Hi all,
Does anyone know what the Glacier Express costs with a Swiss Pass vs a Eurail Pass? From what I've read on-line, it seems like the Swiss Pass covers it, and the Eurail Pass covers only part of it.
From Zermatt to Chur, it costs 104 SwF. There is also a 15-30 SwF "surcharge" applied regardless of how you got your ticket.
Thanks!
Andrew
Here is what Rick Steves says: www.ricksteves.com/rail/ausswitz.cfm.
I believe this is correct. We had a Swiss 1/2 fare card and we did pay 1/2 fare. The 104 Swiss Francs is correct. Yes there is a surcharge on the Glacier Express. We paid the 30 SF charge. This supposedly gets you into the nice observation cars with audio. The audio isn't worth it as it only comes on 3 times between Brig and Disentis for about 45 seconds each time. They call the Glacier Express a "fast train". It's a beautiful ride but it's anything but fast. It's a 5h30m journey from Zermatt to Chur. Fast refers to the fact that there are fewer stops. You only stop about 7-8 times througout the trip. Have fun. It's a great ride.
I've been doing a bit more checking. It seems that the Swiss Pass is good for almost any rail or cable car travel in Switzerland except for travel to the high mountains. For example, I think that you can get to Murren and Gimmelwald on the Swiss Pass but the gondola from there up to the Shilthorn, the Swiss pass gets you a 50% discount - not the full fare. Another example, I think the Swiss pass will get you to Wengen from Lauterbrunnen but from there up to the Jungfraujoch, it gets you a 50% discount. For the Glacier Express, it appears that the section between Brig and Disentis is yet another premium area. It also appears that that is what the 15-30SF reservation fee is for. At Brig, you switch to the cog train. As I said above, we've done the 1/2 fare card and not the Swiss Pass. Let's see if somebody who has done the Glacier Express with a Swiss Pass jumps in.
Thanks Tim, Larry for your replies.
I found this link also helpful:
http://www.ricksteves.com/rail/pdfs/07reservations.pdf
It states that the Eurail pass requires $58 on top of the reservation fee for Glacier Express.
The benefits of the Swiss pass seem quite compelling.
