Greetings, my wife and I will be spending our honeymoon in May in the Bavarian region. We are flying into Geneva, Switzerland and then flying back out of Frankfurt, Germany two weeks later. We will be spending several days in Lausanne, Lucerne, Munich, Salzburg, and Vienna. I have researched a lot on the trains, but I am still confused. Should we get the Swiss Flexi pass for our four nights in Switzerland, then get a 2 country Eurail pass for Germany and Austria, or just buy a three country Eurail pass and use that for the discounts it offers? To get from Zurich to Munich (inter country), do we need to use only a Eurail pass? In Switzerland we plan to go to Pilatus and possibly Rigi. We will also be taking a couple boats and trains around Lausanne/Montreux/Gruyeres. We will only go to a couple museums. Thanks for the help!
Posted by
Green Bay
21140 posts
I am not a fan of Eurail passes. Some sort of pass in Switzerland may be in order. You can buy nonrefundable non-changeable tickets for Austria and Germany. Why not fly home from Munich and skip a train leg.
Assuming you stick to your schedule, I'd go Geneva airport-Lausanne-Luzern-Vienna-Salzburg-Munich-Frankfurt airport. Between Luzern to Vienna and Vienna to Munich you will pass through Salzburg, so you could insert it either coming or going. Going Vienna-Salzburg-Munich might make more sense money wise.
You could do Vienna-Salzburg using Westbahn where you actually buy low cost tickets right on the train. Salzburg-Munich with a Bayern ticket bought at Salzburg Hbf. So Luzern-Vienna can be bought 90 days in advance on-line as well as Munich-Frankfurt airport.
Posted by
Granite Bay, California
16 posts
Luke, congratulations on your honeymoon! My wife and I from California are doing almost the same trip next month, only we're flying into Zurich (and out of Frankfurt) and will spend a couple days in Zurich first. We'll hit all your other cities too except Lausanne. I've been struggling with the same questions as you. I'm leaning toward the 3-country Eurail pass as a matter of convenience, but I really have no experience to base that on. I priced the 2-country pass and a Swiss pass, but it was a little more expensive. The question is will you be taking several excursions to make the additional discounts with the Swiss pass worth the extra cost? Either way, it's not a huge difference. Maybe it's easier than I'm thinking, but the different train systems seem a little overwhelming for us. I'm not sure I want to keep track of multiple passes and always look to get in line to buy various tickets like others suggest. Just finding the right train and platform and such will be an adventure enough. Now we must decide where to go to get into the Alps. The choices are amazing. Have a great trip and a long and fruitful marriage. I'll look forward to additional responses from the road warriors here.
Posted by
Knoxville, TN, USA
7209 posts
The only country where a rail pass might make sense is Switzerland. And the biggest bang for your buck in Switzerland is the Swiss Half Fare Card. If you're traveling in Bavaria (Munich, Salzburg) then use the Bayern Pass at about 25E for all day for both of you ALL over the region. It's just dirt cheap.
Posted by
Rick Steves' Europe
16895 posts
In general, one pass is a better value than two, and I'd say that's true in this case, even though the 3-country pass pushes most people into paying for 1st class.
- If you are in Switzerland for 4 consecutive days, then that version of the Swiss Travel Pass costs $263; you probably wouldn't choose a flexipass. Things that it covers that a Eurail pass does not would primarily be museums, city trams, and buses (since you haven't mentioned visiting the Berner Oberland or taking the Glacier Express). It can cover you to the border on a trip toward Munich.
- Either pass covers Swiss lake boats on your counted train travel days and gives 25-50% discounts on the lifts you mentioned (in the case of the Select pass, a discount does not require counting a travel day).
- Assuming that you're not both under 26, then a 1st-class Select Saver pass for 6 days of 1st class travel in 3 countries is about $383 per person (including the current extra-day offer). [Price corrected 4/14/16.]
- On your stated route, you can hop on any daytime trains without an additional reservation required.
- If you weren't taking a train across Germany to Frankfurt, then a 2-country pass for Austria and Switzerland would be a better choice, such as 5 days of 2nd class travel for about $250 per person, and pay a bit for the German portion of a trip to Munich, which might be with a Bavaria ticket. If you travel from Zurich to Salzburg first, then the direct RailJet train is fully covered by this pass.
Posted by
Northamptonshire, England
33818 posts
Mjfuller
Your questions will take a little sorting out so it would be worth your while having your own question. That way you will get notified when there is a response, not luke getting your mail, and you can get your own answers instead of piggybacking. Then luke can get his too.
At first look, it doesn't seem to me that a Eurail pass would pay off for either of you, and that you would save loads of money and not lose much convenience by getting the tickets you need when you need them.
We have several real experts on this here. We can demystify it for you.