Hello! I have a quick question. I am planning the following route: dep Venice Santa Lucia at 19:57 (R2249) which arrives in Bologna then switch to trains to the EN 314 dep at 23:18 to arrive in Zurich the next am. I have a Eurail Italy pass (single country pass) that will have already been used that day (5/25) that I will use for the italy segment of the trip. Then I have a Swiss Flexipass that I will use to cover the Swiss portion of the trip that will be valid starting midnight on 5/26. My question is this: If the border crossing does not occur right at midnight will I need to purchase additional days for either pass? For example if I cross the Swiss/Italy border at 1am on 5/26 will I need to add an extra day on my Italy pass? or if I cross the border at 11:30 pm on 5/25 will I need an extra day on my swiss pass?
Posted by
Ottawa, Ontario,, Canada
521 posts
Hi Melissa,
No need to worry about it. For night trains, they let you put the next day on your pass if the train departs after 7 pm. So, in this case, as you will be entering Switzerland after 7 pm, you can write the next day on your pass as your first day in the country and not worry at all about it. Your Italy pass is not a problem either as you can extend your same-day travel by a few hours into the morning without consequence.
I took this train going in the opposite direction and found it to be one of the more comfortable night trains that I took, though I was in 6-bed couchettes the whole time, so I don't know if you are travelling a little more private than that.
Enjoy your trip!
*******EDIT*********
Despite what I just said, I found the following from, who else, Rick Steves:
"The 7 p.m. rule for night trains does not apply to Swiss passes."
The good news is that it surely takes more than 60 minutes to reach the Swiss border, so you'll be fine.
Posted by
OP
Boston, MA, United States
83 posts
Thanks! I was most concerned about having to add a day to my Italy pass since I wasn't sure how long it takes to cross the border. The 7pm rule wouldnt apply to my Italy pass either since I will have used that the night before (Naples-Venice night train) so the pass will have 5/25 as the last possible day to fill in but hopefully the extra hour or so won't matter.