Swiss rail pass or Eurail 2 country pass

Hello,

Most of my train travel will be with Switzerland (Zurich, Lucerne, Interlaken, Zermatt, plus day trips out of Lucerne and Interlaken) in a 7 day period. Although I will be traveling from Zermatt to Munich as well.

I'm wondering if a Swiss Pass than purchasing the international trip separately is the way to go. Or the Eurail Select Pass for 2 countries is better.

Regards,

Jim

Hi Jim,

You'll need to work out roughly which trips you are likely to do in your time there and then tot up the prices for Eurrail versus Swiss Travel Pass. Just be mindful though that if you plan a lot of trips on the mountain railways/cogwheels/cablecars then a lot of these aren't covered by the Eurrail pass although you can can a small discount on some. We had Interrail passes last year as we covered a lot of countries, but once in Switzerland I found it was more economical to have a Swiss half fare pass.

Joey.

Welcome to MySwissAlps Jim!

This page might be helpful to compare the passes like Joey explained: myswissalps.com/ train/ticketspasses/ practical/chooserailpa ss.

Thanks for the replies. I'll check the information you've provided.

A related question: I think I'm getting The Swiss Pass with 4 Travel Days. I'm going to do a boat trip on Lake Lucerne. My understanding is that is free with the Pass. Does that exhaust "a travel day"? I won't do it on a day that I'm on a train. I likely have 4 other days of traveling by train.

Hi Jim,

It does not work quite like that. Here are some definitions to make sure we're talking about the same pass:

• Swiss Pass: you do not need this. It's a product for Swiss residents;
• Swiss Travel Pass: you buy it for a number of consecutive days. Whether you travel a lot, a little or not at all during these days is up to you;
• Swiss Travel Pass Flex: the same thing, but you can use the days non-consecutive. This pass is more expensive, so make sure to do the math.

The links provide further details.

We're talking about the same thing: the Swiss Travel Pass. I thought you could get it for consecutive days of travel or a number of days within a month. My question is whether a boat ride on Lake Lucerne would count for a day of travel. I've read that it's free, so my presumption is no. But I want to be sure.

Hi Jim,

The usage of any mode of transport does not define a travel day. You choose travel days yourself. You can't have a free boat ride if you don't have a valid pass (i.e. a travel day).

Your understanding of the passes is correct: you can get a pass for consecutive days (link 2 in my previous post) or a number of days in a month (link 3). Please review those links, and specifically the "How to use" tab. You'll find a lot of details there.

Thank you, the latest response answered my question. I was going to do the boat ride on a day that I wasn't traveling by train. I already have 4 travel days in mind. I will now do the boat on the same day I travel for 1 of those days.

Thanks for your help!