Totally confused on what Swiss rail pass to buy
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srerakuParticipant68 posts1 March 2018 at 17:05:55 #814568
Experts
I went through pages and pages on
myswissalps which has an excellent collection of information on how to move around from place to place (including walking directions). Kudos to this team and community.Now, here is the confusion part.
I downloaded the xl sheet, trying to input the info I could collect by going to
sbb’s website and inputting each leg and its price.1) How do I know whether each leg will be discounted or not?
2) golden round trip from
lucerne – I want to do the boat trip one way but SBB gives meoption with bus only. How do I get the prices I require for the round trip? (link toviator is a package and Idont know if they take travel pass or half card)3) Same goes
with myJangfrau trip. What do I do here?4) The last few days I will be
travelling to Paris. Now, I saw the prices from SBB and euro rail, they are expensive. But, I saweurail pass. Idont have any clue on whetherthats useful to get discounts forswitzerland internal routes.Appreciate any help for each of the above points
please .Thanks
sreraku
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Removed userParticipant72625 posts1 March 2018 at 17:20:11 #877495
Hi sreraku,
- You need to look at the Swiss Travel Pass validity page (and map) to see if the route is covered or just discounted. Most city to city routes are fully covered. The trips into the mountains, like Jungfraujoch are discounted only.
- On the SBB timetable page, hit advanced search and de-select all options but ships. In this case though it is free from Lucerne to Alpnachstad. It is noted on the Swiss Travel Pass validity page (link #1).
- Link #1 will show you that the trip to Jungfraujoch is free up until Grindelwald or Wengen (whichever route you take). After that you get a 25% discount to the top of the mountain.
- You do get some discounts in Switzerland with a Eurail Pass – see the validity page here for a list. The coverage in the mountains is not nearly as good as the Swiss Travel Pass… so a discount on the route to Paris may or may not make up for that (depending on how many expensive mountain trips you take for example). If the trip to Paris is the only train trip you take in France it almost certainly won’t make sense economically to buy a Eurail Select Pass for France and Switzerland rather than just a Swiss Travel Pass.
Hope that helps? 🙂
Let us know if you have more questions!
rockoysterParticipant8889 posts1 March 2018 at 20:19:13 #877496Lucas has given you some good pointers.
If you tell us what your itinerary looks like it would be easier to tailor some advice on what might work best for you.
srerakuParticipant68 posts2 March 2018 at 0:39:27 #877497Thanks Lucas.2. you mentioned hit advanced search, deselect everything except ship and then search. I did it but it
doesnt give me any results for the boat ride from Luzern towards the Pilatus route.I see from the map all the reductions. Thanks for that.
Rockoyster As I was mentioning in my other thread about the routes for Jungfrau(I posted only my
lauterbrunnen trip there), here is the full tripOct 12 – land in
zurich (14:00) and stay inwellenberg . so I will be using the train fromairport . Now, for the evening, we want to just stroll. Please let me know if you have any specific recommendations for the evening or night.Oct 13 – We want to do the Rhine falls, old town. I found
Black Forest and Rhine Falls Day Trip from Zurich by Viator. How is this? Now question is, do they accept the Half card or pass for the travel or is it just a package price?Oct 14 – 15.
What are the options for luggage as the
checkin is at3pm at the hotel and we will be in Lucerne by10am on Oct14th. Here we want to do Pilatus Golden round trip (one way with shipatleast ).We also want to do the
Glasi museum, either Mt Rigi or Mt Titlis. Appreciate your inputs here.Oct 16-18(half day)
We want to reach
LauterBrunnen or Montreux(depending on your recommendation) by10am the 16th. Again where do we keep the luggage as we want to use the day for atrip. I will be staying inLauterBrunnen for 2 nights.Männlichen – Kleine Scheidegg-Jungfraujoch, Schilthorn is on our cards. Whats the suggestion here
please ? ie which one to do on 16th and which one to do on 17th if the belowdoesnt work?We will have time till
12pm on 18th. Can we do eitherschilthorn or Jungfraujoch early in the morning and come back by 12? so that on 16th I can go tomontreux , finish some chocolate, cheese factory tour.Oct 18(1:30 pm) – leave to
paris .Again appreciate your patience and all the help.
