MySwissAlps.com features ads, commercial and non-commercial Rent cars or rail travel in Switzerland 15 people?
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Hello,
I’m planning a trip for 4 families for the end of June into early July. We will average 15 people over two weeks. Our lodging will be 4 nights in Zurich, 4 nights in a home west of Leissigen, 2 nights in Randa, and one or two nights in Lausanne. Day trips will include Rheinfall, Stein am Rhine, Herisau and Appensell, Jungfraujoch, hiking, museums, and sightseeing. What do you recommend for transportation options? I’ve looked into the Swiss Travel Pass options and renting 2 minibus and one car. The car rental option is much less per person than the travel pass and seems to be more flexible for a large group, but it may be more stressful.
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Hi LesT,
Welcome to MySwissAlps! This page is helpful if you haven’t read it already: http://www.myswissalps.com/ca rversustrain.
Traveling with a group always requires more planning, regardless of the mode of transport. By car, you would need to make sure to get vehicles large enough for all people and their luggage. Also parking will be more of a hassle than it already is in Switzerland. When hiking, a car will limit you to circular routes as you have to get back to the car, whereas many routes go from A to B to take public transport back or straight onto a next activity. By train, traveling with not too much luggage would make things more convenient, but you can consider the luggage service for the town to town transfers. Another limitation is that reservations might be needed. It’s not so much of an issue on main line trains (except if you want to sit together), but it can be a requirement for small mountain trains and cable cars. However, most of those mountain trips can’t be done by car anyway, so this applies to both options. Apart from all the practicalities, I think the experience will be better by train than by car. It’s probably different from how you’re used to travel. And it’s safer and eco-friendlier.
As for costs: comparing the car rent to the Swiss Travel Passes does not give you the full picture. With Swiss Travel Passes, many of your day trips will have been paid for: it includes not only trains, but also buses, boats, some mountain transport, and most other mountain transport will be discounted. Also, any kids up to 15 will travel for free with the Swiss Family Card. With just a rental car, full fees would have to be paid for all of those activities. I recommend Swiss Half Fare Cards in that case to limit the costs. Also parking and fuel should be taken into account, plus car train tickets as that’s the quickest way to get from Leissingen to Randa if you travel by car (a long detour is the only alternative).
More about the mentioned passes is here:
- http://www.myswissalps.com/sw isstravelpass
- http://www.myswissalps.com/sw isshalffarecard
- http://www.myswissalps.com/sw issfamilycard
It might be worth it to let Swiss travel experts take care of a group trip like this. They are more experienced and can probably get you discounted hotel rates as well. If you’re interested, you can submit a request here: http://www.myswissalps.com/cu stomgroupholidays.
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