Traveling soon from Freiburg in Germany, through Zurich and on to Salzburg. For the Zurich to Salzburg leg, we will be riding RailJet and would like to eat in the dining car on board the train. My question is, will we be able to use a credit card on board? Or do we need to have Swiss Francs to pay for our food? We will not be spending any time in Switzerland other than traveling through it, so would prefer to not have to get Swiss Francs just for this purpose. Thanks for your help.
Posted by
Basel, Switzerland
8889 posts
Railjet is operated by ÖBB (Austrian Federal Railways). They will accept both Swiss Franks and Euros.
I am 99% certain they will accept credit cards, with the usual proviso that some non-European cards may have problems.
I am surprised you have chosen this route. Normally the quicker route is to go north from Freiburg im Breisgau to Mannheim, then east via Munich to Salzburg. Except that route is replaced by buses until 7th October due to a tunnel collapse during construction.
Posted by
Rick Steves' Europe
16893 posts
The RailJet is an Austrian-operated train and once you depart the border station at Buchs at 11:54, you'll be in Austria. I'm sure they'll accept euros and would also expect them to accept credit cards.
Posted by
OP
3 posts
Thank you for your responses. I did find the information from another travel forum that they do accept credit cards as well as Euros.
We selected this route for a few reasons. The most compelling one being to see more on our trip to the region (we will have already ridden the train into Freiburg from Frankfurt so we would be covering the same ground again). Portions of the trip through Switzerland and Austria are said to be quite beautiful, and I'm happy to see Switzerland as a bonus during my trip. Also, many of the other routes going North are at least as long in duration, if not longer, with more transfers. So convenience is also a factor. Very excited to visit this area for the first time :)
Posted by
Green Bay
20179 posts
Here's the Railjet Summer menu, if you haven't seen it already.
http://www.henryamzug.com/media/165615/henryamzug_menu-karte_sommer_2017_einzelseiten.pdf
Posted by
OP
3 posts
Thanks, Sam. I did find the menu and love all the offerings. Appreciate you pointing me towards it!
Posted by
Seattle, WA
16353 posts
Interesting menu. They appear to promote healthy and allergen-free dining, yet there are only 3 gluten-free items on the whole menu---a200 ml carton of Greek yogurt, a small green salad, and the vegan Thai curry. Everything else is sandwiches or other dish with bread or Semmel (rolll) on the side---and no gluten-free option for the bread. (Of course I can just skip the bread provided, which what I generally do, but it is a bit annoying.)