Thanks
sreraku
rockoysterParticipant8889 posts2 March 2018 at 1:50:57 #877498Hello sreraku,
I’m really not familiar with Zurich or Wellenberg. I expect Lucas can help there.
You won’t be able to take advantage of a Swiss Travel Pass or Half-fare Card on the Viator tour. I would recommend you go to Rhine Falls under your own steam. I found the Black Forest a let down after Switzerland.
Luggage options? Most hotels will let you drop off your bags prior to check-in time. In many cases you may find they already have a room available for you even if the official check-in is 3.00pm.
Glasi Museum is at Hergiswil which is one of the stops on the boat-ride Lucerne to Alpnachstad. See attached.
Rigi and Mt Titlis are quite different. It’s a personal choice. I have never been to Titlis but preferred Pilatus to Rigi.
I can’t really follow what you are trying to do 16-18th but whatever it is I’d say you are trying to jam too much in. Where are you planning to leave for Paris from at 1.30pm?
Attachments:srerakuParticipant68 posts2 March 2018 at 3:32:19 #877499Thanks for the suggestion about Rhine falls. So Black forest is not something you recommend
is it?Which one is better and
faster ? Rigi or Titlis?I leave early in the morning from Luzern on 16th. I am thinking
like this1) Ship the luggage to Lauterbrunnen if there is a choice.
2) We go to Montreux and watch the chocolate, cheese factories
3) Reach Lauterbrunnen in the evening from Montreux and
checkin to the hotel17th
Do the Jungfraujoch trip as it might take a full day
18th
1) Do early morning Schilthorn trip and be back by
12pm .2) Take train from Lauterbrunnen to Paris at 1:30
rockoysterParticipant8889 posts2 March 2018 at 4:36:21 #877500Hi sreraku,
I’m sure the Black Forest appeals to many people. Compared to the Alps though I just didn’t find it all that scenic. Sure there are some quaint towns but I’d concentrate on Switzerland given your limited time there. Have a look at this report http://www.myswissalps.com/fo rum/topic/stein-am-rhein-easy-day-trip-from-zurich from Lucas for an option to extend the Rhine Falls trip.
Another option is to go from Rhine Falls then on to Schaffhausen where you can pick up Rhine River Cruise boat to Konstanz or Kreuzlingen. It goes past Stein am Rhein so you you could do both if you mixed a match rail and boat. For example you could go by train from Rhein Falls to Stein an Rhein, look around there , then continue on boat (or train) to Konstanz. Konstanz is only 1 hour from Zurich. See http://www.myswitzerland.com/ en-au/lower-lake-untersee-and-rhine.html
I now understand your plan for 16 to 18th. If luggage delivery doesn’t work for you you can always leave luggage at Interlaken Ost and pick up on the way back.
Have a look at this thread http://www.myswissalps.com/fo rum/topic/train-route-from-lauterbrennen-to-gruyeres to get some ideas of how to make the Chocolate/Cheese factories doable in a day. To me going to Montreux and back seems like a waste of an opportunity to soak up the Jungfrau region atmosphere.
Are you going to Paris via Basel? If you went from Lauterbrunnen to Montreux via Golden Pass Line on 18th you could then continue on to Paris via Lausanne or Geneva. You’d miss the factories but save a lot of time going round in a big circle.
Anyway, I’m just throwing up ideas. You get to make the tough choices. 😎
srerakuParticipant68 posts2 March 2018 at 5:34:51 #877501Thanks for your suggestions
rockoyster . Steinam Rhein seems to a good place to go to. I will probably take that.I was thinking that it might be packed. I guess I will leave chocolate/cheese factories for another time.
