Suggestions for rail pass Interlaken & Salzburg

Plz dont ignore my post, since it looks a bit big.. expecting valuable suggestions.

We two indian families(4 adults and 5 children) planned to travel from Sulatanate of oman to Switzerland,Zurich on last week of october.

Plz see my planned itinerary.

• expected to reach zurich on a day morning .going to Interlaken straightaway. staying there for maximum 4 days. on first day, planned to see places in interlaken. second dayfor Jungfrau. 3rd day for Geneva and 4th day for Titlis and Lucerne
• 5th day morning planned to salzburg from interlaken by train. planned for 2 days in Salzburg, i.e. Have to plan for places to see in Salzburg
• wishes to reach Zurich from salzburg before 10 am on the 7th day. here i wishes to Rhein fall and may be lake.
• on 8 day October morning flying to muscat.

Plz guide me regarding which rail pass to buy, so that i can avail all benefits in Switzerland(includes travel and visit to Titlis, jungfrau), also which train pass to travel to Salzburg, or should I purchase train ticket for the return journey to Salzburg.

also advise me regarding the travel to and from salzburg. my plan now is to catch the morning train to salzburg from Interlaken so that i can enjoy the Scenic beauty, of course it takes most of my day, and the return journey is on another day early morning which is from Salzburg to Zurich, which i feel is less travel time.

Hello balsundar, welcome to MySwissAlps,

We don't ignore posts here, no worries! I'd recommend to explore the train schedules in the timetable before making any decisions on which day trips you plan to do. Geneva and Mount Titlis take a lot of time as a day trip from Interlaken. Note that there is not much to see in Interlaken itself, but a lot in the surrounding area. You may want to focus on that. For example, you can visit the nearby Schilthorn instead of Titlis, and Bern instead of Geneva. You'll have much more sightseeing time that way. There will be day light from about 8 AM to 6 PM, so be sure not to include any scenic routes when it's dark.

I don't think you can reach Zurich as early as 10 AM from Salzburg, but the timetable provides those details as well.

Once your plans are fixed, then check the rail pass section. I think you will need a rail pass for Switzerland and regular ticket to and from Salzburg.

Thanks Arno for ur reply

If I keep one full day for Mount Titlis, then from Interlaken hope I can go, or shall I opt for Jungfrau. And from your reply I think I should catch night train for the trip from Salzburg to Zurich to utilize one full day in Zurich. can u please suggest a relaxed option for spending a day in Zurich also.

Thanks

Hi Balsundar-

I am puzzled by your need to rush to Zürich. It is not a town that rewards a quick visit, unless you have specific goals in mind:

www.myswissalps.com/zu rich

At that time of year, the Rhine Falls are nice, but nothing special because the water flow is lower in the Fall. Purely my personal opinion.

Further, Zürich it self is a nice town, but not as scenic as, for example, Luzern. How about more time in Luzern? You don't need a full day for Titlis, as far as I know. What do you want to do there?

Do you have specific commitments in Salzburg?

And, be sure to use the timetable, as Arno suggested. You have suggested some very long trips from a Luzern base.

Have you looked at a map?

map.search.ch/

And, in the last week of October, you can definitely visit the Jungfraujoch. The cograil trains are running for that. However, local cableways are all shut down for maintenance, because that is low season for tourists. I hope that you do not have clouds on the Jungfrau...keep track of the weather.

Slowpoke

thanks,

I feel i should drop Salzburg and so i prefer for Innsbruk. Also i will find a day for Jungfrau.

Another doubt is regarding Swiss Travel Pass.Since my both children are under 16 years, if I opt for Swiss family card along with Swiss Travel Pass, do I need to purchase tickets for my children? I mean if I purchase Swiss travel pass, say for 8 days, for me and my wife and opt for swiss family card, is it possible for my family can travel without purchasing any further tickets.

Hi Balsundar,

You can print both the Swiss Travel Pass and the Swiss Family Card at home, and indeed you would not need any tickets for your children then. They travel for free everywhere you go. You don't need tickets for yourself either, except for some of the mountain excursions like Jungfraujoch. As a pass holder, you will get a discount though. Again, you only need these tickets for the adults. The children go for free.

To print at home, please visit www.swissrailways.com/ en. After filling out your address, they will show the delivery options. Pick "Online Ticket" from the bottom of the list. They will e-mail the pass (no delivery fees) within 1-3 business days, so be sure to not order the last day or so.

