I be traveling from 6 Dec 14 to 3 Jan 15 starting from Vienna end at London all by rail.
Please help advice what type of rail passes suitable for this euro trip. Also is swiss pass able to help me save on the rail tickets for the swiss trip???
Vienna (4 days) - one day be traveling to salzburg
Munich (5days)
Zurich(1 day)
Lucerne(2 days)
Bern(2 days) - thinking of going to visit basel
Grindelwald(4 days)
Paris(5 days)
London(5 days)
A few thoughts.
1. Since Salzburg is on the way to Munich, take an early morning train from Vienna to Salzburg, spend the day and even early evening in Salzburg, then move on to Munich. Cheapest fare to Salzburg is on Westbahn, and you can travel from Salzburg to Munich on the Bayern Ticket for 23 euro
2. A slightly more efficient route in Switzerland would be Zurich to Luzern to Grindelwald to Bern to Basel. The train from Luzern to Grindelwald is very scenic if the weather is clear, and you will need to pass through Basel anyway on the way to Paris.
3. Unless you will be making side trips by rail in Luzern and Grindelwald, you are not spending enough with the stated trips to justify a pass. If, you are going to try for the Jungfrau or even just Kleine Scheidegg, that would just put you over the hurdle to justify a 30 day Half Fare Card, for 120 chf.
4. Get an advance purchase nonrefundable TGV ticket from Basel to Paris. Might be as low as 25 euro.
5. Get an advance purchase nonrefundable Eurostar ticket to get to London. Cheapest is 62 euro now.
A Select pass covering 8 days of travel in Austria, Germany, Switzerland, and France, for instance, currently costs $606 for a single adult in 1st class or $464 for a single youth (under 26) in 2nd class. If purchased before Sept. 29, you can get a 9-day pass for the same price. Seat reservations cost extra and are required for the TGV to Paris.
The Paris-London Eurostar ticket is always separate and has better rates if you book early, for sale now from $70. Your other, longer distance legs also have advance-purchase ticket discounts, available starting about 3 months ahead from each country's own web site. If you go with the advance discounts outside of Switzerland, then you could choose a Swiss Pass or Half-Fare Card to give you more flexible coverage/discounts within the borders of that country. You would not buy both a Select and a Swiss pass, only one at most.
