant the EuroRail Pass. You had also posted these links in an older post from this forum and I had checked it out previously, but nonetheless, thanks once again!

    Based on your answers, the trip planning got more like a jump start now! and I’m glad!

    Hope you guys are having a lovely Switzerland day! Can’t wait to experience it myself!

    Cheers!

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