Travel to swiss in April

Hi,

I am planning for a 4 day trip to swiss and below is my itinerary. Kindly suggest a good travel plan(Super-save tickets/Swiss Rail pass/ Swiss card/ Standard ticket/ etc.). Thanks in advance.

Day 1 - Paris - Basel - Thun
Thun - Interlaken via cruise..
Interlaken - Brienz via cruise
Brienz - Interlaken via train...
Stay at Interlaken

Day 2 - Interlaken - Jungfa - Interlaken (one way via Wengen and return via Grindelwald)

Day 3- Interlaken - Tiltis - Lucerne (via Engelberg)

Day 4 - Lucerne - Pilatus - Zurich - Milan(Italy)

Thanks !

Hello Vidhya and welcome to the forum.
The first point I would make is that boats on the Brienzersee only operate on Saturdays and Sundays until 27th April. They leave Interlaken Ost at 12.07 and 14.07. To connect with them by boat from Thun you would need to catch the 9.40 a.m. and 11.40 a.m. respectively. The cruise from Thun to Interlaken West takes 2 hours 13 minutes. There is a fairly tight train connection from Interlaken West to Interlaken Ost which is intended to connect the two boats.
But the question is can you arrive in Thun from Paris early enough? There is a train at 6.15 a.m. from Paris Gare-de-Lyon which will get you to Thun by 10.52 a.m. – change in Basel. Later trains would arrive too late in Thun. You could if you are prepared to forgo the boat trips take a bus which travels along the lakeside to Interlake West and Ost (a pleasant trip) and perhaps a return train trip to Brienz if you particularly wish to visit Brienz. You can find times of trains including international trains like your ongoing trip to Milan on the SSB, website linked on this forum – I would advise you to check carefully the trains from Zurich to Milan as there are currently advice to travellers recommendations for this trip involving getting a different train than the one listed. The website will also help you to plan your other trips.
When you know your exact dates I would advise you to check the Pilatus and Titlis websites to check if they are open. The Jungfrau trip runs all year round.
As for passes I would go for the Swiss Pass as it will cover your journey from Basel to Thun (you need only pay from Paris to Basel separately.) and from Zurich as far as the Swiss border (Zurich to Chiasso or Domodossola depending on your route would be covered), leaving the Italian part of the trip to pay for. The pass would also cover all main line trains, buses and boats including city transport and give you 50% reduction on mountain trains and cable cars (25% from Wengen to Jungfraujoch and Jungfraujoch to Grindelwald). Click the link on this forum for rail passes and more information and ways to buy the passes. If you are travelling with a companion you would benefit from the Swiss Saver pass variant as 15% discount applies if you travel together – one pass for two people.
I hope this is of some help and that you enjoy your stay.

Maggie

Hi,

Thanks for the information. We will be traveling on April 13 Saturday from Paris to Basel. I am planning to board the early morning train from Paris @ 0615 am. So I think I would be able to experience cruise ride. Few more questions,

1) Would the pass cover the cruise rides from Thun-Interlaken-Breinz? Are boat rides different from cruise or are they one and the same.
2) Are you trying to say that the timings of the train from Zurich to Milan could change in the future? I am planning to catch a train from Zurich that starts at 19:09.
3) I was thinking if taking a SuperSaver ticket(14 days before travel) for few of the available routes and standard ticket for few other routes(like Wengen-Jungfra) would work out to be cheaper. But finding it difficult to come to a conclusion. So would Swiss Pass would be the better option?

Hi Maggie, I see that you have listed the sailings on Brienz for Sat 30 March at 12:07 & 14:07 does that mean there are only 2 depatures from Interlaken Ost on that Sat..... I wrote previously to the boat company and they forwarded me a list with approx 4 departures listed - just wanted to confirm as I have planned an itinery using different depature times
Many thanks
Jean

Hi Jeannie, the two sailings I mentioned were specifically for vidhya who would not be able to reach Interlaken Ost early enough to take the earlier sailings. There are two earlier sailings at 9.07 and 11.07 - I assume you plan to use one of those. Sorry if my post confused you!
Enjoy your trip.
Maggie

Hi Vidyha
The Swiss pass would cover your boat trips – cruise and boat ride are the same thing!
If you catch the 11.40 boat from Thun, it arrives in Interlaken West at 13.49. The train leaves I.West at 13.53, arriving at Interlaken Ost at 13.57 and the boat for Brienz leaves at 14.07. It is doable but tight and this is another reason for choosing Swiss Pass as you won’t need to queue for train ticket in Interlaken.
I don’t know anything about Super Saver tickets – we always use Swiss Pass as it is most convenient for us (can board transport without having to queue for tickets except when using the discounted travel on cable cars etc.) and involves big savings over point-to –point tickets.

I found the following information on the ssb website for the 19.09 train from Zurich to Milan which is why I advised to check before you travel.

You take the EuroCity from Zürich HB departing track 6 to Milano Centrale.
Your journey starts at Zürich HB on 16.04.13 at 19:09, you arrive at Milano Centrale is at 22:50.
Please note: Tilting train
Summary The total journey time is: 3:41 This connection runs daily. The number of changes is: 0

EC 25 (Zürich HB - Milano Centrale) Travel advice: (EC 25) Passengers travelling to Zug, Arth-Goldau, Bellinzona, Locarno (changing in Bellinzona) and Lugano are advised to take the ICN 10025 departing from Zurich HB at 19:01.[br]
Passengers travelling to Italy should note that connections at Milano Centrale cannot be guaranteed. Please allow enough time to change trains.

However it looks as though for your trip they are warning only that the train may not run exactly to schedule. If you don’t need to connect to another train in Milan, there should be no problem. You do need to reserve your trip in advance.

Hope I haven’t confused you!
Maggie

Hi Maggie,

Thank you very much. You are replies are helping me a lot in my planning. Actually I am traveling to Breinz just to experience the boat ride. My stay is at Interlaken. So from Interlaken I would go by boat and return by train or vice versa, which ever is feasible w.r.t time.

If I am taking the Swiss pass then I dont have to buy tickets for my Zurich - Milan trip, right? I should I only take tickets from Swiss border to Milan. I hope I can take that at the station(Zurich) on that day and don't have to make any advanced online booking, right?

I have booked my ticket from Paris - Basel for CHF 62 for 2 of us. I am traveling with my kid who is 1 year old. I have not mentioned my kid's details in the tickets since she will be traveling in my lap. So I have not bought any ticket for her. I hope it should be fine.

Regards,
Vidhya

Hi Vidhya,

I would recommend to download the map from the Swiss Pass page, as that shows exactly what's covered. That way you know if you need discounted tickets, full fare tickets or no tickets at all. Zurich to Milan requires a full fare ticket from Chiasso to Milan; the rest is free. You can buy that ticket in Zurich or along with your Swiss Pass. More important is whether you need a seat reservation for that train. If you do, you'd better buy that in advance.