[Removed user]

18 March 2018 at 5:31:41 #814831

Hi, I will be travelling in Switzerland for 7 days in May with a rough itinerary as below:

Day 1: Zurich (Rhine Falls, Stein am Rhein) (stay in Zurich)

Day 2: Zurich-Oeschinensee (stay in Zurich or Oeschinensee)

Day 3: Zermatt (hiking and suspension bridge) (stay in Zermatt)

Day 4: Zermatt (hiking) (stay in Zermatt)

Day 5: Zermatt-Interlaken-Lauterbrunnen (Murren, Gimmelwald, Schilthorn, etc.) (stay in Lauterbrunnen)

Day 6: Lauterbrunnen (stay in Lauterbrunnen)

Day 7: Lauterbrunnen-Zurich-Vienna (stay in Vienna)

Subsequently, I will be visiting Austria and Hungary.

May I seek opinions on the type of pass I should get – Eurail 2 Select pass, or Swiss Travel Pass, or Swiss Half Price Pass?

Thank you in advance!!

Warmest, Yvonne

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[Removed user]

18 March 2018 at 6:33:27 #879077

Hi Yvonne, and welcome to MySwissAlps!

There is only one way to know for sure: add up the full-fare cost of all trips you intend to do by train, bus, cable car and boat and compare the total cost of separate tickets with the cost of doing the same trips with the Swiss Travel Pass, Swiss Half Fare Card, Eurail Pass etc.

You can find fares for Switzerland in the Swiss Timetable.

http://www.myswissalps.com/ti metable

It is important to be aware that the fare shown for any trip in the Swiss Timetable defaults to half fare, as most Swiss residents will have a Half-Fare travelcard which entitles them to this discount. Your calculations need to be based on full fares, which are double the default fare that comes up.

There is information and a spreadsheet here to help you:

http://www.myswissalps.com/tr ain/ticketspasses/prac tical/chooserailpass

As it seems you will be using quite a bit of mountain transport in Switzerland, a Swiss Travel Pass or Swiss Half Fare Card is likely to provide best value in Switzerland, as coverage with the Eurail Pass is limited on mountain routes.

A Eurail Pass might be worthwhile for Austria and Hungary, but you did not tell us how long you will be spending in those countries and how much train travelling you will do there, so it is impossible to say whether a pass or point-to-point tickets would be better.

In any case, if you definitely want the cheapest option, you will need to do the calculations as mentioned above. If you prefer convenience and flexibility, I would probably get an 8-day Swiss Travel Pass, plus a Eurail Pass for Austria and Hungary.

Alpenrose

[Removed user]

18 March 2018 at 6:47:05 #879078

Hi Alpenrose,

Thank you for the welcome and the reply.

I will be taking the overnight train from Zurich to Austria, spending about 5 days there. After which, we will head off to Hungary for another 5 days. I have only planned Switzerland so far, so the itinerary for the remaining parts of the trip are still sketchy.

Also, the excel file seems to be corrupt and I am unable to open it. Is there any other ways I can check it out? Additionally, in that case, I will probably need to finish up the entire itinerary first, before deciding on the passes then!

Thanks again,

Yvonne

[Removed user]

18 March 2018 at 7:31:37 #879079

HiYvonne,

I just opened the excel file and it seems fine. You need a program like winzip to open the fire (free options) and then the Excel program. Let us know if you still have issues.

[Removed user]

18 March 2018 at 7:35:47 #879080

>> I will be taking the overnight train from Zurich to Austria, spending about 5 days there. After which, we will head off to Hungary for another 5 days.

How useful a Eurail Pass is depends on how much travel you do from city to city, as (generally speaking) it is not useful within individual cities.

A Eurail Pass is indeed valid on the S-Bahn in Vienna, but in practice, it is the trams and U-Bahn trains (as well as just walking) that are most useful for getting to the sights, and they are not covered by the Eurail Pass.

Alpenrose

[Removed user]

18 March 2018 at 13:23:19 #879081

Hey Lucas, yes you are right! I tried it again and extract it to my desktop. This time it works – will work on it in due time. Hope I can get an answer to my own question!

Yvonne

[Removed user]

18 March 2018 at 13:24:05 #879082

Hi Alpenrose,

Certainly useful advice. Based on that, I would think that Eurail option is out for me already. Thanks!

Yvonne