Transportation in Switzerland then on to Italy

tjf,

As you'll be spending the majority of your time in Switzerland, one of the Swiss Passes would probably be worthwhile as that will cover transportation on the "regular" rail systems and discounts on the mountain lifts, etc. Which pass to buy will probably depend on which "mountain transportation trips" you're planning to take.

A Pass is rarely cost effective for travel in Italy, so using P-P tickets would probably be cheaper. If you'll be travelling on any of the "premium" trains such as the Freccia high speed versions, significant savings are possible with pre-booked tickets. However, those tickets will "lock you into" travelling on a specific train, date and departure time since they have compulsory reservations. DON'T be caught without a valid reservation or you may face hefty fines which will be collected on the spot! The same fines apply for those travelling on Regionale trains or Buses with unvalidated tickets.

You can check train times and other details in Italy using either the bahn.de or Trenitalia websites. Note that schedules for July won't be loaded until after 15 June, but you can research using dates this week on the same day-of-the-week that you'll be travelling and that should provide a good "ballpark estimate".

Your best bang for your buck is likely to be either a 1-month Half Fare Card for 120 chf, or the Swiss Card, which covers your first and last day, and a half fare card for everyday in between for 199 chf. Being there 9 days, the Swiss Pass comes in 4, 8 and 15 day varieties and is expensive. And half fare is actually less expensive than the 25 % discount offered by the Swiss pass on the Jungfraujochbahn.

Thanks for the information, I do have a couple more questions.

When I went on the Swiss train sight if I read this correctly it said Murren to Rome was $212 chf, is that just the Cost for the Swiss travel and then I would have to go to the Italy site and buy another ticket for the Italy portion?

Also if I bought the Half fare card do I also need to purchase the Swiss Card

Thanks

Actually, you can purchase full tickets from cities in one country to cities in another country. The 212CHF (Swiss Francs) that you see is for the entire trip from Muerren to Rome. You don't need separate Italian tickets. They seem to have a way to work all of this out between countries. If you have a 1/2 fare card, it's good for transportation to the southern Swiss border. That means that the trip will not be 212CHF. It should be about 40CHF less if you have a 1/2-fare card. Just show your card to the agent and they will make the adjustment. No need for a separate Swiss Card at 199CHF. The 1/2 fare card will work just fine throughout your visit. Just purchase the 1/2-fare card in Zurich before you purchase any other tickets. You'll change trains at least 3 times at Interlaken Ost, Spiez and Milano Centrale. Possibly more.

Thanks again for the information. Another question do I need to buy train tickets in advance and make a reservation or should I wait until I get to Switzerland?

Also it looks like I should either buy 1/2 card, swiss pass or swiss card. What is the best way to figure out what to buy based on my itinerary above.

This is our first time to Europe so not experienced with the train travel.

Thanks again

Who is traveling? Children? What ages? You can buy any of these at Zurich airport railway station.

Traveling on the itinerary I listed would be just my wife and myself age 63 and 57

Thanks for everyone's replies

Swiss Card. Since the half-fare price pp Zurich to Zermatt is 61.50 and Muerren to Brig is 31.10, you would spend 92.60 pp coming in and leaving. That is more than the 79 chf difference between the price of the Half Fare Card and the Swiss Card, so the Swiss Card is the better deal.