[Removed user]

17 March 2019 at 15:57:39 #820437

Hi,

We are group of 4 people planning to visit Switzerland on May-2019 for 5 days and 4 nights.

Below are our travel plan and we are thinking to buy 4 days Swiss Travel Pass. Is it worth to buy Swiss Travel Pass and does the pass cover the train from Bern to Paris?

• Day1: Tirano to Zurich
• Day2: Zurich, Rheinfalls
• Day3: Lucerne, Mt. Titlis
• Day4: Bern, Interlaken, Jungfraujoch
• Day5: Bern to Paris

Does Swiss Travel Pass covers train from Bern to Paris?

Thank you.

Myat

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[Removed user]

17 March 2019 at 20:00:50 #906731

Hello Myat,

A nice itinerary you have set up for your stay indeed!

I believe the Swiss Travel Pass is indeed the best option for you, however, it will NOT cover the entire journey from Bern to Paris, only up to the Swiss border.

Use these links to check the validity of the Swiss Travel Pass (incl. map), the best connections to Paris and also for useful information about travelling from Switzerland to France.

– http://www.myswissalps.com/sw isstravelpass/validity
– http://www.myswissalps.com/ti metable
– http://www.myswissalps.com/tr aintickets/france

By the way, you can search all of your destinations in the search bar of this page to find further, valuable information about them.

I hope this answers your questions. For any further input feel free to consult anytime.

[Removed user]

18 March 2019 at 1:19:12 #906732

A Swiss travel pass, as the name suggests, does not include travel in France, ie Basel – Paris

[Removed user]

19 March 2019 at 23:54:14 #906733

Hi Steph, 1960man,

Thanks for the information.

Would you think it will be best if we go Basel first (with Swiss Travel Card) and then buy another ticket to go to Paris?

And we are planning to take Bernina Express train from Tirano to Chur and then Zürich in our first day. Between Tirano to Lugano, we have to take Bernina Express bus? If yes, where we can take the bus? I found saying that between Lugano to Tirano is by Express Bus. But not for Tirano to Lugano.

Thanks again.

myat

[Removed user]

21 March 2019 at 14:59:41 #906734

Hi Myat

There is no need to stop in Basel first when taking the train to Paris, what Steph and Myat were suggesting is that you buy the ticket Basel to Paris (all trains will go through Basel) according to the coverage of the pass which you can find here: http://www.myswissalps.com/sw isstravelpass/validity

Please go through the links from Steph for all the information.

Regarding the Bernina Express, you can find more about the bus service which operates daily from Tirano to Lugano from April to October: http://www.myswissalps.com/be rninaexpress/gettingth ere

Hope this helps to clarify. All the best on your travels!

Maria.

[Peterli]

23 March 2019 at 4:14:53 #906735

Hello,

You have noticed that the Swiss Travel Pass (which I will abbreviate as STP) is sold for 3, 4, 8, or 15 consecutive days. Could you specify where you plan to stay each night during your visit ? I’m guessing that your first night, after one day using the STP (Tirano to Zurich), is Zurich. What you have stated as your activity for Day 2 is not that much travel, so I’m not sure where you are planning to stay the second night. I might also say that Zurich to the Rheinfall and only back to Zurich is not a very great use of what you could do on one of the days of your STP validity. Perhaps you could continue to Lucerne after the Rheinfall and stay somewhere around there for your second night ? For your third day, you say Lucerne and the Titlis, which again isn’t much travelling and you don’t state where you intend to spend the night. Lucerne ? Berne ? Somewhere else ? For your day 4, you state Berne, Interlaken, Jungfraujoch. This looks like a busy day. Where will it start and where will it end ? And ultimately, where do you plan to spend your fourth night ? If you are indeed thinking of buying the 4 consecutive day STP, you will have run out of days of validity at the end of day 4. If you buy the 8 day one and only spend another day in Switzerland, you are kind of wasting your money (3 potential days of travel). So if you end up in Berne at the end of day four, you will not only be paying for your train travel from the Swiss border (probably Basel, but there are also trains that connect to France from other cities in the French part of Switzerland ) to Paris , but you will also be paying for your trip from wherever you spend the night of day four to the Swiss border on the Swiss railways (I’m guessing from your itinerary that you plan to be in Berne at the end of your fourth day).

