Milan to Bern / Zurich / Lucern / Milan

Hello, I`m back …

Previous thread here. We have the dates now for our trip … Hotel reservations are done. So we will be at Milan, Italy at October 9th and plan to go to Swiss in the end of this day (a Sunday).

A) The idea is to stay at Bern and sleep there for 4 nights. After first night, we intend to stay the first day (Monday) at Bern city and if we have time also visit Tune and/or the Harder Kulm. DO you think is affordable to go all this points in only one day?

B) An alternative is to go to the Jungfraujoch or Jungfrau … maybe the Monch? But we do not know what is the best way to reach these points. Can you help?

On Tuesday the idea is to make a round trip to Zurich; going early in the morning and coming back at 6 or 7 PM. On Wednesday the same, but this time to Lucern.

Finally we go back to Milan, Italy on Thursday, October 13th; first train in the morning.

Besides which points will be the most interesting for us, we have to solve the transport issue.

Currently the idea is:

1) to buy the tickets from Milan to Bern at 18:23 hours at Trenitalia website, arriving at Bern 3 hours later. Currently the price is only EUR 39 per person. Pretty good huh?! I think we go buy and print these tickets at home.

2) it seems we have rights to pick up the tram at Bern in arrival night with our hotel reservations. I heard also they give trams tickets to be used into the city in the following days, if we have to …

3) For Zurich and Lucern and the trip back to Italy I was wondering to buy a Swiss Pass for 3 (consecutive) days, maybe four days if we go to Tunes or Harder Kulm.

C) I have a doubt about using the Swiss Pass for going back to Italy … I know I can use the pass until Domodossola, but how it works from there until my final destination? Should I take out of the train and pickup another one? Or just buy the complementation ticket and stay at the same train until my arrival?

Please help us to solve this puzzle! ;)

Thank you,

Joao

Apr 2, 2016 - 9:45 PM

Hello, we are a group of 2 adult couples (thus 4 people in total) going from Milan, Italy to Bern to spend a day or two visiting the city and from there to Zurich and Lucern on a roundtrip of 1 day to these places. Finally going back to Milan.

what is the cheapest way to choose? A rail pass? Anyway to include Milan also or just inside Swiss?

Thanks for anyone who can help to clarify.

Regards

Joao

Hi Joao-

here is a small start on your questions:

www.myswissalps.com/ju ngfrauregion

As far as i know, visiting the Mönch requires technical mountain climbing.

This map may help:

www.swissholidayco.com /Public/Assets/User/fi les/Map-of-Jungfrauregion1.jpg

and this, if you were planning any hiking.:

www.jungfrau.ch/en/som mer/tourism/destinatio ns/kleine-scheidegg/hiking-trails/

In early October your should have good weather, but, by then, winter is aprochiing in the high Alps, and there may be snow, especially on the higher trails. Don't be surprised; possible but unlikely when you are there.

The cograil train runs all year long.

Normally, Zürich is not a high priority for a first time traveler to Switzerland.

I have been going ther for over 35 years, and have come to know the city. I really enjoy it for its culture, music, museums, restaurants. I have friends there. It is, in fact, my favorite city in Zürich. But, I don't usually recommend it for casual visit.

www.myswissalps.com/zu rich

Are yo from South America? If so, skip the Rhine Falls-

go here instead when you are back in South America:

www.iguazuargentina.co m/en/

I'd think that more time in and near Luzern would be more enjoyable than time in Zürich..

www.myswissalps.com/lu cerne

Arno and Annika can help with the rail information.

Slowpoke

Thanks 'Slowpoke'!

I'm from Brazil and already know Iguaçu falls. Pretty amazing, huh?

I'll think about your recommendation about Zurich ...

Hope to get the answer about rail soon.

Cheers,

Joao

Hi Joao,

Here are some thoughts on tickets and passes:

