[Removed user]

28 June 2013 at 10:31:41 #806084

Hi experts,
I, husband and son (11 years old) from Malaysia will be arrived Zurich airport @06:10am, Sunday 22nd September 2013. Switzerland is our first time visit. Based on feedback from this forum and others, below is the itinerary.

22-Sep – arrive Zurich @6:10am, keep the baggage in airport and take the rain after breakfast in airport and go to visit Rhinefalls. Then, check in at Allegra Hotel Zurich.

23-Sep – Check-out and take train from Zurich to Interlaken. The journey by train to Chur (change train Glacier Express) to – Brig – Spiez – Interlaken Ost (via Lötschberg) to enjoy the panorama view. Check in hotel at Interlaken for 3 nights.

24-Sep – Tour to Jungfraujoch – Bernese Oberland train to Lauterbrunnen orGrindelwald. From Grindelwald take from Wengernalp train to Kleine-Scheidegg and Jungfraujoch. Going down to enjoy ride using First Aerial Cableway.

25-Sep – visit Model railway exhibhition, Teddyland, Heimwehfluh

26-Sep – Interlaken Ost – Lucerne – Basel – Paris. At Lucerne, stopby to visit Swiss Transport museum. In Paris, will check-in hotel nearby to Disneyland.

27-Sep – Disneyland park 1.

28-Sep – Disneyland park 2.

29-Sep – highspeed train from Paris to Munich. Check-in Munich.

30-Sep – city sightseeing Munich.

01-Oct – BMW Munich Plant tour (reservation has been made for this tour).

02-Oct – highspeed train Munich to Zurich airport. departure to KL 22:30pm

Question:

1. What the best Pass should I using? (Initially I prefer to use Eurail Global Pass but the pass does not cover bus & boat that we should use bus to reach hotel in Zurich & Interlaken. We also would like to enjoy ride the boat there).

2. If I choose Swiss Pass, the pass only cover for 4 days stay instead of 5 days. Should I shorten the stay in Switzerland? How to improve my itinerary? Kindly help me.

3. If I choose Swiss Pass, I feel quite expensive ticket for point2point for Basel-Paris, Paris-Munich & Munich-Zurich. Please advice.

4. For trip Paris-Munich, we intend to drop by to Stuttgard to visit Mercedes & Porche museum (we love cars..!). But is there time for us? Or should we overnight one day in Stutgard or after visit both museum, we take train to Munich.

Sorry my question is so wordy.

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[Arno]

28 June 2013 at 13:22:16 #838984

Hi Ziela,

In your case, a Swiss Pass would be more economical than a Eurail Pass in Switzerland: it includes free traveling in the Glacier Express, a discount on the Swiss Transport Museum, free traveling for your son, free city transport and free traveling in more trains in the Bernese Oberland. I would recommend a 3-day Swiss Saver Flexi Pass and use the free travel days on September 22, 23, 26. You would still get discounts on the days you don’t travel or only do limited traveling: September 24 and 25. Of course you could take a 4-day pass as well, depending on your further plans, if any.

In addition you can use the Eurail France-Germany Pass for the other two countries.

You can get everything you need from one website: the Swiss Saver Flexi Pass from this page, the Eurail France-Germany Pass from this page and the Glacier Express (and other) reservations from this page. Tip for the seat reservations: if it can’t find any trains to book, then try a longer trip. For example: if Chur to Brig doesn’t deliver results, the try Chur to Zermatt. It’s just seat reservations, so price wise it doesn’t matter.

I don’t know about the museums in Germany, but it doesn’t sound realistic do to such a long trip plus two museums in one day. I would suggest to slow down and indeed book an extra night. Traveling times are in the timetable.

You may have already seen it, but good hotels for train travelers in Interlaken can be found here.

By the way, which model railway are you referring to?

[Removed user]

29 June 2013 at 2:28:03 #838985

Hi Arno,
You really an expert.! I feel so happy with the guideline given. I need more clarification to understand about the Pass system.

1. why we are not require to use the Swiss Pass during September 24-25? Is it we not require to use the Swiss Pass to go to Jungfraujoch on Sep 24 and also to go to Heimwehfluh Interlaken.?
( Model railway can find in Heimwehfluh (refer the website http://www.Heimwehfluh.ch)

2. On 26-Sep, which the trip is Interlaken-Lucernce-Basel-Paris. Is that mean I require to use both Swiss Pass (Interlaken-Basel) & Eurail France-Germany Pass (Basel-Paris)?

3. For Eurail France-Germany Pass, is the pass valid for trip from Basel to Paris? And also is it valid from Munich to Zurich?

We intend to stay at Hotel Tell in Interlaken.

