Please sign in to post.

Travel costs dilemma

This might be a really silly question, but who cares, right?! My husband and I will be in Lucerne for 4 nights this September prior to traveling to the Dolomites and Lake Garda. I think I’d like to purchase Saver Day passes for our 3 full days as well as the HFC. I keep reading here that to justify which pass to purchase, I should add up the transportation for the different day trips we’d like to do (Pilatus, Rigi, Stoos, Titlis, the lake, etc). Haven’t settled on all of that yet, and of course weather permitting. My question is how do I price out the different excursions? We won’t be doing tours. Where do I look for specific transport modes for these? Thanks so much, travel gurus :)

Posted by
6476 posts

Download the SBB app. Note that the app assumes you have the half-fare card, so double the prices as you're doing your research.
Enjoy this beautiful country!

Posted by
1745 posts

use sbb.ch

It's the official website of the Swiss rail system.

Posted by
79 posts

Thank you both so much for the quick replies. I do have the app and used it often when we were in the BO a couple of years ago. My dilemma is what do I choose as my end point destination if I’m going to go up a mountain beginning by boat, then cogwheel and cable? I cannot find a way to price all of that out.

Posted by
267 posts

Some mountains are 100% covered by the Saver Day Pass. Look at this
map here, select the Saver Day Pass option in the dropdown menu:

https://www.sbb.ch/en/tickets-offers/travelcards/area-validity-map.html

Make use of the ‘via’ option in the SBB app. Make sure it is selected in the advance
search option list.

Rigi

  • Luzern > via Vitznau > Rigi Kulm
  • This is 100% covered with a Saver Day Pass

For the very top of the mountain, sometimes you have to take a close look at the options SBB gives you, for example enter Stoos and see the list of options, one is:

Stoos

  • Luzern > Stoos SZ, Fronalpstock, Fronalpstock
  • Click on it to see the detailed journey. The final section is from Stoos Bergstat. (Luftseilb) by Sesselbahn to Fronalpstock meaning from the village of Stoos (Bertstat) to the top of Fronalpstock. You will see the icon of the Luftseilbahn for the first section and the chairlift icon for the final section.
  • Do the same for Stoos (Klingenstockbahn)

If all of this is too confusing, just look at the mountain website for schedules and use the SBB app to figure out your timing and route to Stoos.

Lake

  • 100% covered with Saver Day Pass

Titlis

  • Luzern > Titlis

  • Free travel to Engelberg with Day Pass, but no discount up the
    mountain.

  • You will see this on their website:

50%
* SBB half-fare travelcard / GA travelcard (excl. Daily Card and SBB travelpasses)*

Posted by
1022 posts

Stoos in terms of doing the hike or going up on the cable cars is not included in the SDP. This is one of the only times I’ve found SBB misleading. They do make it seem like it’s free when you look at the routing, but you have to buy a 58 chf ticket from Stoos to use the 2 cable cars that allow you to do the ridge hike from one to the other.

https://www.stoos.ch/de/pages/gipfel-erlebnisticket-sommer

Posted by
1022 posts

Let me start by saying your list is not very realistic in 3 days — Pilatus, Rigi, Stoos, Titlis, the lake and the actual city of Luzern is more than 3 days of activities, so you should account for that in your calculations, because I think you’ll need to remove 1 - Pilatus, Titlis or Stoos.

Your supplement tickets if you have SDP - with and without HFC
Stoos 44/56
Titlis 51/102
Pilatus 40/80

With the HFC you’re saving around 100 chf on these rides + maybe 50-60chf on the 3 day passes depending on when you get them? So that would only be 160 chf savings and you need to hit 240 chf in savings to break even with the HFC. However, you also have transportation in Switzerland to Luzern and then to the Italian border, so if you calculate that those 2 tickets (while in Switzerland) would cost you atleast 160 chf full fare / 80 chf with HFC, then you break even with the HFC.

Posted by
267 posts

Stoos in terms of doing the hike or going up on the cable cars is not included in the SDP. This is one of the only times I’ve found SBB misleading.

Good to know! I have edited my post accordingly.

Posted by
79 posts

Y’all are so helpful! I appreciate your information so very much. Thank you.
@ wanderweg—I should’ve clarified in my original post that those different excursions are only places to choose from during our 3 day stay, not all are definite destinations. I haven’t narrowed them down yet. Thanks for the advice.
Looks like I need to do some math. Yay. lol.
There’s a very big chance I’ll return with questions.