Hello,,,my wife and I have never been to Switzerland and we have a few questions?
Should we buy a 4 day non consecutive Swiss rail pass since we get a 50% discount on the Cogs, etc?
Should we take any special sight seeing trains?
Bern or Lucerne - not sure which one to visit so any thoughts would help.
Thank you.
Luzern. Bern is a nice enough small city, but Luzern is in a more "Swiss" setting of lake and mountains, which is probably what you want to see. The special sight-seeing trains travel the same tracks as the regular service trains, just with panoramic cars.
No, the Swiss Travel Pass does not give you any discounts or coverage in between the 4 counted travel days of that flexi-pass. On counted days, it fully covers the lifts and connections around Lucerne. You'd get a lot more coverage by spending $80 more for the 8-consecutive-day version.
Usually the Half Fare Card (gives you 50% of ALL your Swiss Travel) gives you the biggest benefit of Savings. You have to travel quite a lot to actually break even with the cost of the Swiss Travel Pass. Yes, the STP also gives you value by letting you jump on/off any train/boat/bus/funicular/gondola anywhere anytime as much as you like WITHOUT having to stop along the way to purchase tickets.
With the HFC all of you travels are discounted 50% but you must purchase tickets (at the discounted rate) before each of your travels.
With the Swiss Travel Pass, I'd factor in the costs of the transportation as well as the discounts you'd get during its usage. We had an eight day pass for the Berner Oberland and Lucerne and thought it paid for itself (we also just had second class seats) with the sites we visited and the transportation costs. Many sites were free in Lucerne and received discounts in the Berner Oberland. We also felt like we finished Lucerne a day early, so it gave us the flexibility to do Bern as a day trip (I would agree with the others that if you have to choose, I'd go with Lucerne).