I shall conclude the Pass usage as follow:
DAY 1 – 22-Sep – Zurich – Swiss Pass.
DAY 2 – 23-Sep – Zurich –> Interlaken – Swiss Pass.
DAY 3 – 24-Sep – Interlaken –> Jungfraujoch – Swiss Pass.
DAY 4 – 25-Sep – Interlaken –> Heimwehfluh/ Teddyland – Swiss Pass.
DAY 5 – 26-Sep – Interlaken –> Lucerne –> Basel –> Paris – Swiss Pass & Eurail France-Germany Pass.
DAY 6 – 27-Sep – Paris Disneyland Park 1- Eurail France-Germany Pass required?
DAY 7 – 28-Sep – Paris Disneyland Park 2 – Eurail France-Germany Pass required?
DAY 8 – 29-Sep – Paris –> Stuttgard –> Munich – Eurail France-Germany Pass.
DAY 9 – 30-Sep – Munich –> city sightseeing – Eurail France-Germany Pass required?
DAY 10 – 01-Oct – Munich –> BMW plant – Eurail France-Germany Pass required?
DAY 11 – 02-Oct – Munich –> Zurich airport – Eurail France-Germany Pass valid?

Is that mean I shall buy the 5-Days Swiss Flexi Saver Pass & 7-Days Eurail France-Germany Pass?

Please advice. Thank you.

[Arno]

29 June 2013 at 3:07:38 #838986

Hi Ziela,

Glad to be helpful!

1. You are using the pass actually. A Swiss Saver Flexi Pass includes free travel days and “discounted days”, so you would use the latter on September 24 and 25 because you’ve only planned short trips there. Of course you can buy a 5-day Swiss Saver Flexi Pass if you feel more comfortable to have the maximum of free traveling available on all days. See this page for how the pass works.

2. Sure, that’s all included. As long as you travel within France and Germany only, your trips are covered by that pass.

Thanks for the model railway clarification. There was another one in Interlaken, but it closed a few years ago. Just wanted to make sure you didn’t plan to visit the non-existing one.

Hotel Tell is a bit further away from the rail stations, but I guess you already knew that. You can get there by bus or just walking a bit more.

[Removed user]

29 June 2013 at 3:29:56 #838987

Hi Arno,
noted with thanks.
Kindly advice on my edited post, which :
Is that mean I shall buy the 5-Days Swiss Flexi Saver Pass & 7-Days Eurail France-Germany Pass?
On 26-Sep, which pass shall I use? Or need to use both?
TQ.

[Arno]

29 June 2013 at 4:16:28 #838988

Hi Ziela,

Both passes allow you to choose the number of free travel days that you want, and you can use those days within a month (Swiss Saver Flexi Pass) or within two months (Eurail France-Germany Pass). So it’s up to you if you find it comfortable to have free traveling available on all of your days, or just on the days you have actually planned long trips. For example, on September 25, you do very limited traveling so there’s no need to have a free travel day. You would get a discount on the trip up to Schynige Platte (Teddyland) anyway. You’re more flexible if you have free travel days on all days. If the weather is bad, it’s kind of useless to go up to Schynige Platte, but you could decide to go to Bern or do a boat trip and not pay for that.

If you want free traveling on all days, then get a 5-day Swiss Saver Flexi Pass (Sep 22 – 26) and a 7-day Eurail France-Germany Pass (Sep 26 – Oct 2). On the last day there’s a short leg from the Swiss border to Zurich which should be paid for in full (unless you want a 6-day Swiss Saver Flexi Pass to prevent that).

On the other hand, if you prefer the more economical option of having free travel days for your longer trips only, then get a 3-day Swiss Saver Flexi Pass as explained before and a 4-day Eurail France-Germany Pass (Sep 26, 29 and Oct 2, and one extra day since there is no 3-day pass).

On September 26 you have the Swiss Saver Flexi Pass for the Swiss leg and the Eurail France-Germany Pass for the French leg.

[Removed user]

30 June 2013 at 2:16:55 #838989

Hi Arno,
Thanks to provide me to have better understanding on those Pass. Additional, your advice is helping me to have more economical option which I will improve my itinerary whereby:

i. To follow your advice whereby to get 3-day Swiss Saver Flexi Pass and 4-day Eurail France-Germany Pass.
ii. On 29-Sep, to take train Paris-Stuttgard and overnight in Stuttgard. Hence, we have time to visit Merz & Porche museum.
iii. On 30-Sep, take train Stuttgard-Munich.

Another clarification required: –
1. is the park in Heimwehfluh exist anymore?
2. Any interesting place that you would recommend during our stay in Interlaken?

Your attention is really appreciated. Thank you.

Ziela, KL.

[Arno]

2 July 2013 at 8:08:05 #838990

Hi Ziela,

Heimwehfluh is open. You can look into the day trip tips for the Bernese Oberland and the hiking tips for more ideas.

[Removed user]

2 July 2013 at 11:53:38 #838991

Hi Arno,
Really appreciate your advice. Thanks a lot..!
Looking forward to buy both Passes via online.

Thinking of buying the reservation seat too but is it too early? I am not sure to choose the exact time our travelling time. Is it OK if buy the reservation seat at the counter? How sure we are that we can get the reservation seat especially train to Munich due to Octoberfest?

[Arno]

2 July 2013 at 12:47:35 #838992

Hi Ziela,

As you can read here you don’t need reservations for most trains in Switzerland. However, you do need them for the Glacier Express and most long-distance trains in other countries. I would not recommend to wait with that until you reach the counter in Switzerland. Popular trains may be fully booked by then, or your preferred seats may not be available any more. The basic rule is: don’t book seats for trains that do not require reservations, but book them as early as possible for popular trains that do require reservations.