I’m wondering if the STP is “the best option for you”. I’m guessing that you are from the USA, and the only reason I say this is because the following are the prices in US Dollars for the 2nd class STP: a 3-day pass is 245 US$, the 4-day pass is 296 US$ and the 8-day one is 440 US$. Have you checked the ticket prices for Tirano – Zurich, Zurich – Rheinfall – Zurich, Zurich – Lucerne, Lucerne – Interlaken, Interlaken – Berne plus the side trips to the Titlis and the Jungfraujoch ? (I didn’t add Berne – Basel) because you are out of days at that point, unless you spring for the 8-day pass). The eight day pass would not be a good move because the difference between it and the four day one (144US$) is more than the price of an ordinary train ticket from Berne (or Interlaken for that matter) to the Swiss border. Just for fun, I went to the SBB site and see a one-way 2nd class ticket from Tirano to Zurich is CHF 46, from Zurich to Neuhausen (round trip) is CHF 11.60, the trip for Zurich to Lucerne is CHF 12.50, from Lucerne to Interlaken (West) it is CHF 17.00, and from there to Berne it is CHF 14. If I add that all up I only get to about CHF 101. I do believe that the fares I have quoted here are already discounted by 50%, in which case the total full single ticket price would be about CHF 202, a bit less than the 245$ US. But then you have to factor in the savings you will realize if you go up the Rigi and the Jungfraujoch. Without the STP, those two ascents will be full price instead of half price. As soon as you do one of them (see further on) you are better off with the STP.

You might also look into the Swiss Half Fare Card (SHFC), which sells for 127$US and is valid for an entire month (and thus your day 5). Obviously, this card is better for longer visits, as you would be doing much more travel in up to a month than just 4 days.

I just looked at the prices for the Titlis and the Jungfraujoch. The full rate (second class) to the Titlis from Engelberg is CHF 92 and from Trubsee it is “only” CHF 70. So with a STP or a SHFC you would save CHF 46 or 35. But now it gets better ! Round trip to the Jungfraujoch from Interlaken Ost (2nd class) is CHF 210.80 (it jumps to CHF 234.80 on June 1). So for this trip, in May, you would save CHF 105.40 with a SHFC. I should add that if you have a STP, you would not need to calculate the fare all the way from Interlaken, as with the STP you are already covered up to Wengen or Grindelwald. Wengen to the Jungfraujoch and back to Grindelwald is only CHF 183 full 2nd class fare, so with the STP you would only have to pay CHF 91.50. All this to say that going up these two mountain rides already pays the cost of the SHFC. Also, the CHF 101 I mentioned earlier (Tirano-Zurich-Neuhausen-Zurich-Lucerne-Interlaken-Berne) would be the total price for that travel with the SHFC.

Full fare (2nd class) from Berne to Basel is CHF41, which our traveller would have to pay on day 5 after his expired STP. With the SHFC, this would be reduced to CHF 20.50

So (please correct me if I’m wrong, all you SBB/CFF experts) the Swiss Half Fare Card would be ideal for our traveler if they do those two mountain “ascents”. And it would also solve the problem of getting to the Switzerland-France border on day 5. I figure the savings would be in the neighbourhood of CHF 100 per traveler. If they don’t do the Titlis and the Jungfraujoch, the STP would make life simpler although it would be much more (around CHF 230) than paying as they go. But as soon as they do the Jungfraujoch, that difference goes down to about CHF 20. Plus, with the STP you just get on almost any train (and boat or postal car) and go. Plus, you can add extra excursions during those four days (for example, I would suggest adding Stein am Rhein to Day 2).

[Removed user]

23 March 2019 at 11:14:59 #906736

Hi Peterli,

Thanks for your information, suggestion and your fun finding.

That helps me a lot. 🙂

We are coming from Singapore and I have revised our itinerary as below.

Day1: Tirano to Zurich and spend night at Zurich

Day2: Zurich, Rheinfalls, Stein am Rhein (I added Stein am Rhein as per your suggestion). until early afternoon.

After back from Rhein, explore Zurchi at the whole evening and spend 2nd night at Zurich.

Day3: Zurich to Lucerne. We will leave our luggages at Lucerne station and head down to Mt. Titlis.

Afternoon back from Mt. Titlis, explore Lucerne at the whole evening and spend 3rd night at Lucerne.

