I will be travelling in Switzerland in August on a three country five day Eurorail Select Pass. RS has mentioned that with a Eurorail pass you can receive half fares on Swiss rail and cable cars. But does the half price deal work with the Select Pass the same way as with a full Eurorail Pass?
Posted by
Elk Grove, CA, USA
6898 posts
I'm not sure about how the Eurail 50% discount works in some areas of Switzerland but in the Lauterbrunnen Valley (Lauterbrunnen, Wengen, Gimmelwald, Muerren and the tops of the Jungfrau and Schilthorn), the discount is only 25%. I posed this question to the Swiss train site (www.sbb.ch) and that was their response.
Posted by
Lakewood, Colorado
19095 posts
There is some information about passholder bonuses at www.eurail.com.
Posted by
jasper, il, usa
64 posts
we were in lauterbrunnen last week. the eurail pass gets you 25% on the local trains and the gondolas. depending on where you're traveling you might look into a swiss rail pass instead. much better overall discounts ( many locals are included) than compared to the eurail pass.
Posted by
OP
Toronto, ON, Canada
29 posts
Mick,
We will be in Murren for three full days. Is a Swissrail pass worth our while? We do want to travel a bit (gondolas up the mountains etc), but will we get value in so short a time period?
Posted by
Elk Grove, CA, USA
6898 posts
Don, the retail cost of a roundtrip per person up to the Jungfraujoch is $177. For the Schilthorn, it's $91. It is so worth going up there. We really enjoyed the whole experience. For the Jungfraujoch, it's 2hrs up by cog train with a change at Kleine Scheidegg and 2nrs back down. Thus, you have to factor that in.
As for passes, I really appreciate Mick validating what I have been posting for awhile. If you have a Eurail pass, it will only get you a 25% discount in the Lauterbrunnen Valley which includes Wengen, Gimmelwald, Muerren and the mountain tops. With a Swiss 1/2 fare card, which you can purchase for CHF99 (good for 30 days), you get a 50% discount on all transportation in Switzerland. A roundtrip to the Jungfraujoch will just about pay for it. If you get this pass as you enter Switzerland, it will be a good value. If you don't go to the mountain tops, perhaps not for just a 3-day stay.
Posted by
Charlotte, NC, USA
95 posts
Don,
I don't know what other 2 countries you are going to, or if you've bought the pass already, but definitely look into the Swiss Pass. We stayed in Lauterbrunnen for 4 days recently and I had done the math ahead of time. With perfect weather, we would have about broken even on buying the pass as we would have stayed in the valley and ridden all the gondolas covered by the pass and also had our travel from the border to Laut. covered, travel to Bern to leave Switzerland plus the Jungfrau discount.
As it was, the weather did not cooperate so we couldn't take advantage of all the gondola rides covered. We did use the Jungfrau discount, and it was nice having the Interlaken/Laut leg covered for our multiple rides back and forth. Plus we made an unexpected day trip to Lucerne so we really came out ahead on the cost after that.
Posted by
OP
Toronto, ON, Canada
29 posts
Michael,
Thank you for the advice. We were going to buy our Eurail pass this week. The three countries are Italy, France, and Switzerland. I am a bit confused. I am understanding from the exchange of emails that I should buy a Swiss rail pass on top of the Eurail pass? Is that correct? I am traveling with my wife and 2 daughters (ages 14 and 12) Is the CHF 99 charge the same for all of us?
Posted by
Elk Grove, CA, USA
6898 posts
Don, I would suggest not buying the Eurail pass for Switzerland and instead buying an authentic Swiss pass from either Rick Steve's or the Swiss. This kind of puts a hole in your 3-country Eurail pass but as I've pointed out above, a Eurail pass will only get you a 25% discount in any part of the Lauterbrunnen Valley (see above posting). It's probably not worth buying any kind of a Swiss pass on top of your Eurail pass.