Point-to-point tickets or 3-country Eurail pass?

Posted by Patricia (Chicago, IL, United States) on 07/24/10 08:06 AM

Hello!

We'll be leaving on our honeymoon in about a month and we're struggling to understand what would be the most cost effective option for rail travel. Our travel itinerary is as follows:

Sept 2: Travel from Paris to Lauterbrunnen, Switzerland (via Basel)
Sept 4: Travel from Lauterbrunnen to Siena, Italy (via Milan)
Sept 6: Travel from Siena to Cinque Terre (La Spezia)
Sept 10: Travel from Cinque Terre to Venice
Sept 13: Travel from Venice to Milan

It seems that the 3-country Eurail pass (5 days of travel) is a cheaper option, but we're not sure which of the above would require reservation fees (for example we know that the first leg of the Paris -> Lauterbrunnen is on TGV). Plus we also hear that if you have a fixed itinerary, single ticket purchases are usually the best option, and the Eurail pass is best for those who are not on a fixed schedule.

Does anybody with experience have some feedback on what would be the most cost effective and convenient way to book travel for our itinerary?

Thank you!!!

Posted by Lola

Seattle, WA

07/24/10 09:43 AM

17435 posts

It's complicated, but the answer in part depends on whether you want to travel first class and what you plan to do in Switzerland (i.e, if you plan to take one of the mountain excursions like Jungfraujoch or Schilthorn).

It looks like the 3-country select/saver pass is $346. Add $18 for s/h. They are available in 1st class only, and as you say you will have to add reservation fees.

You can get advance-fare discount tickets on the Paris-Basel TGV from the Swiss rail site, www.rail.ch. The discount tickets are 83/128 CHF (2d/1st class) instead of 140/230 CHF. Reservation is included.

Fare from Basel to LB is 62 CHF in 2d class (fine for Switzerland and part of the route doesn't even have 1t class cars).

Similarly, from LB to Milan you can get a discount fare of 72 CHF. This is going via the Luzern route, which takes a bit longer. This is the Zurich to Milan run via Lugano, and it is quite scenic---we were on that train several weeks ago, using the discount tickets and it was great. SBB doesn't offer similar discounts on the other route to Milan, via Brig/Visp. I don't know what the regular fare is to Milan on that route, but it is 58 CHF as far as Domodossola.

These discounted tickets are for travel to a city outside Switzerland, and don't discount the section within Switzerland much. You can reduce that by buying a Half Fare Card for 99 CHF (each), but that would be worth it ONLY if you are going up the Jungfrau, Schilthorn, or other mountain excursion.

Posted by Lola

Seattle, WA

07/24/10 09:49 AM

17435 posts

Continuing:

You can get discount fares on your Italian trains by buying a week in advance, but as you are arriving in Italy on the 4th that will only work for the Venice to Milan portion. Check the prices of your trips on the Trenitalia site. We found train travel within Italy to be quite inexpensive using PTP tickets, although the fast ES trains are more expensive.

Within Italy you can often avoid the reservation fee by riding the regional trains instead of IC or ES trains---but these are slower.

Since it's your honeymoon, I'd suggest goingwith what i most convenient and pleasant. We found the advance-purchase tickets to be perfect for us, eliminating stress about getting the tickets on the day of travel.

If you do buy the discount tickets from SBB, make sure there is a way for you to pick them up in Paris---they give you a confirmation code and we picked ours up in Zurich. Make sure you can get them at a Paris station. You can email SBB and ask about this if it is not clear from the ticket conditions page. They are very good about responding to email questions.

Posted by Lola

Seattle, WA

07/24/10 11:17 AM

17435 posts

One more thing----your day fr0m Lauterbrunnen to Siena is a long one---8 or more hours with 4 to 6 train changes. You might want to take a look at the schedules now and think about how you want to do that. An early departure from LB can get you to Siena in late afternoon, or you could leave later and arrive early evening.

Check both the SBB and Trenitalia sites for schedules, and you'll notice something interesting. Trains from Milan to Florence (where you change for Siena) depart at 11:15, 12:15, etc. and arrive at Firenze SMN 1:45 later, so at 13:00, 14:00, etc. The Trenitalia site will show you connecting to a train for Siena that departs 10 minutes later. The Swiss website does't trust that the train from Milan will arrive in Florence in time to catch that one, so they show a connection an hour later.

Just one of those things that makes train travel interesting. The good news is that that train to Siena is a regional train with no reservations, so you don't have to commit to a particular one. Maybe you'll arrive in time to catch the one leaving at ten after the hour, or maybe you'll miss it and have to wait an hour. Just be sure and stamp your ticket before boarding.

Whether you are buying tickets or just making reservations to use with your pass, you can do that in Lauterbrunnen all the way to Siena. I would do it the day you get to Lauterbrunnen. You can also book those tickets on the SBB website.

Either way, you want the fast (ES) train from Milan to Florence. the IC train take 3.5 hours, or almost 2 hours longer. The difference in price (almost double) is well worth it for this section.