[Removed user]

27 June 2013 at 3:42:58 #806075

Hello,

We are 2 adults and a 2.5 year old who are planning a trip to Switzerland – Austria Early August. Below is my tentative itinerary.

[u]Itinerary[/u]

Jul 31 – Arrive in Zurich o/n at Zurich Airport
Aug 1 – Check out and head to Lucerne – arrive mid day – check in – o/n Lucerne
Aug 2 – sight seeing around Lucerne – o/n Lucerne
Aug 3 – Check out of Lucerne and take the golden pass to Interlaken – proceed to Wengen – o/n Wengen
Aug 4 – Day trips from Wengen – o/n Wengen
Aug 5 – Day trips from Wengen – o/n Wengen
Aug 6 – Day trips from Wengen – o/n Wengen
Aug 7 – Check out and proceed to Interlaken – Zurich – Take the train to Salzburg – o/n salzburg
Aug 8 – Sight seeing at Salzburg – o/n salzburg
Aug 9 – Check out and take the train to Vienna – o/n Vienna
Aug 10 – check out and proceed to Vienna – o/n Vienna
Aug 11 – Sight seeing Venice – o/n Vienna
Aug 12 – Check out and fly back to DXB

[u]Questions

[/u]1. Which swiss pass to take – I will only do the Lucerne to Interlaken bit of the Golden Pass. Am confused between the Half Fare card or Swiss Saver (as we will always be travelling together). Should i get the Swiss – Austria pass instead as am travelling both the countries – but the dilemma is that this pass wont include the gondolas/ trams etc ?

2. Also I would like to know which is the fastest way to get to Salzburg from Wengen.

Thanks,
Lav

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[Arno]

27 June 2013 at 6:21:41 #838965

Hi Lav,

May I ask for some additional information? Are you considering 1st class traveling? Will you be doing a lot of mountain trips (i.e. gondolas, cogwheel trains, etc)? Which ones do you have in mind?

The fastest way to Salzburg is like you described: travel to Zurich first and take a Railjet train from there. Details are in the timetable.

Thanks!

[Removed user]

27 June 2013 at 7:42:14 #838966

Hello Arno,
I am not sure if I should take 1st class – from what i have read it seems like first class is better considering I have a toddler with me.

Around Lucerne I would probably go to Mt.Pilatus or Rigi and around the lake

I will take the Golden Pass line between Lucerne and Interlaken and travel to Wengen from there

Around wengen
Visit Lauterbrunnen/ Trümmelbachfälle (near Lauterbrunnen ) / Grütschalp / Kleine Scheidegg/ Reichenbachfall / Brienz – I would try and do Jungfraujoch weather permitting

Train from Wengen – Zurich – Salzburg

I am not too sure yet as to where there are gondolas/ cog wheel. Would appreciate if you can give me more insight on that.

Thanks

[Arno]

28 June 2013 at 0:45:48 #838967

Hi Lav,

Well, 2nd class is pretty comfortable too, but you are traveling in high season, so if you appreciate a bit more space then 1st class is a good option. The reason I ask is that the Eurail Austria – Switzerland Pass is only available for 1st class (except for youth), so that pass would be an option. Prices can be found here. It covers all regular trains for free, and Pilatus and Rigi are discounted. The issue in your case is that everything south of Interlaken is also discounted, not free. So whether this is the best option price wise can be calculated.

You’re doing quite some traveling in the Bernese Oberland, so I recommend to combine the Swiss Card plus the Regional-Pass Bernese Oberland. The Swiss Card would normally not be economical to you because of the short trip (Zurich Airport – Lucerne) on your first day, but Swiss Card holders get a discount on the Regional-Pass Bernese Oberland, which makes it more attractive to combine these passes. The Swiss Card includes your transfers from Zurich Airport to Luzern and from Wengen to the Swiss/Austrian border, so you don’t need further tickets for these legs. It also provides discounts on your trips around Lucerne. In addition you would use the 4-day Regional-Pass Bernese Oberland from August 3 to 6. It essentially includes ticketless traveling for about everything you have planned (Jungfrau is discounted). Both passes are available for 2nd class and 1st class, so you still have that option. You can get both passes from the Swiss Railways website. Alternatively, you can order along the Swiss Card with the Austria Pass here. I don’t know about all options for Austria by the way. I assume you want the Austria Pass for that country, but point to point tickets are an option too. You can get these from the same website here.

As for available gondolas: go to the Regional-Pass page I just linked to and download the network map from there.

You can find good hotels in Lucerne here.

I hope this helped you out!