I have no experience purchasing my own rail tickets. Planning a trip requiring me to purchase my own tickets and the big question I have if I purchase a ticket departing at a specific time and I missed the departure, do I need to purchase another ticket or can I exchange my original ticket for new ticket.
Thanks.
Good news. For trains in Switzerland, the tickets are not for a specific time. Unless you are buying an advance ticket at a reduced price, which I would not recommend since you won’t know what time you’ll need at the airport. So, just buy your ticket once you land in Zurich. You can buy from one of the ticket machines and there are usually SBB train employees wandering around in case you need help. You can wait in line at the ticket office and buy from a person. Or my favorite way to buy tickets is from the SBB train app on my phone. You can register at home and add your credit card info. For all 3 of those options, the ticket will not be for a specific time. You can board any train you like. And you’ll just need to show the ticket to the conductor if they come around asking for it. There is no need to validate tickets in Switzerland.
Traveling in Switzerland is super easy.
Thank you.
Didn’t know you could buy tickets like that!
The question is- will you be using other trains.? If so, it may be worth your while to buy a Swiss travel Pass or at least a Half Fare Pass. Pls note that when checking route prices on the SBB app, it is assumed that all travellers have at least the Half Fare Pass, therefore the actual price is double. The Swiss train system is a model of efficiency and ease of use. There are frequent departures to most destinations. The Swiss Travel Pass, for instance, covers the boat and cogwheel train to Mt Rigi, near Lucerne, along with Mt Stanserhorn. Pls Search previous postings on train travel is Switzerland, as there is a wealth of info already posted. Also, just browse the posting for the past several months under the Switzerland section here on the Forum. Safe travels!
What Switzerland has is a nationwide mass transit system. It is used by lots of people on a daily basis to go to work, go shopping, go to school etc... Having to buy tickets in advance, having tickets tied to particular trains etc... does not fit with that kind of usage.
So when comparing with the US think of commuter rail not Amtrak. Getting from ZRH to Luzern is as trivial (if not even easier) as going from JFK to Manhattan...
When you buy a ticket on line you usually start with looking up a schedule, and then picking a trains from that schedule. This is just so that you can ascertain yourself beforehand that what you want to do is actually possible. That there is a train for the route and the time of your travel. But an normal ticket will then be valid on all trains on the route, and even allows you to interrupt your journey. It is valid for a whole day, till 5AM the next day.
Pls note that when checking route prices on the SBB app, it is assumed that all travellers have at least the Half Fare Pass, therefore the actual price is double
That's no longer the case with the SBB Mobile App. The app displays full fare in case the half fare option was not specified in the travelers details.
Appreciate all your replies. Very useful information.
