TRAIN COSTS ZURICH TO INTERLAKEN

DON'T SHOUT!

You can get prices on the Swiss Rail website, www.sbb.ch.

Looks like one way via Bern, 2nd class, is 63 CHF, per person.

There is also something called the Swiss transfer ticket, of 127 CHF (Adult, 2nd cl), which gives you two days of travel, first day from an airport or border crossing to your destination, second day from the same destination to another or the same airport or border crossing.

Can someone offer more information about Swiss transfer ticket. I am in a similar situation as ROSEMARY.

My group is traveling from Cinque Terre to Lauterbrunnen, via Milan. 2 days later we are taking the train from Lauterbrunnen to Zurich where we will spend the night before flying out the next day.

Does the Swiss transfer ticket make sense in this situation? Our planned train itinerary is Milan to Spiez, not a border town. Also we are taking the train into Zurich not the airport. Can the Swiss transfer ticket be used for 2 days of travel including portions in Italy? Can we buy pass in Europe? My plan was to buy passes as we needed them.

Matt

Matt, you can read about the Swiss Transfer Ticket here. I looks like you can only purchase it online from the Swiss Rail Ticket Shop.

"Can the Swiss transfer ticket be used for 2 days of travel including portions in Italy?".

Nice try. Pardon if I sound a little sarcastic, but what part of "Swiss" don't you understand. It is for travel IN Switzerland.

The map of validity does show that the route between Lugano and Brig, which is mostly outside Switzerland (in Italy) and goes through Domodossola, is a valid stretch but I don't know if you can start using the pass at Domodossola (or Simplon). However, it looks like you could go north out of Milan and start using the pass at Chiasso, then go from Locarno to Brig. It's probably shorter from Milan to Chiasso than from Milan to Domodossola, since that isn't covered by the Transfer Ticket and you'll have to buy that separately. It says you have to go by the most direct way. I think Chiasso to Brig to Spiez to Interlaken might fit that requirement.

As for ending at Zürich HB instead of at the airport, the train from Interlaken goes through Zürich HB on the way to the airport. I don't think anyone would keep you from getting off at the Hauptbahnhof. Of course you would have to get new tickets for the HB to the airport the next day.

You can ask these questions by email. Go to www.sbb.ch and click on "kontakt".

Actually, the Swiss pass (or Transfer Ticket) does cover some stations outside the borders of Switzerland. Coming from Milan, for example, coverage kicks in at Domodossola.

I'm not sure how Luguan enters into the pictur. The most direct route from Milan to Lauterbrunnen goes via Brigh, Spiez, and Interlaken Ost. This route is much faster (3.5 to 4.0 hours) than the longer route via Chiasso, Lugano, and Luzern.

A Transfer Ticket might work well for Matt's group, depending on the cost of tickets Domodossola---Lauterbrunnen and lauterbrunnen---Zürich. I didn't check but he can on www.rail.ch. You cannot buy that ticket in Switzerland but you can buy it from Rick's railpass shop.