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Paris to Zurich, Switzerland: What is the best rail pass that covers travel in Switzerland as well

Posted by on

Hello,

I will be arriving in Paris from USA on April 25th at Charles De Gaulle. We will spend three nights in Paris and then take the train to Zurich on April 28th to visit friends for 10 days. We will return to Paris on May 7th to catch our flights back to USA on May 8th from Charles De Gaulle. As of now, I have neither purchased a SNCF/TGV rail pass for my Paris - Switzerland - Paris return trip yet, nor purchased a rail pass for travel "within" Switzerland.

Query: Is there an economical pass that will cover our Paris - Switzerland - Paris return journey as well as all train/bus travels within Switzerland for 10 days?

All comments and advice is welcome!

Thanks in advance :)

Posted by
17427 posts

I would not use a 2-country pass for this; I would just get a Swiss Pass or Half Fare Card for travel within Switzerland.

You can purchase tickets in advance for the journey into Switzerland at very good prices, for example Paris to Basel on April 25 for €29 on the direct (TGV) You could also go directly to Geneva, Lausanne, or Zurich by TGV, but I did not check those prices.

You can buy here more easily than from SCNF:

https://www.trainline.eu

A two-country pass is a Eurail pass and does not provide as complete coverage as an actual Swiss Pass. My sister bought France-Switzerland passes for her familynthe last time we traveled there together, and she ended up paying supplements on most of the trains we rode.

Posted by
7209 posts

Congratulations to you that you didn't run right out and buy a Eurail Pass without first asking for recommendations. Lola is exactly correct. I see one way fares on your travel dates as low as 54Euro from trainline.eu with no additional supplements required...

Posted by
17427 posts

Oops! I was looking at April 25 when I saw that €29.

The return on May 7 is €43.

Posted by
3 posts

Thank you so much for such a prompt response.

I just found a return on May 7 at 29 euros on the Oui.sncf website. Do you think it would be wise to book the return for now and keep checking the website for an early bird special for April 28th? As of now, the April 28th departure to Switzerland is 54 euros.

Also, do you have to make a seat reservation and pay extra for that on top of the ticket as well? I'm a little confused. The Oui.SNCF site asks if I want to select a seat and I didn't so it assigned me a seat itself. Does that mean my seat is confirmed or do I have to pay extra and reserve the seat somewhere else?

Posted by
8889 posts

Rail ticket prices (unlike air prices) only ever go up, never down.
There is a quota of tickets at each price, when the cheapest tickets are all sold, that only leaves the next price level, and so on. So, once you are sure about your dates and times, buy ASAP.
I don't know what an "early bird special" is.

Reservations are misunderstood. They are not a separate process. When you buy a ticket for a train which requires reserved seats, the ticket price always includes the reserved seat. This is what happened to you, and since you said you don't want to pick a seat, it picked one for you.

Reservations are only an extra purchase if you have a pass which is valid on any train.

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