France - Swiss rail pass suggestion

There are others who are better qualified to give you a complete answer so I will leave this to the experts. However, you can look at Rick's section on choosing rail passes, or on the man in seat 61's website for good information.

I do know that your trip from Paris to Basel will require a reservation in addition to a pass and these are limited in number and can cost add to the expected cost with the pass,

Don't get a French Railpass. The ride from the airport to Paris, and Paris to Disneyland and back are on the RER trains. You might think about a Paris Visite 3 day pass for all zones which would cover these trips as well as bus and Metro while in Paris. It costs 50.05 euro. Or just buy single tickets. It is 10 euro airport to central Paris and 7.60 euro each way to Disneyland. Individual bus and Metro rides are 1.80 euro.

Get a prems fare ticket on-line for Paris-Basel. The 10:23 train is available for 25 euro if you buy it today, otherwise it could cost as much as 128 euro. Try www.capitainetrain.com.

An 8 day Swiss Pass is expensive at 363 chf, but you look to be doing enough travel to make it pay. It will cover you from Basel to your exit at Brig, (actually to Domodossolo, Italy), plus 50% discount on mountain railways like Titlis, Rigi, and Gornergrat. When you buy your ticket from Zermatt to Venice, just show your Swiss Pass and they will deduct the Swiss portion of the journey from the price.

There may be cheaper ways to go if you buy the 120 euro Half Fare Card, but you have to buy tickets everyday and you travel at half price.
http://www.sbb.ch/en/leisure-holidays/holidays--short-breaks-in-switzerland/swisstravelsystem.html

While the trip up Mt. Pilatus is only 50% off with a Swiss Pass, the trip to Mt. Rigi from Luzern, including the boats and the various combinations of trains and cable cars you can take up and down, is totally covered by a Swiss Pass. So, if you're sure you're doing this, it makes a Swiss Pass even more appealing.

Rail passes do not cover the local transport around Paris and we agree that a separate, advance-discount TGV ticket from Paris to Basel is a better deal than including it on a two-country pass (with expensive seat reservation). The Swiss Travel Pass also gives you better coverage of Swiss services than would a multi-country pass, so the Swiss Travel Pass is my preference.

Thanks a ton . The feed back is really helpful. However I am still confused weather to buy a swiss pass or buy a point to point ticket. I am trying to check ticket price on sbb.ch but when i am entering my travel date in June, it doesnt accept. seems they book only 60 days in advance. following will be my travel by swiss rail . psl suggest if I should buy a 4 day swiss flexi pass or 8 days pass or just point to point ticket ?? Also if Half ticket pass will be useful. We are 2 adults + 2 kids ( 12 yr & 7 year) . Also pls suggest if I can use Bernina express in any of these routes ?

1. 14th June - basel to Lucerne
2. 15th June - Lucerne to Engelberg ( mount titlis tour)
3. 16th June - Mount pilatus / Mt rigi or may be Lugano - Not very sure at this point. It will depend what the kids want to do
4. 17th June - Lucerne to Zermatt
5. 18th June - Matterhorn tour
6. 19th June - Zermatt to venice ( via Brig) . I know the swiss pass will be valid till some point past brig

Rgds

Vineet