Railpass VS Point-to-Point

Old Jul 6th, 2015, 10:53 AM
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Railpass VS Point-to-Point

Hello all,

I am in desperate need of some advice. I will traveling through Switzerland, France, Spain, & Italy in a couple months. I will mostly be in Switzerland and France though. I have looked at the Switzerland-France 6 Day pass which is $375, I have also looked up all of my routes for point to point and if I buy them in advance it is roughly the same price, but I will have to stick to a more rigid schedule. Here is my itinerary and a few of my questions.

Basel > Interlaken (round trip)
Basel > Luzern (round trip)
Basel > Paris (one way)
Flight to Nice
Nice > Aix-en (one way)
Aix-en > Nimes (one way)
Nimes > Barcelona (one way)
Flight to Florence

Question #1 - If I buy point to point tickets do they also count as my reservation?

Question #2 - Should I buy point to point tickets as soon as possible?

I have also looked at a 8 day Select Pass for these 4 countries. My concern is the reservations that go along with the pass. I don't want to spend tons of money on a pass that I still have to pay for reservations with. If anyone has any suggestions please let me know.

Thank you
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Old Jul 6th, 2015, 11:16 AM
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Which website(s) did you use to look up the cost of point to point tickets? I don't know about other countries but in France you'll need to also pay a reservation fee so you better check how much those cost and then you also need to know that seats are limited for pass holders, so if you are traveling on popular train routes during peak train times you may not get a seat. Point to point tickets will be cheapest if purchased up to 3 months in advance for most routes but some popular routes may go on sale 4 to 6 months in advance. Check out the website www.seat61.com for good info on rail travel in Europe.
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Old Jul 6th, 2015, 11:21 AM
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The 8-day railpass would not IMO be economic especially if you get discounted fares for trains involving France and Spain - at www.voyages-sncf.com - In Switzerland however some kind of Swiss Pass or the Swiss Transfer Ticket especially may be a good choice. Some great sites to explain all that are: www.swisstravelsystem.com; www.budgeteuropetravel.com and www.ricksteves.com.

Eurailpasses do not cover many things in Switzerland that a Swiss Pass or Swiss Transfer Ticket plus half-off Half-Fare card would - so think of some kind of Swiss pass and discounted tickets for trains involving France and Spain.

If you have the Swiss trains covered by some kind of Swiss Pass then even full-fare walk-up tickets for the others would be cheaper than a railpass. Oh you may look into the France-Spain railpass I guess as it comes also in 2nd class and covers only two countries it is significantly cheaper than a Eurail Pass.
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Old Jul 6th, 2015, 01:20 PM
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You'll probably want to get a reservation for the Basel-Paris segment assuming that is on a TGV-Lyria service.

Basel-Luzern and Basel-Interlaken you would not need any sort of seat reservation and probably couldn't get one anyway since those are not "named" trains and the itinerary occurs wholly within Switzerland.

You are correct that passes give much much more flexibility but you really need to use them a great deal before they become truly economical.
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Old Jul 6th, 2015, 01:27 PM
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Buying in advance from the national rail sites can make a huge difference in price on certain trains. I was just looking at buying a Swiss Transfer Pass, which would have covered Basel to Zurich and Zurich to the Italian border (headed for Como). However, while Basel to Zurich seems to be a flat 30 CHF, with no reduction for buying early, I was able to get Zurich to Como for 10 CHF including the reservation (admittedly that included an age reduction). Total 42 USD vs. 156 USD for the Transfer Pass.
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Old Jul 6th, 2015, 01:53 PM
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But the Transfer pass allows you to take any train and when arriving by plane that is nice and you can buy a half-off Half-Fare pass in conjunction with it and get 50% off on everything that moves - including the expensive Jungfraujoch Railway - that would about make the pass pay off in itself. You can of course buy a full-price Half-Fare Card too if you can get those in my understanding rather hard to get at times discounted Swiss tickets.

But good info - www.sbb.ch is the official site of the Swiss Railways for discounted tickets - many trains do not have the discounts but it seems ones to Italy and France do. What site did you book on?
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Old Jul 6th, 2015, 02:41 PM
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Basel > Interlaken (round trip)
Basel > Luzern (round trip)

If doing more travel once in Lucerne or Interlaken then investigate the Swiss Pass or the Berner Oberland Pass the latter includes Lucerne to Interlaken and many trains and gondolas in the Jungfrau Region - the latter is sold at local train stations.
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Old Jul 6th, 2015, 02:47 PM
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"What site did you book on?"

sbb.ch

It all depends on what you're doing. I'm spending the weekend in Zurich with maybe a day trip to St. Gallen or Konstanz. No point in a pass.
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Old Jul 6th, 2015, 02:56 PM
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To elaborate what FMT wrote, if you want to take a fast train in France using your rail pass, you have to buy a seat reservation costing 6 - 9 euros or more depending on your train. Each train allows a limited number of seats for pass holders. If you pick a busy route on a busy date, the seat reservations may be sold out before the day of travel. If it's a busy period, the seat reservations may be sold out for several days. So you'll have to plan at least a few days ahead of time to be safe.
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Old Jul 6th, 2015, 09:39 PM
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1. The cost of Swiss domestic tickets can be looked up at www.sbb.ch - they are fixed, and don't vary.

