72625 posts
Hi Viveksinhas and welcome to MySwissAlps!
- Yes under 6 are always free on Swiss trains. You do not include the children when booking. You don’t make seat reservations on Swiss trains – you just buy the ticket for those who need one and find a seat once on the train (exceptions are some long-haul trains).
- Take a look at our page on how to use the Swiss Family Card – you will only need one.
- Yes, that is the same (half-tax = Swiss half-fare).
- Children 0-4 are free if they don’t use a seat and 50% off base offer if using a seat. Please find our page here on buying tickets to/from Italy and Switzerland it might prove helpful to you for buying tickets.
I hope that helps!
Regards,
Lucas
72625 posts
Thanks Lucas.
Just to reclarify:
1. So even with multiple children in the group we would just need to order just one Family Card.
2. And even for mountain trains (Interlaken to Jungfraujoch, Lucerne to Mt Rigi, Lucerne to Mt Titlis, Lucerne to Mt Pilatus) we do not include any of the three kids (one being 4 and 2 being 14 yrs old) while booking train tickets.
3. Is the half fare card also valid on buses and cable cars? And thereby Family Card valid there too?
4. Another Q.. is there any dynamic pricing for Swiss Rail like say Italy or early booking is only for making sure we have a ticket beforehand and it doesn’t matter even if booked on the spot at the station kiosk?
15484 posts
Hi Viveksinhas,
1. Multiple children can use a single Swiss Family Card. If you go to http://www.swissrailways.com/ en, you just need to order 6 Swiss Half Fare Cards for the adults and select the number of children that need to use the Swiss Family Card. They will take care of the rest. As Lucas said, children under 6 do not need any card, they travel for free anyway.
2. Yes, correct. The children do not need tickets.
3. Yes, both cards are valid on all modes of transport on the routes on the map.
4. There is no dynamic pricing for point to point tickets. The only exception is the Supersaver ticket, but be careful with those as these are only valid for one train and not refundable. You may find that half fare tickets purchased online are slightly cheaper or slightly more expensive, but that’s mostly just because of exchange rates and prices set by a particular retailer.
72625 posts
Thanks Arno,
And is the half fare card also valid on top of super saver tickets? Does that also mean that if I book a normal point to point ticket (not super saver) then even if I book a ticket with a particular time, I can actually board another train on the same route on same day?
72625 posts
Hi Viveksinhas,
Correct, if your ticket is not a Supersaver than you can use it for any train that day.
You can also use the Swiss Half-Fare Card with Supersaver tickets for a little more savings ( but not 50%).
Lucas