Swiss Travel Pass prices for UK travellers

Hello Annika and Arno

I have just received a message from Swiss Travel Centre UK to say that they have been holding their prices for Travel Passes etc. at 2014 exchange rate prices but will have to use new exchange rate and raise prices from Feb 2nd so if anyone from UK is planning to visit in 2015 they should order their passes etc. before that date to take advantage of old rate to save money. (£29 on 8 day 2nd class travel pass.)

I have been very lucky myself because I ordered a Swiss Saver pass for 1 month back in September to start in mid-July but when I contacted them to ask advice, they said they would send me 2 separate 15 day passes each to run consecutively at no further cost! As I had also bought my Swiss currency in batches during the autumn when the exchange rate was favourable I have saved a great deal of money by being an early bird. I even booked my flights on the one day in October when they were cheap. So all in all I feel very fortunate to have everything in place at such value for money.

We are now busy planning our excursions. We will again be staying in the excellent apartment we found in Thun - it is an excellent base for travelling all over Switzerland so we will make good use of our passes. Apart from the section between Brig/Visp and Zermatt we haven't travelled on the Glacier Express since our first visit back in 2001 so I have researched the possibility of doing the section from Brig to St. Moritz and came up with the following plan. dep. Thun 8.25, arr. Brig 9.11, dep. Brig on GEX 9.18, arr. St. Moritz at 15.55. Take a couple of hours to stretch our legs and find a snack, dep. St. Moritz at 18.02 to travel back to Thun via Chur, Zurich and Bern, arr. 22.52. A long day's travelling to be sure but we think it will be worth it. We know we will need to reserve seats on GEX which we can do online or at Thun railway station. My only concern is whether 7 minutes will be long enough to change trains in Brig? We normally trust SBB's connection times and find them doable but this one would be more crucial than usual because seats would be reserved on the 9.18 GEX so no possibility of last minute change of plans if we miss the connection. Any advice?

Maggie

Hello Maggie,

Indeed, the UK pass prices will go up soon. I am planning to post about that later today. You certainly have a very good deal this year! Glad to hear that Switzerland Travel Centre issued your new passes without any costs.

The Glacier Express is wonderful. I know you're used to making long train trip, but normally I would recommend to stay a night or two in St. Moritz. It makes the trip more relaxed, and if you haven't visited Graubünden before, it's very much worth it. If you stay two nights, you get free access to all the cable cars and mountain railways. Hotels that offers this package are listed here.

For the way back from St. Moritz to Thun I recommend to prevent backtracking the Glacier Express route via Chur, but instead travel via Sagliains and Klosters for more variety.

A 7 minute change in Brig is enough. You simply leave the station building and turn right on the station square. That's where the Glacier Express departs. It's a 4 minute walk. Personally I would feel better to take one train earlier in order not to miss the booked seats. The 7 minutes is not the issue, but trains can be delayed, even in Switzerland.

I hope this was useful!

Hi Arno, Thank you for your reply. I will look into that alternative route back to Thun. We have visited Graubunden once before. We stayed in St. Moritz for 4 nights in 2001. We are thinking of celebrating our 50th Wedding Anniversary in 2016 by spending a week there before going to the Thun apartment for 3 weeks. As you say we are happy to do long train journeys though so for this year will probably not stay over - at our age (in our 70s) we like to have some days where we don't have to expend too much energy to enjoy ourselves! Maggie

Hi Maggie,

As long as there's daylight on your way back, the alternative route through the Lower Engadine is worth it I think. Good to hear that you're planning a week in that beautiful area next year.