Day4: Lucerne to Bern. We will leave our luggage at Bern station and straight away go to Interlaken, Jungfraujoch. And we will spend 4th night at Bern.

Day5: Explore Bern on the morning and leave Bern afternoon for Paris.

Instead of getting 4 days STP Card, we are thinking to get 3 days since the ticket doesn’t cover for border train.

So, we will be using 3 days STP card for Day:2, Day:3 and Day:4.

For Day:1 Bernina Express Train, we found that we can get the ticket with €29.90 (via http://www.seat61.com/Bernina Express.htm#Zurich_to_ Tirano_by_Bernina_Expr ess_for_29).

For Day:5, we will get point-to-point tickets. Will that be more make sense?

I have some little confusion here with Bernina Express Train timetable. According to timetable, the train will depart from Milan at 10:20 AM.

It means we can take Bernina Express Train from Milan? I also found saying that we need to take bus between Tirano to Lucango?

Is it like we can take either bus or train between Tirano to Lucango?

Thanks again.

Regards,

myat

[Removed user]

23 March 2019 at 11:16:10 #906737

Hi Maria,

Thanks for your information too.

That helps me a lot for our planning.

Regards,

myat

[Removed user]

24 March 2019 at 14:14:55 #906738

Hi Myat

You’re welcome and glad we could help!

Regarding the 3 or 4 day Swiss Travel Pass, it may still make sense to get a 4 day travel pass, as it would cover your travel from Bern to the border station (in this case Basel, see the timetable http://www.myswissalps.com/ti metable).

The best way to know which option is cheapest, is to map it out using the spreadsheet calculator tool which can be found on this link: http://www.myswissalps.com/tr ain/ticketspasses/prac tical/chooserailpass

Bernina Express – you can read all about the details on the connection from Milan here http://www.myswissalps.com/be rninaexpress

Hope this helps you to choose the right rail pass.

Maria.

[Peterli]

24 March 2019 at 18:04:36 #906739

Hello Myat,

I’ve just been reading the last posts to this thread. I am wondering if it would be possible in your planning for day 4 to continue to Basel that same day (rather than staying overnight in Berne). I am reading that the average travel time by train between those two cities is just over one hour, so could you manage to do this at the end of your day 4 ? Your bags will already be at the Berne train station. This would mean you wouldn’t have to purchase point-to-point tickets for day 5 (Berne to Basel) nor would you need to consider paying the extra CHF 51 each to upgrade to the 4-day STP. The drawback to this idea is that you would not get to explore Berne on the morning of day 5, so maybe it’s not that hot an idea. I’m just hoping that you will have wonderful weather, especially on days 3 and 4 ! If day 4 is a total wash-out (weather-wise) for the Jungfraujoch you could do some exploring of Berne on that day.

[Removed user]

26 March 2019 at 13:19:51 #906740

Hi Maria,

Yes. I am also thinking it still makes sense to buy 4 days STP card if we want to explore in Bern. And thanks for the spreadsheet calculator and bernina express connections.

One more thing would like to check, if we bought the train tickets with specific time and we missed the train, are we still allowed to take the next train?

Best Regards,

myat

[Removed user]

26 March 2019 at 13:21:05 #906741

Hi Peterli,

Thanks for your suggestion. 🙂

Best Regards,

myat

[Removed user]

26 March 2019 at 15:27:59 #906742

Hello Myat,

Assuming you hold a Swiss Travel Pass you don’t need to buy a ticket, only the seat reservation.
This consequently means that if you miss the train you would only need to buy a new seat reservation, the only question would be availability.

However you always have the option of taking regular trains for the same route, which are included in the Swiss Travel Pass, so you don’t be stuck.

Best,
Steph

[Removed user]

4 April 2019 at 2:43:52 #906743

Dear Steph,

Thank you.

We will need to buy bernina express train on the first day (it not cover by 4 days STP) and seems we need to buy local train if we missed it.

Best Regards,

myat

[Removed user]

4 April 2019 at 10:14:01 #906744

Hi again Myat

In that case, you can find details of how to purchase Bernina Express train tickets here http://www.myswissalps.com/be rninaexpress/packages

Have a wonderful trip!

Maria.

[Removed user]

4 April 2019 at 14:00:00 #906745

Dear Maria,

Thanks again.

Best Regards,

myat