Swiss trains

VPS

VPS

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This is a bit of a follow up of something I posted about Swiss trains which prompted a bit of a conversation with @p--and--t so thought I would put some of the info a thread so others could either add things or ask more questions.


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Switzerland By Train

Travel Switzerland with a Eurail pass! Discover trains, routes, and the best places to visit in Switzerland. Plan your trip with Eurail!
www.eurail.com www.eurail.com

I always find the man in Seat 61 has excellent explanations on trains in Europe

Train travel in Switzerland | Swiss Travel Passes explained

A beginner's guide to train travel in Switzerland, with Swiss train tickets & Swiss Travel Passes explained.
www.seat61.com

Beginner's guide to Eurail passes | Buy a Eurail pass online

A guide to using a Eurail pass to explore Europe by train. Is a Eurail pass cheaper than point to point tickets? Which Eurail pass to buy? When do you need to make reservations with a Eurail pass? How to make Eurail reservations & what do they cost?
www.seat61.com
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One of the queries was whether you get discounts on Swiss trains with a Eurail pass

Yes, you can use a Eurail Global Pass on Swiss railways:
  • Unlimited travel
    Travel on most railway lines, including high-speed, night, and scenic trains
  • Discounts
    Receive a 50% discount on some lake excursions and a 25% discount on some mountain excursions
 
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Here is a map of the Swiss train map. I did the Bernina Express and the Glacier Express

Bernina Express - Rhaetian Railway RhB from Tirano to Chur - I stayed here in Chur Startseite It was basic but spotless and a good breakfast and only a short walk to the train station. They still send me an email every birthday offering me a free cake next time I'm in Chur


Discover the Swiss Alps: A Unique Glacier Express Journey I did the Glacier express from Chur to Zermatt but then caught the train back to Visp to stay because i didn't want to donate a kidney to stay there


Swiss train map .png
 
I'm combining experiences from two different trips here - the Glacier and Bernina were standalone tickets.

When you buy the Eurail pass you download the app and can add any trip straight onto there and it's very easy. I chose 22 days straight in 1st Class. I think there were only two occasions where you had to book and that wasn't as easy on the app as it could have been but adding train journeys was very easy but note you can not add a journey in the past.

Going first class meant there were fewer people in the carriage but second class was often very busy.
 
On a second trip I did the train from Zurich to Luzern then Interlaken with a side trip up the Schilthorn through Grindlewald and Lauterbrunnen. then to Annecy.

The train from Geneva to Montreux via Lausanne is beautiful scenery
 
There is a program on SBS on Sunday night about Swiss trains or you can watch on demand

www.sbs.com.au

Magical Train Journeys In Switzerland

Explores Switzerland's most fascinating landscapes through railways. From vineyards to lakes to the most beautiful alpine valleys, breathtaking panoramas from train windows and wondrous insights into the country and its people.
www.sbs.com.au www.sbs.com.au
 
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Interesting thread as I’ve just spent 4 months in Switzerland (working) but except for a few weekends away I caught trains every day I was there, between commuting and (mainly weekend) sightseeing. Also be happy to share some thoughts when I get some time.

VPS said:
I did the Glacier express from Chur to Zermatt but then caught the train back to Visp to stay because i didn't want to donate a kidney to stay these
Click to expand...

Is that all, just a kidney?

We stayed in Tasch which is just one stop/12-15mins from Zermatt, and it was definitely affordable although It was off peak so may be different during peak. It was probably <1/3 cost of Zermatt accommodation. Because it has the carpark people use when traveling to Zermatt it also has a shuttle train service that runs every 20 mins for most of the day and even has hourly service overnight on Th/F/S nights.
 
On the Glacier Express, after doing some research I decided not to do this journey on the Glacier Express train, but instead did the Chur-Brig part of the route on local trains that don’t require reservations (noting that had already done St Moritz-Chur some years earlier and Brig-Zermatt a few weeks earlier.