• the inbound ticket Milan-Bern seems to be a nice deal indeed, so that's a good start. Please find retailers, including Trenitalia, here;
• yes, hotels in Bern offer a free Bern ticket, but only once you've checked in. So in most cases you can't use it to get from the railway station to your hotel when you arrive, but the specific hotel you've booked may have arranged for this otherwise. You'd best ask them if you're unsure;
• you will have to travel some larger distances from Bern in order to reach Lucerne, Zurich and the Jungfrau region. So yes, a 3 or 4 day Swiss Travel Pass certainly makes sense. The price difference between a 3 and 4 day Swiss Travel Pass is CHF 41 (2nd class), and you may equal or exceed that amount depending on your exact plans for Monday. A 4 day Swiss Travel Pass would allow you to be more flexible and adapt your plans to weather or other circumstances, making longer trips on your first day in Bern if required;
• purchase options for the Swiss Travel Pass are listed here. I recommend getting print at home tickets (no shipping or handling costs are added) from www.swissrailways.com/ en.
• as mentioned in your previous topic, a valid Swiss Travel Pass will provide free traveling as far as Domodossola and you'll need an additional ticket Domodossola-Milan. Information about train tickets from and to Italy, and appropriate retailers, can again be found here. If you get your tickets in advance, there's no need to get out along the way to arrange for them. You can't buy tickets on board the train.

The journey to the Jungfraujoch is described here. If weather is clear, this is certainly a spectacular trip and I'd recommend it over Thun or Harder Kulm. But that's a very personal decision and you should really decide for yourselves. In order to find out what traveling times are acceptable to you and your travel party, you'd best consult the timetable.

Thanks Annika.

1) I realized there's no price difference or advantage to buy the Swiss pass in anticipation, so the idea is to buy them only at the time we arrived at Bern, in our first day/night. Am I wrong? Therefore I will not get the printing tickets option or either use the postal service.

2) Question: the return trip from Bern to Milan, which needs to be complemented with the additional ticket Domodossola-Milan ... this trip would be made with SBB or Trenitalia? Or both work with the passes we already would have at this time?

Once again, thank you!

Joao

Hi Joao,

Thanks for getting back to us.

1) Actually it makes sense to buy online. Annika gave you the link to myswissalps.com/ swisstravelpass/ price in her 4th bullet point. As you can see there, buying online is either cheaper or the same price, and on top of that there's an extra discount as of today. You can see that by clicking to the Promotions tab on that page, or check this forum thread: myswissalps.com/forum/ topic/10-to-60-discount-on-all-train-passes-and-tickets. I think the Brazilian site may include some handling costs, but even then it should be cheaper or at least equal to buying online.

Additionally there's the convenience of printing the pass at home. Buying it at busy stations like Bern takes time, varying from 5 to 30 minutes depending on how busy it is. If you print your pass at home you are ready to board any train without visiting a ticket office. Be sure to order in time though, as most websites need at least one day, sometimes a few business days, to e-mail the pass.

2) I think Trenitalia operates most of those trains, but actually that's not relevant for your trip. Your pass will cover you to Domodossola, so you do not need a ticket there. Once the train passed Domodossola, you'll show them your separate ticket when requested. You can buy that through any of the links on myswissalps.com/ traintickets/ italy/price. Annika's link in her 4th bullet was explaining about this. In fact, you can buy it from the same Brazilian website as your pass: www.raileurope.com.br/ train/trens-internacionais-italianos.

I hope this was useful! Enjoy your trip!

I checked about the discounts ... it did not worked ... the final price is more expensive, maybe because the fees they put on top of the price ... I'm considering CHF 251 as a basis on SBB website. Due to the uncertainty which involves all trips I'm still considering to buy at Bern train station at the time I'll arrive there. Do you know what time the office at this point closes, please?

thanks

Hi again Joao,

I am not sure where you are getting those prices. I just checked for you and assumed a 4-day Swiss Travel Pass for 2 adults (not sure if that's your number of travelers). The total price on the Brazilian site I mentioned is € 464. The local price is CHF 502, about € 466. That's not much of a difference but still cheaper. And you'll save time. If you also add the Domodossola to Milan tickets you will most probably reach the amount to qualify for the € 25 discount instead of € 10. Although you may save more by getting those through timetable.captaintrain .com/trains/milano-centrale/zurich-hb. Perhaps you forgot to not choose the "Rail Protection Program"? They sell that by default but you can skip it. It's not needed either: another advantage of a print at home pass is that you can't loose it, as you'll always have a PDF copy which can be printed again if necessary. The Bern station ticket office should be open until late at night (at least 9 PM or so). Opening hours are on the SBB.ch site.

Hi Joao:

Look here for open hours:

www.sbb.ch/en/station-services/am-bahnhof/railway-stations/bahnhof-finden.posid.7000.html

Fares shown on the SBB time table are shown at a 50% discount ( because most all Swiss have a half-fare card.)

If you follow the links from "FARE/BUY" to the ticket office, you can get per-trip prices.

Arno or Annika are the experts on rail passes.

Slowpoke