My wife wants to do a car but it looks like we will need train or the Swiss pass in the areas we will be in. She believes is will be more convenient and cost about the same (including fuel and parking) as a week pass Any ideas on convincing her otherwise?
Day 1- Land in Zurich drive to Lucerne
Day 2 drive to interlaken area
Day 5 drive to Zermatt area
Day 8 drive to Zurich
Day 9 fly out
I assume “ pass” is for a train?.
Yes fair question. Unless you have a better idea?!?!
I updated the subject line to be more clear of my intent
It's not about the cost when it comes to car vs train in Switzerland. The majority of the things you're going to want to do either don't allow cars at all or if they do allow cars, it becomes inconvenient to deal with parking, etc. The Swiss train system is extremely efficient and gets you to places in the mountains that cars can't go. If you end up renting a car you'll end up using the trains/cable cars as well, thus negating any "savings" you may have had with renting a car. For example, Zermatt is a car free village, so you'd have to park your car outside the town and then train into town and pay for all the cable cars/trains to do anything around there anyway. Same with Interlaken. You can drive into Lauterbrunnen but then you end up having to park your car to go do anything up in the mountains because the villages are all car free. The Swiss Pass is a great idea for your itinerary. Enjoy!
And I assume like most of the rest of Europe you don’t need to book any in country trips in advance?
One concern was also wasted time waiting for trains but I’m guessing there isn’t more than an hour or so between trains between cities?
every route has a train a minimum of hourly all day. Many busy routes have many more.
By the way, on a train everybody can look at the scenery going by. In a car somebody has to drive instead and another has to navigate.
No booking in advance except a very few special tourist trains. Those same routes also have normal trains, at least hourly. Just turn up and get on.
Nhfire77,
Years ago my husband and I always rented a car when traveling in Switzerland. He drove. I navigated. It worked for us. However, for the past 25 years we now purchase some type of Swiss Travel Pass. I agree with Nigel when he pointed out that with a car one person has to concentrate on the road, the other on a map or watching road signs. Neither one can concentrate on the beautiful scenery. We find riding the trains, buses and boats allows both of us to really see and appreciate the beauty that is Switzerland. In addition, the convenience and reliability of public transportation in Switzerland cannot be beat. We recently returned from a 16 day trip to Switzerland.
One aspect of our 15 day Swiss Travel Passes was the spontaneity of our daily plans. For example, one day we traveled from Brienz to Montreux (to see the Freddie Mercury statue--long story). We took a scenic route which took more time. We had planned to take a faster route home, but decided we enjoyed the scenery on the longer route so much we changed our plans. When the train stopped in Interlaken we got off and walked to a favorite restaurant for dinner. After dinner we returned via train to Brienz. We enjoy the flexibility and the fact we don't need to purchase a ticket every time we want to go somewhere. I cannot tell you how many times we rode boats on lakes Leman, Thun, Brienz and Luzern. Just walk on board and the ticket is checked later. Sometimes we stayed on board for two round trips!
You must do what is best for you. This works best for us, allowing us spontaneity, flexibility, and the ability to really appreciate the beauty that is Switzerland.
Happy planning and travels!
Traveler Girl
If you haven't already, plan the detailed car route and then the train route and compare times and costs and make sure to include where you're going to park - then decide. The beauty of a car is you're on your own schedule and you can adjust/add to your itinerary as you wish - that's why we always try to drive. The downside is you're generally paying to park and likely won't need the vehicle while visiting each place unless you're doing day trips. I've driven around Switzerland and it's not too difficult - except you'll have an extremely difficult time driving in Zermatt 😉
Cost may be the same, but....trains are clean, efficient and most of all relaxing. No fueling, potential car problems, parking issues or driving fatigue. Based on your itinerary, a car is a poor choice.
If you rent a car, you will still have the added expense of either individual tickets or a rail pass of some kind to get you up into the mountains via train or cable car. If you are renting a car with the idea of saving money, the reality is going to be the opposite.
But if you travel by train, be prepared to handle your own luggage, so pack light. There will be none to check your bags, haul them up stairs, load them onto the luggage racks, etc.
I personally believe that if you come to Switzerland and do not use our excellent public transit system you have missed out on a major attraction of the country. Its like going to Italy and avoiding the food.
Trains are reliable, frequent and comfortable. And the whole system is very well integrated. You can look up schedules on www.sbb.ch. There are something like 50 different railway companies and even more bus, tram and cable car companies involved. The biggest is the SBB, the Swiss Federal Railways, and their website is the go to place for all information on all public transit, not just the trains they run.
You rarely have to wait for a train here. Since you can count on trains being on time you just time your walk to the station so that you arrive there a few minutes before the train leaves. And then you just ride to your destination. If you need to change trains en route (which is a normal and expected feature of train travel) this only takes minutes. It is all very pleasant, and a nice change from having to drive everywhere.
If you do drive, here are a few tips based on our past experiences driving in Switzerland:
Luzern- stay in Meggen or other "suburban" hotel with free parking to avoid traffic and paid parking in city central garages. We stayed at Hotel Balm and used the free city transportation pass for the short bus ride to Luzern.
Interlaken- choose to stay in Grindelwald or Lauterbrunnen instead if you wish to take mountain transport to hike in the region of visit Jungfrau. Perhaps buy the Berner-Oberland pass for that region.
Zermatt- car free so that will be 3 days of a parked rental car. Maybe shorten your stay.
Looking forward to our upcoming train-only visit to Switzerland after three trips in a rental car!
I agree with Traveller Girl, get the Swiss Travel Pass. We just returned and we rarely waited more than 10 minutes for a train. If the weather changes, just get on a different train with no preplanning needed. Assuming that you get the pass, when you land in Zurich, take the train straight to Luzern. Google maps and RometoRio are both great references for train times.
Is there any cost benefit to the BO or Jungfrau passes or is the Swiss pass better?