The reason I chose local trains were several:
- flexibility in case of inclement weather.
- ability to stop enroute without having to make different reservations
- fewer people on board. Several reviews by individual travellers who didnt enjoy being stuck in a carriage with a large tour group. This risk alone was enough to dissuade me!

The downside was no panorama windows, but the windows are large anyway and we made up for this by swapping from one side of the train to the other according the best view (as train wasn’t crowded).

It worked well as initially were facing some cloudier weather but forecast suggested it would lift in an hour - so we stopped for an hour enroute (at a small town called Sedrun) - explored there and bought some lunch. The weather cleared by the time we resumed the journey.

Later we stopped at Andermatt and took a 15-20 min walk to visit a nearby canyon/ the “Devils Bridge”.

Then the highlight was stopping at Fiesch (which is not a stop on the Glacier Express train, it just passes through) and taking 2 cable cars from there to Eggishorn viewpoint overlooking the impressive Aletsch Glacier. Would have missed this completely just doing the tourist train, and although the scenery along the train journey was impressive this view was at a whole other level.
 
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Very timely thread as I've got 5 days out of Zurich in February. Would love to train hop but my word it's expensive! With 3 people it's going to be cheaper for us to rent a car than to buy 2 day passes.
 
One other piece of general advice - another option is to buy the Swiss Half Fare Card. For those without a Swiss address it lasts for a month (for 120 CHF), those with access to an address in Switzerland a year (for 190 CHF).

Depending on time of year and day of week and how far in advance you book you can the get saver day passes for as little as 29 CHF using the half fare card.

It also offers 50pc discounts on most mountain transport (which regular saver day passes do not, but Swiss Travel Passes do ).

It also may be economic to use even with a Eurail Pass, depending on which mountain excursions taken (offering 50pc discount vs. Eurail which offers 25pc or no discount depending on the specific excursion), and non-train transport (buses, ferries, trams).

As an example, I had Eurail pass that got me to Zermatt. But it didn’t offer any discount for the Gornergrat railway or the Glacier Paradise. Between the two excursions I saved almost 100 CHF using the Half Fare Card (noting Swiss Travel Pass also offer these discounts).
 
We have done a lot of train travel in Switzerland including the GE and Bernina many times and there are just so many ways to do it. Our last time there in March we did the same day Bernina return trip which was good fun. We have always used the Swisspass option in first and must admit I’ve never looked at the Eurail option but maybe it’s something I’ll consider next time which will likely be July next year
 
I just found out in another thread that if you have a first class ticket that you are able to use some lounges in the stations. I'm not sure that I ever really needed them but I consider a travel mistake if I bought a bottle of water and could have had one for free in the lounge

He was talking about a lounge in Salzburg in Austria so not exactly Switzerland
 
VPS said:
I just found out in another thread that if you have a first class ticket that you are able to use some lounges in the stations. I'm not sure that I ever really needed them but I consider a travel mistake if I bought a bottle of water and could have had one for free in the lounge

He was talking about a lounge in Salzburg in Austria so not exactly Switzerland
Click to expand...
There were lounges at Geneva and Zurich stations but they closed well before Covid
 
Some excellent info on Swiss trains in this thread

J

Post in thread 'To Europe via Manila'

A week in Switzerland on public transport

Intro
As mentioned in my initial post I planned to spend a week with family in Switzerland, as I grew up there, am a citizen and speak the language I don't consider my self a traditional tourist so I didn't get up to typical touristy things and didn't stay in any hotels but still wanted to write a segment on train tickets and some of the day trips I did prior to concluding my travels in Montreux and Geneva ahead of my flight home from Geneva.

For reference I was staying in the city of Winterthur in the german speaking Canton of...
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An interesting article in the UK times about Swiss trains

Digital Subscriptions | Subscribe to The Times of London - a pound a month to subscribe - hint use a disposable card because you have to call to cancel but if you do they just keep offering it to you at the same price

www.thetimes.com

This is the best country in the world for rail travel

Our writer makes tracks for Switzerland, and discover the joys of riding the lines on an immersive, visually stunning — and more importantly, smooth — holiday
www.thetimes.com www.thetimes.com
 

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