Swiss Half Fare Pass and French Rail Pass

Hi, I am planning the following itinerary for 2 adults in mid-June and intending to purchase a France Rail Pass and Swiss Half Fare Pass. Could you kindly advise if the pass is worth the money?

Day 1: Paris CDG Airport to Nice via train

Day 2: Nice

Day 3: Day trip from Nice to Monaco

Day 4: Nice to Provence via train

Day 5: Provence

Day 6: Provence to Paris via train

Day 7: Paris

Day 8: Paris to Interlaken via train (May i check if there's only one train on 23 Jun? We're hoping to arrive Interlaken earlier in the day instead of at 11.53pm. Do you recommend we walk or take a taxi upon arrival at train station if we're staying at Alpenstrausse. I notice that a 1st class ticket includes a taxi reservation?)

Day 8: Interlaken-Jungfraujoch-Interlaken via train

Day 9: Interlaken-Lucerne via train

Day 10: Lucerne-Pilatus

Day 11: Lucerne-Mt Titlis via Engelberg train and cable car

Day 12: Lucerne-Zurich Airport via train for Hotel check-in. Zurich airport-Rhine Fall via train

For the Paris to Interlaken train, do we need to purchase an individual ticket if we're holding French Rail Pass and Swiss Haf Fare Pass?

Thanks so much!

Hi Christinelhr, welcometo MySwissAlps!

I can’t say much about the French part of your holidays, but you could follow roughly the same calculation guidelines we listed for Swiss rail passes at our “How to choose”page. For the Swiss part of your journey, a Swiss Half Fare Card certainly makes sense. As for your inbound trip: the Swiss Half Fare Card is only valid from the French-Swiss border and it provides a 50% discount, not free traveling. So for this leg of your inbound trip you additionally need a 50%discounted ticket from the Swiss border (depending on your connection, this is Basel or Geneva) to Interlaken. You should check whether your rail pass for France covers the French leg of this trip. If not, regular tickets can be found at www.myswissalps.com/tr aintickets/france.

It may be a bit too far to walk to your hotel in Interlaken, but there are several bus stops along the Alpenstrasse.The timetable allows you to plan this in detail, by entering your hotel address as your destination. Mind that a regular 1st class train ticket doesn’t include a taxi reservation, and I haven't heard of such tickets or offers. There are some special tickets that include urban transportation in the town of arrival, like the city-city-tickets, but that's something different.

Purchase options for the Swiss Half Fare Card are in the “Price” section of our Swiss Half Fare Card page. The best option is to get a print at home pass from www.swissrailways.com/ en. Just check “Onlineticket” when asked for delivery options and you’ll get a printable version without any additional handling or shipping fees.

Hi Annika,

Thanks so much for your swift response!

Could you kindly assist to confirm if any of the following Swiss trains below require seat reservations with our Swiss Half Fare Card:

• Basel-Grindelwald

• Grindelwald-Jungfraujoch-Grindelwald

• Grindelwald-Interlaken-Lucerne

• Lucerne-Engelberg (onwards to Mt Tiltis via cable car)

• Lucerne-Zurich Airport

• Zurich Airport-Winterthur-Schloss am Rhinefall

• Schloss am Rhinefall-Winterthur-Zurich Airport

Can I confirm that with the Swiss Half Fare card, I'd need to purchase all the tickets (at 50% discount) at the stations before boarding the trains? It is possible to purchase the tickets (at 50% discount) online with the Swiss Half Fare Card?

Many thanks!

Christine

Hi Christine,

Apart from two trains (Bernina Express and Glacier Express) you don't need to book any seats in advance in Switzerland: myswissalps.com/ train/reservations. That applies to your trips as well: just go to a ticketing machine or staffed desk when you need a ticket. That's currently the easiest way. You can do it on sbb.ch as well, but that's the site for Swiss citizens so they only list other types of half fare cards there. It should work though.

Hi Arno,

May I check what is a Supersaver ticket? We tried purchasing the Swiss train tickets with the Swiss Half Fare Card on SBB website and was given an option to purchase the Supersaver tickets with further discounts.

Thanks!

Christine

Hi Christine,

That's a non-refundable non-flexible ticket for one specific train. Only recommended if you're 100% sure you can take that specific train. Please see here.