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My son and I are traveling by train from Rome to Luzern (already paid for) on a Friday night in July and then spending three nights in Luzern before departing via train to Zurich airport heading to London. I have been quite confused with the many variables in discount travel: i.e. Saver Day Pass versus Swiss Travel Pass versus Swiss Half-Fare Card.
I just don’t know which is my best option. The only public transport I will be taking will be (1) the day trip excursion on Saturday – I am considering the Classic Rigi Round Trip (costing CHF 117 without any discounts) which includes boat trip, cogwheel train and aerial cable car; and (2) the one-way train trip from Luzern to Zurich airport on Monday (costing between CHF 12 – CHF 25). Any opinions? It looks as if the discount cards won’t be to my advantage. And should these tickets be purchased online?
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Hello Karen and Welcome to MySwissAlps,
Is your son less than 16? If you you can get a free Swiss Family Card to cover his travel if you get it with a Swiss Travel Pass or a Swiss Half Fare Card.
Do you realise that with a Swiss Travel Pass your travel from the Swiss Border to Lucerne would be covered. You only need to buy a ticket from Rome to the border. See http://www.myswissalps.com/tr aintickets/italy.
A Saver Day Pass (http://www.myswissalps.com/on edaytravelpass/details) is a good option for Rigi if you don’t go for an STP.
The full fare price from Lucerne to Zurich Airport is CHF30. Not sure where you got CHF12 -CHF25 from. Don’t forget the SBB TImetable defaults to showing half-fare prices.
Hi Karenakenned,
To know which pass is the best for your specific itinerary you need to plan out all trips you will make (train, bus, boat, cable car) and compare the prices for regular tickets to the rail pass price (and which routes/mountains are free or discounted). Once you have that information you can read our page here on how to choose the best rail pass. There is a spreadsheet there to help with the math. 🙂
You can use the Swiss railways timetable to plan the trips and find prices (the first price by default is the Swiss Half Fare Card price – double it for the regular fare.
Sorry to interrupt Lucas, but reinforcements desperately needed on this thread.
To answer rockoyster first thread…… My son is 17 years old. Additionally, the transportation from Rome to Luzern has already been paid. I had no idea about these discount options on transportation in Switzerland when I made the bookings. So my only remaining travel to purchase in Switzerland is the visit to Mount Rigi and the one-way travel from Luzern to Zurich airport.
To know for sure if any pass is beneficial you need to do that math and use my link from my last post.
If those are your only trips on bus, boat, train or cable car then it may not make any sense to buy a rail pass.
It might be worth it to get the Saver Day Pass though for the day you go to Rigi. You have to pre-buy it a month in advance to get a good price (and then you have to go regardless of the weather) but that could work out well for you.
“I had no idea about these discount options on transportation in Switzerland when I made the bookings.”
“It might be worth it to get the Saver Day Pass though for the day you go to Rigi. You have to pre-buy it a month in advance to get a good price (and then you have to go regardless of the weather) but that could work out well for you.”
Because things were a little too simple, the Saver Day Pass has been introduced, so you can add another row and column to your spreadsheet, and spend more and more time to make preparations for a trip an unbelievable project in itself. I am speaking a little out of frustration, because after adding another reminder to my long list of travel reminders, I counted down to the 30 day advance range for a Saver Day Pass, and my mind blowing discovery for all that planning:
If I buy the Saver Day Pass for tomorrow I pay 59 CHF, if I buy it today for June 1st (you cannot be more in advance than that), you pay…49 CHF! That’s right. You can’t make this stuff up.
Thanks at least to the MySwissAlps community for trying their best to bring some sanity to this insane and essentially unredeemable process.
You’re welcome. 😎
I feel your anguish, but the Saver Day Pass is a promotional product and with all such products the price rises when people get keener to buy. Same happens with train tickets in Italy or airline tickets etc etc.
When I visited Switzerland I adopted the view that it was an expensive place to visit so getting a headache pouring over spreadsheets was not for me. I bought a Swiss Travel Pass as it was the path of least resistance. Convenience was more important to me than savings. It turned out I saved heaps.
Hello. We are a group of 4 adults leaving Lyon, Fr on July 2 for Geneva and from there take the Golden Pass to Lucerne where we will be spending 2 nights. We plan to take the Classic Round Trip to Rigi as well, taking this on July 3 and maybe take a cruise to Thun thereafter if time permits. 1) Do you think getting 2 Saver Day Passes (for July 2 & 3) would be most economical? 2) Are there specific trains to take from Geneva or Montreux for the Golden Pass? 3) Will the Saver Day Pass cover the Classic Rigi Round Trip?
Thank you.
Hello Hach and Welcome to MySwissAlps,
It is better to start your own thread so that people get to see you specific question. So, briefly:
- You need to do the sums based your overall itinerary. You should read “How to choose the best travel pass” (http://www.myswissalps.com/tr ain/ticketspasses/prac tical/chooserailpass), download the handy spreadsheet calculator and do the math.
- Yes. The Golden Pass Line start at Montreux and is described at http://www.myswissalps.com/go ldenpass.
- Yes.
- The thread ‘Saver Day Pass vs Half Fare vs Swiss Travel Pass’ is closed to new replies.
