My wife and I will spend a week in Switzerland in Sept. and are weighing train vs. car. We will also spend some time in France and will definitely use a car there. Any recommendations on traveling the Swiss portion?
Posted by
New Paltz, NY
9110 posts
Train is the way to do it in Switzerland. Not only do trains serve large cities, but the also connect rural area and small towns. It's got the best public transit system in the world. Click the "railpasses" tab above to compare the various Swiss Passes.
Posted by
Michigan, USA
162 posts
If it makes sense to your itinerary then do a bit of both. We did this last year when we picked up a rental car in Geneva , used it in the French alps, a day trip into Italy and over the Grand St Bernard pass from Chamonix, and for a couple of days in western Switzerland before dropping the car in Interlaken. Then we used the fabulous Swiss trains for the rest of our trip. It was the best of both worlds. The car gave us the freedom to see way more in some areas than we could have with the trains. In the BO area of Switzerland the car would have been a complete waste. The key to making it afordable is not paying a drop fee to leave the car in another country.
Posted by
Elk Grove, CA, USA
6898 posts
Switzerland has more miles of train tracks per citizen than any country on the planet. The trains and cable systems get you to places no car can reach. Then, there's the postal bus system that works in coordination with the train system. There is really no place in Switzerland that can't be reached by train, cable way, boat or bus. It's a great public transit system. And, you don't know what "on time" really means until you ride the Swiss transit systems.