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Hi I am travelling to Europe for the first time in July with my wife and 2 kids. I am thinking of purchasing the 10day Saver Pass. Planning on doing the trip Lucerne – Lugano – St Maritz – Zermott – Interlaken – Nice – Paris. I was thinking of making a 2nd class rail booking but since my wife has back problems because of which she might have trouble sitting in a 2nd class seat for ~8hrs on the Glacier express, was thinking of upgrading that train ride to 1st class. I also realize it is peak travel season with lots of people travelling by trains.
1) How much is the upgrade fee? Any discount on the upgrade with the pass?
2) The price diff on a first and second class ticket is working out to be $130/person. Was wondering if I should just buy the 1st class ticket since I will be paying to upgrade the Glacier express ticket anyway, might as well travel 1st class all the way if the final price diff is not much.
Any thoughts? ANy help is appreciated.
Thanks
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Hi RajeshBhat and welcome to MySwissAlps!
The Saver Day Pass only comes in 1 day durations – so you’d need to buy 10. Perhaps you mean the Swiss Travel Pass? That only comes in 3, 4, 8 or 15 day durations….
There isn’t much of a difference in the seat itself between 1st and 2nd class….slightly wider perhaps but not that noticeable.
If you have a Swiss Travel Pass you don’t need to buy a ticket for the Glacier Express – only a reservation. You can buy a 2nd class Swiss Travel Pass, make reservations for 1st class and then buy a class upgrade (1/2 the price difference between 1st and 2nd class) before boarding the train – if you decide to travel 1st class on the Glacier Express.
Talking to one of agents at Rail Europe with my itenary they had suggested 10day 2 COuntry High Flexi Saver Pass. DO you think a Swiss Travel Pass might be better? We are going to travel from Interlaken to Nice and then to Paris also?
Let me put my detailed itenary and maybe then my question might make sense –
Day 1 – Zurich Airport to Lucerne.
Day 2 – Mount Pilatus Day trip
Day 3 – Lucerne to Lugano Gottard Panoramic Train Ride.
Day 4 – Lugano to Tirana by Bus and then Bernina express to St Maritz
Day 5 – St Maritz to Zermatt on Glacier Express (Want to do 1st class train ride for this trip)
Day 6 – Zermatt to Interlaken via Visp and Spiez. Local travel in Interlaken that day
Day 7 – Jungraujoch/Top of Europe Interlaken to Jungfraujoch day trip
Day 8 – Interlaken to Nice. Stay there for 2 nights
Day 10 – Nice to Paris and Stay there for 5 nights.
Hope this helps to answer my question about which pass is better? Swiss Pass for 8 days 2nd class and buy the 1st class upgrade for Glacier express or 10 day 2 country select High Flexi Saver Pass for the 4 of us in First Class for $666/adult and $628/Kid.
Dear Rajesh, I think you are making a mistake by opting to ride Panoramic train couple of times as they are very slow speed trains and therefore consumes much time. Further, as you said that your wife has back pains, you must rest a while too. Your itinerary is too hectic. Why don’t you buy Flexi pass(2nd Class)? It would give you all the facilities that comes with Travel Pass but the difference is that in the flexi pass, travel dates are counted only. Your itinerary shows that you wish to visit St.Moritz from Lugano. Zermatt is far more better ( to me at least) than St.Moritz. I think, from Lugano to Zermatt, you should take usual trains and travel in 2nd class which would take around 5.30 hrs. Zermatt has so many things to see and enjoy viz, Matterhorn, Rothorn, Gorner Grat, Gorner Gorge, Sunnega, Seenweg( if you can trek a bit). See, St.Moritz is also a Ski paradise but Matterhorn Glacier paradise from Zermatt has much to experience and I found that 03 nights were also not sufficient. Besides, you talked about Tirano, well that is at Albania. I am sure you would make your Visa like that only.
Hello RajeshBhat,
Tirano is on the Italian Swiss border and it’s this village you board the Bernina Express heading North either to St Moritz or Chur. An overnight stay is all you need at St Moritz and then take the Glacier express to Zermatt next morning. Don’t let anyone talk you out of these scenic train trips because they are worth every cent the cost of a ticket. We did both over two days and have everlasting memories of each.
Regards Wallabybob
Thanks for your reply. Any suggestions on the type of train pass to buy – Swiss Pass for 8 days 2nd class and buy the 1st class upgrade for Glacier express or 10 day 2 country select High Flexi Saver Pass for the 4 of us in First Class for $666/adult and $628/Kid.
Hi Rajesh,
I’m not familiar with the 2 country select High Flexi Saver Pass – only the Eurail Select pass….perhaps quite similar.
I would think that a 2 country pass can work for you if you take more than 2 trains in France but it could be worth the cost for simplicity.
Our page, how to choose the best rail pass will help you make a choice.
Hi RajeshBhat,
I haven’t heard of that pass either. I think you mean the one that Lucas mentioned. Be careful with pass names as it’s easy to mix up several passes. You don’t need a SwissPass, that is only available for Swiss residents. You may need a Swiss Travel Pass though, that’s for tourists.
Is it correct that the Swiss Travel Pass will cover my Travel to Mt Pilatus Up and down and also travel within and around Interlaken whereas I will have to pay for local transport if Ibuy the Eurail Pass?
>> Is it correct that the Swiss Travel Pass will cover my Travel to Mt Pilatus Up and down and also travel within and around Interlaken whereas I will have to pay for local transport if Ibuy the Eurail Pass?
For Pilatus, it depends on what route/mode of transport you take.
Luzern to Alpnachstad or reverse
- Swiss Travel Pass – train free, boat free
- Eurail Pass – train free, boat 50% discount
Alpnachstad to Pilatus Kulm or reverse (cogwheel train)
- Swiss Travel Pass – 50% discount
- Eurail Pass – 50% discount
Pilatus Kulm to Kriens or reverse (cableway)
- Swiss Travel Pass – 50% discount
- Eurail Pass – 50% discount
Kriens to Luzern or reverse (local bus)
- Swiss Travel Pass – free
- Eurail Pass – not valid on local buses; full fare is CHF 4.10.
You can check prices on the Pilatus website, including prices for the Golden and Silver Round trips with a Eurail Pass compared with a Swiss Travel Pass:
http://www.pilatus.ch/en/book ing/prices/
(Download the detailed price list.)
The Swiss Travel Pass gives you much better coverage in Switzerland than a Eurail Pass does.
You can download maps showing what is covered by each pass. Please check these for transport around Interlaken and the Jungfrau Region. Local buses are free with the Swiss Travel Pass, but not covered at all with a Eurail Pass.
As explained in the legend on the maps, red lines are trains, yellow lines are buses, black lines are cable cars, white lines are boats. Solid lines are free, dotted lines are discounted. Discounts are mostly 50%, but only 25% for transport where you see the number “1” inside circle near the dotted line. There are a few grey lines on the maps as well, which are different for each pass. These indicate transport that is not covered by the pass. Dashed red lines on the map are railway tunnels, all of which are on routes that are free with either Pass.
http://www.myswissalps.com/eu railselectpass/validit y
http://www.myswissalps.com/sw isstravelpass/validity
There is also a handy overview of the various passes here under “Quick rail pass overview”:
http://www.myswissalps.com/tr ain/ticketspasses/prac tical/chooserailpass
Alpenrose
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