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So many rail pass options to choose from, I’m not sure what will work out best. If anyone can offer suggestions, it would be appreciated.
So here’s what my plans are:
TGV Lyria Paris-Bern June 14th. Already bought this ticket.
Train Bern-Interlaken the night of June 14. Hotel in Interlaken.
June 15, train Interlaken-Lauterbrunnen-Wengen. Hike to Kleine Scheidegg. Train Kleine Scheidegg-Jungfraujoch. Train Jungfraujoch-Grindelwald-Interlaken. Hotel in Interlaken.
June 16, train Interlaken-Luzern-Engelberg. Train Engelberg-Luzern-Zurich. Hotel in Zurich.
June 17, train Zurich-Munich.
Its not clear to me what the Eurail Select 2 country pass will cover in the Interlaken to Engelberg to Zurich days. It seems right now that the Swiss Half Fare Card may work out best, although purchasing separate tickets isnt all that appealing. Not sure which pass offers discounts on what cablecars/lifts up the mountains either. Originally the 3 day Swiss Travel Pass looked like the best option, but that doesn’t cover the Zurich-Munich trip, correct? Though the Half Fare Card doesn’t either.
I thought I was good at this stuff until Swiss rail happened lol.
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Hi athercd and welcome to MySwissAlps!
Yes, there certainly are a lot of rail passes here in Switzerland. The Swiss Half Fare Card can work for you but there may be better options – especially if you want to avoid buying tickets all the time.
No Swiss rail pass will cover your trip from Zurich to Munich (they only cover routes in Switzerland) but the Swiss Travel Pass will give you small discount as you only need a ticket from Schaffhausen to Munich.
The Eurail Select Pass will cover this route but the coverage for other trips in Switzerland isn’t as good. Check where the pass is valid here. I would only look at this pass if you are doing a fair bit of train travel in France and/or Germany as well.
Probably the 3 day Swiss Travel Pass (June 14, 15 and 16) is still your best bet depending on your rail trips in France and Germany as mentioned above.
The only way to be sure what pass is the best for you is to read through the validity page for each rail pass (previous inks) and our page on ‘how to choose the best rail pass‘ which features an excel sheet to help you do the math.
I hope this helps, let us know if you have further questions!
Lucas
Thanks for responding so quickly. And yes, that Excel sheet is amazingly helpful, so thanks for that as well.
One question still though, so the Swiss Travel Pass only covers inside Switzerland, I understand that part. Right now the train/route I’m looking at Zurich-Munich will take me through St Margrethen into Austria then up to Lindau in Germany. So as I understand it now, the Swiss Pass would cover everything up to St Margrethen and I would still need to purchase a ticket from there to Munich. Correct? If so, how does that work since I don’t actually get off the train in St Margrethen. Its EC197 from Zurich – Munich. This is the confusing part.
You can buy the ticket from St Margrethen to Munich online here. Just show your Swiss Travel Pass (if asked in Switzerland) and show the ticket bought online if asked when you are in Germany.
Lucas
Awesome, thanks again. This site has been very helpful in planning out my itinerary, so thank you.
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