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What to do what to do....

Posted by on

First let me apologize if this information is already out there somewhere. It is quite overwhelming since there is so much information on this forum. We (two adults) are traveling to Lyon France June 30-July 9th. We would like to explore Switzerland for the remainder of our trip which will be July 9-13/14th 2019. We haven't purchased our airline tickets yet but thought we would do round trip from Austin TX to Lyon. I have searched one way tickets from different destinations and they are quite pricey. I have been researching the different rail passes and we are leaning towards a global pass since we are interested in the scenic train rides in Switzerland (and possibly boat rides) and may use it while we are in Lyon for day trips. We are not so much into hiking, more site seeing and exploring the culture. I am looking for any suggestions any of you may have for those 4-5 days we have to work with. I looked at the itineraries on this site and I have read that the Glacier Express is the most scenic but since we are most likely coming through Geneva, there may be a better itinerary.

Give me what you've got. Thanks so much!

Posted by
6462 posts

Look into Luzern, Switzerland. It's a lovely smaller town in the mountains on a river with charming bridges and a huge lake. You can take a trip up to one of Rigi or Pilatus for lovely views. No hiking involved.

Posted by
1230 posts

I would compare individual train tickets for your imagined trips to the global pass. When I did this for our trips, the passes always lose. For plane tickets, if you have any flexibility, look at tickets from Houston or even Dallas, and maybe look at Geneva as a destination (see how it compares), and then maybe you could do some kind of loop, or back and forth on trains that is cheaper than a multi-city plane ticket. Of course, when your time is very specific and circumscribed, playing around with these things is less possible, so may not work for you. In our case, we use flexibility to craft an itinerary that is the most cost conscious, because we hope to travel every year ;p

Posted by
8889 posts

Yes, look into Open Jaw tickets, flying back from Zürich or Geneva. That will be more efficient than doubling back to Lyon.
Since your only rail trip in France is Lyon to the Swiss border, no way a pass for France would be a good idea. A Pass for Switzerland may be a good idea. There are 3 options for rail tickets in Switzerland:

Ar for location, a good base is Luzern - small city + lake + nearby mountains
Or Jungfrau Region (Mürren, Wengen, Lauterbrunnen or Grindelwald) - Up close and personal with mountains
"We are not so much into hiking, more site seeing and exploring the culture." - That implies Luzern, with a day trip by train to Bern, boat trips on the lake.

Look up Train times and fares on the SBB (Swiss Railways) website: https://www.sbb.ch/en

Posted by
16895 posts

"may use it while we are in Lyon for day trips"
This is something you'll want to plan and estimate out, if you're thinking of using pass days to cover more trains within France. In fact, do more planning for all of the trip destinations before worrying about which pass best fits the plan.

New 2019 prices for the Eurail Global pass do make it reasonable to use for just two countries, but the Swiss Travel Pass covers more within Switzerland, so that's still usually first choice for a Swiss-focused trip.

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