I have been following the Swiss Rail site, hoping for winter discounts, before I buy my four-day consecutive pass, but haven't seen anything. Have I missed a winter sale?
Thanks so much,
and safe travels!
Posted by
Green Bay
20081 posts
Swiss Travel Passes discounts are rare as hen's teeth. I have never seen them, but there are rumors that they happen occasionally. As other discount programs have come out, like Supersaver tickets and Saver Day Passes, they have all but disappeared.
Posted by
Knoxville, TN, USA
7209 posts
No, I've not heard of any upcoming discounts, but I have availed myself and my group of them in the past.
Posted by
Basel, Switzerland
8889 posts
Swiss Railways doesn't work that way. Ticket prices are fixed, the same for the whole year. They go up ever 2 or 3 years by inflation (typically 3%), usually in December.
There are some discounted advance purchase tickets: Supersaver tickets (click here) and one day travel passes (click here), these start out cheap and go up in price as you get nearer the date.
Prices never go down. The Swiss way is fixed predictable prices for a predictable service.
Some resellers may offer discounts, they may also charge more than SBB prices in other currencies, and "discount".
Posted by
Tilburg, Netherlands
2829 posts
It must be said that both the number and the discount rate of advanced-purchased tickets increased substantially. It is part of an SBB strategy to fill up IR trains with people who would prefer to take faster and crowded IC trains on key routes at key times.
Posted by
Minnetonka, MN
26 posts
The MySwissAlps website maintains a list of current promotions.
These discounts are generally through third-party sellers but can bring the price down below SBB. For example, I used a RailEurope gift card promotion earlier this year to save about $50 on two Swiss Travel Passes versus the SBB pricing. I have also seen free day promotions in the past (e.g., pay for eight days and get 10 days of pass coverage).
There are also many posts in the MySwissAlps discussion boards about past discounts. You can use Google to search for past discount offers.
Posted by
Knoxville, TN, USA
7209 posts
MySwissAlps should be avoided IMHO. I requested a quote for my group, and they replied and even added an extra discount because of "group" rates. The only problem is their base price is already inflated by 20% so why, exactly, would anybody purchase from these people??? Just another group of 3rd party sharks waiting for a feeding frenzy on unsuspecting tourists, I guess.