MySwissAlps.com features ads, commercial and non-commercial Rail pass – 3 days in Lauterbrunnen then Venice
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I would appreciate some advice on the best option of pass to purchase for my family, which include my self and children, age 19 and age 15. I tried using the spreadsheet, however,I’m not sure about the train from Lauterbrunnen to Venice. I don’t know how much of the fare would be covered by the Pass.
We’re in Switzerland 3 days total, arriving in Zurich. From Zurich airport take train to Lauterbrunnen. From Lauterbrunnen take train to Jungfrau and return. Lastly, take train from Lauterbrunnen to Venice.
Any advice would be appreciated. Thank you.
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Hi Mtrodrigues4 and welcome to MySwissAlps!
The spread sheet will tell you the best rail pass for your itinerary (once you have it).
As far as the travel to Venice, If you buy the Swiss Travel Pass (https://www.myswissalp s.com/swisstravelpass), then you need only buy a ticket from the Swiss border town (Chiasso most likely) to Venice which you can do here: (https://www.myswissalp s.com/traintickets/ita ly/price)
Lucas-
Thank you for your welcome! This sight is great and has been very helpful, thank you. I’m glad I found it a few days ago.
I filled out the spreadsheet as best I could. Seems STP is the most expensive for our 3 days, however, I have a feeling I’m not calculating something correctly. Seems Swiss Half Fare Card is the most cost effective but STP easiest. The trouble i’m running into is viewing any train times from Lauterbrunnen or Interlaken to Venice on the site you suggested above. I get an error. Should I be looking to book from Chiasso? I’d like to be sure the train times will align so would prefer to get a reservation all the way instead of two separate reservations. Being able to use either the STP or Half Fare. Thanks again for any suggestions. We will be also traveling to Florence and Rome if that helps any with other passes.
-Terri
Hi Terri,
Try using the Swiss railways timetable (SBB) for train times to Venice: https://www.myswissalp s.com/timetable You could also be traveling via Domodossola and not Chiasso – the timetable will show you.
The Swiss Travel Pass is the easiest option for sure – worth the extra cost often enough (if it isn’t too much more than the Swiss Half Fare Card).
If you go with the STP just hop on the train you want to Venice from Lauterbrunnen (no reservation for Swiss leg) but you’ll need to buy a ticket and reservation from Domodossola/Chiasso to Venice. You may or may not change trains at the border town.
If you have the SHFC you’ll need the extra step of buying a ticket from Lauterbrunnen to Domodossola/Chiasso at 50% off as well.
Thank you again Lucas. I agree that the STP seems to be the most convenient so will likely go that route. It looks like the trip to Jungfrau is what is making the price difference more noticeable.
I tried the first link you provided above to calculate costs. I found a route that takes us via Interlaken Ost, Spiez, Brig (or Milan Centrale depending on departure time we choose). Trainline is a little less expensive than the SBB site and don’t see any real differences between them. However, I have a few questions.
1. When entering traveler information, there was no option for Swiss Travel Pass or the Family Card which I plan to get for my 15 year old son. Where do we enter this information? There were options for GA, Half Fare Card or Junior Card. Our price should be reduced because part of the trip is in Switzerland with the STP and free for my son for this same portion of the trip. Can you advise where to enter this information.
2. I had read about a landslide near the border. Will this affect our route? We are traveling next week.
Thank you for your help, Terri
Hi Terri,
- You only need buy a ticket from the Swiss border town to Venice. https://www.myswissalp s.com/traintickets/ita ly/price
Neither you nor your son needs a ticket for the Swiss portion as you have the rail passes. - The landslide in Italy is between Domodossola and Locarno so it won’t affect you.
Great, thank you. I think I will purchase this in advance of the trip to ensure we have a seat, instead of purchasing when we get to Brig. I will use the same time at Brig that the trip from Lauterbrunnen to Venice was giving me. I assume there is only one station in Brig. Thanks so much for your help, Terri
Yes exactly you won’t need to get off the train that way if you already have a ticket (well you change trains in brig usually anyway).
You buy a ticket to start at the Swiss border town that you travel through. That would be Chiasso or Domodossola not Brig. You can buy it online on my last link or in Lauterbrunnen before you start the trip if you want.
Oh, I see. Thank you for the clarification. So I would select Chiasso or Domodossola to Venice, making sure Brig is one of the stops. Am I understanding correctly? I’ll have to check the map to see where the route I am selecting takes us through since Chiasso nor Domodossola were listed as a stop. I didn’t see these on either of the two routes I’m considering.
Sorry for my ignorance and thank you for your insight. -Terri
You want to buy a ticket from Chiasso or Domodossola to Venice – don’t worry about Brig.
Try this example:
Use the timetable https://www.myswissalp s.com/timetable (use the SBB search box on the right) and search Lauterbrunnen to Venice for say July 1 at 09:00
The first train is at 09:32 and has 3 changes (Interlaken Ost, Luzern and Milano).
Click the + sign between luzern and Milano (EC 1 51 direction Milano Centrale) on the timetable and all the towns the train goes through is listed. In this case you see Chiasso as the 6th town (but it is not a stop).
So if you want to take this train (well actually trains) to get to Venice then you buy a ticket for the 14:51 train from Chiasso to Venice on July 1. You can see that is the time the train departs Chiasso on the timetable.
When asked to see your ticket, you show your Swiss Travel Pass if your train hasn’t yet gotten to Chiasso.
After Chiasso, when asked to see your ticket you show the ticket you bought online for Chiasso to Venice.I’ve attached a screen shot to help. 🙂
This now makes sense! Thank you. I was trying a few different pricings on the SBB site and found the total for our trip was less expensive from Brig on the same route as Domodossola. Individually, my daughter’s and mine were more expensive from Brig to Venice, but my son’s was less expensive making our total less than from Domodossola. Do you see an issue with my son’s ticket, he’s 15. I didn’t enter any discounts but his price was 13 CHF vs. 64 CHF from Domodossola. I want to make sure we (he) won’t be kicked off the train or have an issue because of an oversight or something I wasn’t aware of. Thank you, as always. – Terri
So your son’s ticket would be 13chf for Brig to Venice or 64chf from Domodossola to Venice?
That is very cheap for him but it doesn’t mean it is wrong. If something was wrong they’d sell you the proper ticket on the train and not kick him off 😉 worst case.
I’d go with the cheapest option for tickets in the end. What website are you using to find tickets? The normal sbb site or their travel site?
Yes, I thought it was cheap too. I found it on the SBB site from the timetable link you provided. I found it accidentally as I was going to search the Domodossola rate on the Trainline site but wasn’t coming up. I went back to the SBB site to find the stop prior to it and couldn’t recall which leg it was in so entered Brig. That is when it came up. I was surprised because Brig is farther from Venice than Domodossola. It’s not much of a total savings (the two others are more expensive) but savings none the less.
This has been amazing help and now feel confident, unlike confused when I first asked the question. Thank you very much, Terri
- You only need buy a ticket from the Swiss border town to Venice. https://www.myswissalp s.com/traintickets/ita ly/price
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