From
LauterBrunnen , I was planning on going tointerlaken and from there to Paris.I leave early in the morning from Luzern on 16th.
1) Ship the luggage to Lauterbrunnen.
2) Go to Lauterbrunnen, do the Schilthorn for 1/2 day. Comeback,
checkin to the hotel and relax going around the town17th
Do the Jungfraujoch trip as it might take a full day
18th
I can go to Paris from Lauternbrunnen->Interlaken->Basel->paris (about 6hrs).
Or do you recommend to take
golden pass (about 3 hrs) and then take montreux->paris via Geneva(5 hrs)?I really appreciate
for answering my trivial questions.rockoysterParticipant8889 posts2 March 2018 at 5:42:56 #877502If you take the Golden Pass Line via Zweisimmen (the most scenic part of the route) it will take nearer 4 hours to Montreux.
It’s not worth going to Montreux via the faster route I would have thought.
Can’t remember if I ever told you about this . . . .
If you are at Lauterbrunnen a very nice circuit to do is to Grütschalp (cable car), Mürren (cogwheel train), Gimmelwald (cable car), Stechelberg (cable car), Lauterbrunnen (bus). From Mürren you can easily visit Schilthorn if you have time. In between Stechelberg and Lauterbrunnen the bus stops at the Trummelbach Falls. Well worth a look.
Removed userParticipant72625 posts2 March 2018 at 6:32:00 #877503Hi Sreraku,
I think Rockoyster has you all set?
I’ll chime in on Zurich and Wellenberg. I have not been to Wellenberg though – it is a small community 3/4 of the way down Lake Zurich (from Zurich).
It is about 45 minutes by bus and train to get into Zurich – what brought you out there may I ask? Friends or relatives?
Personally, rather than train in and out on the same day I’d head from the airport to the main train station in Zurich, check your bags there and then explore the town and enjoy dinner before grabbing your bags and heading out to Wellenberg.
If you want general ideas of what to do in Zurich click here. There are also two walking tours we suggest there (do it yourself) one in town and one on the mountain just above town as well.
PS I thought the Black Forest is great (if you rent a car) and stop in the small towns for coffee and Black Forest cake! Great scenery but not worth it on a short trip to Switzerland – next time!
srerakuParticipant68 posts2 March 2018 at 18:50:01 #877504Thanks Rokoyster and Lucas.Rockoyster ,Thanks for the suggestion, I will take the scenic route through Montreux.
The second suggestion, you already gave me in the other forum 🙂 So here is how it will look
Oct 16th
Reach Lauterbrunnen by
10am , Head to schilthorn as described above by you. Comeback by evening and relax roaming around the placeOct 17th
Jungfraujoch with the small hike
Oct 18th start early, go to
montreux ongolden pass -> geneva->parisLucas
Yes Rockoyster . you,slowpoke have helped immensely to get my trip set. Everyone in the forum has helped me with their experiences or suggestions.Sorry for the confusion. I
meant, I am staying atwellenberg hotelnot the town 🙂 Now that you bring up the black forest again, I depend on you guys’ suggestion as this is my first time anddont know much about the places 😀Removed userParticipant72625 posts3 March 2018 at 9:56:12 #877505Ah the hotel! That makes more sense. 🙂
I’d skip the Black Forest on this trip but if you find yourself in southern Germany another day I would take trip in there by car.
srerakuParticipant68 posts5 March 2018 at 16:40:38 #877506Thanks Lucas andRockoyster . I now haveperfect trip planned. 2 months from now, I will start booking the train tickets (180 days). I will be looking at trip reports, questions on forumsmean while . If there is anything that Icant figure out here or frominternet , I will ask a question again 🙂Thanks once again for the tremendous help.
sreraku
rockoysterParticipant8889 posts5 March 2018 at 20:32:45 #877507Enjoy! 😎
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