Please find all details on the Swiss Travel Pass page.

thanks Arno

when i tried to buy tickets for jungfrau from their website i can see the reduction option from where i can select the swiss travel pass.

what i have to do when i have to buy tickets for my children to jungfrau since they dont have swiss travel pass because we bought family card.

also the swiss travel pass will not appear if i choose interlaken as my departure station? so can i travel from interlaken to Kleine Sceidegg using my Swiss travel pass for free and from there to jungfrau to avail the discount

anticipating valuable reply

thanks

Hi

Yes you can use swiss travel pass till klein schiedg

I dont know if u have already done flight bookings else it is better to fly in to austria n leave from switzerland or the other way round rather than moving to and fro. You waste almost two days in travelling. We had been to salzburg for 5 nights in aug. this year....austria is wonderful but very similar to switzerland. I suggest Better spend entire time in switzerland and do bernina express from st.moritz to tirano. Lake lago bianco enroute is wonderful

Hi Balsundar,

You don't need any tickets for the children, please see my previous post. I don't know which ticket options the Jungfrau website offers, but you can simply visit any staffed station (e.g. Interlaken West or Ost). Show them your Swiss Travel Pass, and they will get you the discounted tickets for the adults. You will travel for free until Wengen or Grindelwald (not Kleine Scheidegg), so they will sell you tickets that are valid from that point onward.

plz suggest a sim card which can use in switzerland and austria

if it has some free calling option to india, it will be too good

Thanks

Hi Balsundar-

I found some useful information by searching the website for "SIM card.'

Here is one example of several links that I found -

www.myswissalps.com/si mcard

Slowpoke

Thanks

but what i need is less data usage for net browsing, since that will be available in the hotels where i am staying.

my requirement is basicallyduring day time.

i required sim card for unavoidable local calls and prefer to be in touch with parents in India on daily basis for those 8 days. so expecting a better option for that

Have you searched the My Swiss Alps website...there are several links...

Slowpoke

The 3rd option on the page Slowpoke gave you might be what you need.

Hi Bala,

i used reliance sim throughout my Europe trip , including Switzerland and I got good service.

Best wishes for your trip.....do see Glacier Paradise in From Zermatt,it's good place.

Regards

Sundar Ram

Thanks to all for giving valuable suggestions..

yet another doubt from my wife regarding the food to carrry, since we two families are travelling with total 5 kids, she wish to take some cooked foods which we can use for some days while we stay in Interlaken,

is it advisable to carry cooked food items(non vegetarian) or any restrictions ? plz advise.

thanks

Hi Balsundar,

I am not sure if I fully understand your question, but you can take along any food on the train, as long as you don't consume it in the restaurant car. If your hotel or apartment has a cooking facility you can buy fresh ingredients from any supermarket and cook it yourself. Personally I prefer convenience during day trips and often pick ready to eat food to take along, or have lunch somewhere. No fast food or anything like that, but nut bars for example. It's light weight, does not spoil, it does not smell so no problem to other passengers, and it is easy to eat even in a moving vehicle.

I wouldn't take along food from Oman or India as there are obviously restrictions on what can be imported. Not sure if that's what you meant.

Hi Bala,

Last week we were in Zermatt and Jungfrau. We carried vegetarian cooked food like Theplas and chapattis along with pickles etc. We consumed them in trains and flights too. Apart from them we carried ready made foods which can be eaten after just heating the sealed pack in hot water. The brands were Ashirwad and MTR. The Ashiwar Pongal was great eat. We also took ready to eat Poha, Upma etc. You can perhaps take these heat and eat packs of non vegetarian variety.

Have a rocking time in Switzerland. Do attempt to have hiking trips, at least for short distances.

Regards

Sundar

fine,

so what i meant was also the same like ready made half-cooked chapattis , and other pre cooked food items from MTR or similar brands. so it is safe to cary vegetarian food items and better to avoid ready made non-veg dishes , am i right?

thanks

I travelled from Hyderabad to Paris by Air India, then from Paris to Zermatt ,Zermatt to Jungfrau ,Jungfrau to Basel by rail, from Basel to Düsseldorf and Eindhoven / Amsterdam by bus and finally by flight from Amsterdam to New Delhi via Paris. Nowhere did any one bother to touch my luggage to see what is inside. It's reasonable to assume you can take anything provided it does not emit strong smell.

I found Switzerland to be very tourist friendly and the Swiss go out of the way to be helpful.