Pass options for a 4 day itinerary

HiWe plan to visit Switzerland for 4 days in August. The itinerarywill be as follows:Day 1: Arrive in Zurich, Train to LucerneDay 2: Mountain excursion – Titlis / PilatusDay 3: Train to Interlaken, possible Golden Pass excursionDay 4: Mountain excursion – JungfraujochDay 5: Onward train from Interlaken to Paris

The natural thought for this itinerary would be the 4 daypass. However, I am confused because of the availability of the flex pass halffare combi. This is whyIf instead of the 4 day pass I take the 3 day flexi pass combi then I keep day 1 and 4 as the non travel days, using the half fare card on Jungfraujoch excursion. This would help me get a better discount on Jungfraujoch excursion (50% against 25%)I end up saving on the cost of ticket from Interlaken to Paris for the Switzerland leg of the journey

Cost of the 3 day flex with half card is slightly higherthan the 4 day pass, and I’m trying to find out the cost benefit of using itThe doubt I have with the combi is:Will I be able to use the half fare card on day 1, withoutstarting on the flex cardWill I be able to utilize day 4 as a non travel day if I onlyuse the half fare card that day, and not the flex cardIs there any other combination that will be more useful forme?Also, I am from India, so wanted to ask if the Rail passesand tickets bought online at raileurope.co.in is sufficient or should one needto buy from a designated point of sale. Also the cost of all these passes isdifferent on different websites. Is that possible?Thanks in advance for your help!!

Hi vidhukant,

Welcome to MySwissAlps! A Swiss Travel Pass Flex would not pay off in this case. You can't get discounts on day one as the half fare portion of the pass only works between the first and last free travel day (see here).

I recommend a Swiss Half Fare Card. Or, if you don't like to buy tickets for each trip, get a 4-day Swiss Travel Pass for day 2 to 5, plus a regular ticket from Zurich to Lucerne, and a ticket from Basel (Swiss border) to Paris.

Yes, the price of passes is different for the various points of sale. Please see myswissalps.com/swisshalffarecard/price for all the options. The site you mentioned is the point of sale for India, so that's perfectly fine. They offer the Swiss Half Fare Card, and also tickets from Basel to Paris:

• www.raileurope.co.in/ pass/swiss-half-fare-card
• www.raileurope.co.in/ train/tgv-lyria

I hope this is useful for you.

Many thanks for your advice, Arno. I suppose we will take the 4 day pass only

In fact after a few discussions yesterday we decided to change the program a bit. Instead of staying in Interlaken / Lucerne for 2 days each we will stay the entire 4 days in a midway town (either Sachseln or Lugern) and access both mountain excursions from there only. Both these places look beautiful and serene.

Regarding the flexi pass combi, I still have doubt to if I use it exclusively on a day between my first and last free travel day then would that day also count as a free travel day?

Many Thanks

Vidhu

Hi Vidhu,

I think you're making the right choice with either of these villages. You'll be more flexible. You also will be traveling every day. Have a look at the 4-day Swiss Travel Pass, and either use it for day 1 to 4 or 2 to 5, and buy regular tickets for the remaining day. That will work out cheaper than a flex pass. If you have all details about your day tips you could do the math to be sure. Please see myswissalps.com/ swisstravelpass for Swiss Travel Pass details and www.raileurope.co.in/p ass/swiss-pass for prices.

I don't fully understand your last question. You pick the free travel days yourself by filling out the days on your pass. But I don't think it matters since you'll be better off with the regular Swiss Travel Pass.

Hi Arno

I wanted to ask if there is a site to obseve bus timings in Switzerland? Actually on my last day I need to catch the 08:54 train from Luzern to Basel. But I'll be coming in from Lungern, and the train reaches Luzern only at 08:55, or an hour earlier / later

So I wanted to see if there is a bus timetable that will help me reach Luzern before 08:54

Thanks always for your help!

Vidhu

Hi Vidhu,

All public transport is in the timetable. Usually trains and buses do not service the same routes in Switzerland. There's either a train or a bus, not both. In your case the timetable shows that you can take the 7:05 train from Lungern, and arrive in Basel at 9:29 (2 changes) or 9:44 (1 change).