2. Basel - Paris varies like air fares, from just €25 including reservation at www.capitainetrain.com, Passholders pay a €20 or so reservation fee, have you added that to the calculations?

3. There are TGV trains Paris to Nice in 5h37 centre to centre, a lovely ride down the Rhone Valley with a section along the coast approaching Nice. Flying will waste 4 hours in total of grotty RER train to the airport, airport hassle, flight, then bus. Book a Paris-Nice train from €25 upwards at www.capitainetrain.com - choose an upstairs seat on these 186 mph double-decker trains for the best views.

4. Then use www.capitainetrain.com again for journeys in France and Nimes-Barcelona from €39.
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Old Jul 7th, 2015, 02:22 AM
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>>>covered Basel to Zurich and Zurich to the Italian border (headed for Como). However, while Basel to Zurich seems to be a flat 30 CHF, with no reduction for buying early, I was able to get Zurich to Como for 10 CHF including the reservation (admittedly that included an age reduction)>>Question #1 - If I buy point to point tickets do they also count as my reservation?>>Question #2 - Should I buy point to point tickets as soon as possible?
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Old Jul 7th, 2015, 02:57 AM
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For our recent trip to Switzerland, I looked into the Swiss Transfer Pass, but if I'm not mistaken it requires that you enter and leave Switzerland from the same entry point. This didn't suit us, because we left on a different route. If you want to arrive from France and leave towards Italy, that would be a problem.

We bought the Swiss Travel Pass, which cost us more than the single tickets would have, even though we also used it for museum entrances and for half price fare on a private mountain railway. However, the difference wasn't huge. It probably encouraged us to do a few things we might not have done otherwise, which can be positive (discovering a great museum) or negative (wasting time on activities that you wouldn't have done otherwise just to get your money's worth from the pass).

I can tell you for sure that in Italy, where I live, there's no pass that's worth the money. It would be virtually impossible to make a pass day pay off.
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Old Jul 7th, 2015, 05:33 AM
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" but if I'm not mistaken it requires that you enter and leave Switzerland from the same entry point"

My understanding is different, which is why I was looking at it.
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Old Jul 7th, 2015, 06:26 AM
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Here's what the Swiss Travel System says about the Swiss Transfer Ticket:

http://m.swisstravelsystem.com/en/ho...er-ticket.html

... It takes international guests from the airport or border railway station directly to your destination. And back again.

Maybe it's ambiguous, but that's where I got the impression that it was basically a round-trip ticket from A to B and back to A.

We couldn't have used it anyway because we entered to Lucerne and left from Lugano.
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Old Jul 7th, 2015, 08:42 AM
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I have asked about that and it seems that you do not have to go back to the same border point - come into say Geneva and leave from Brig - but things may have changed - the wording has always been like that and everytime I asked they said it did not have to be back to same point (asked RailEurope which is part owned by the Swiss Railways and originates these Swiss Transfer Tickets which I believe are only sold outside of Switzerland.

And the neat aspect is that you can buy a half-off Half-Fare Card in conjunction with the Swiss Transfer Ticket.
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Old Jul 7th, 2015, 11:13 AM
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See: http://www.seat61.com/Switzerland.ht...ansfer_tickets

Or, this is from Rick Steves:

"Your two trips don't have to be to or from the same places, but each direction must be completed in one calendar day by the fastest, most direct route (not a scenic detour). It covers the same train, bus, and boat travel as the Swiss Travel Pass (as long as it's along most direct route to/from the border), but doesn't include urban transit or museum admissions."
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Old Jul 7th, 2015, 02:56 PM
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Here's what sbb.ch says about the transfer ticket. It says most direct method and with a continuous line.

***Swiss Transfer Ticket.
The "Swiss Transfer Ticket" is the ideal ticket for short stays or winter holidays to one particular destination. It includes an outward and return journey between the Swiss border or airport and your destination station. The outward and return journey on your day of arrival/departure must be made using the most direct method possible, using only the train, lakeboat and bus routes marked with a continuous line in the "Swiss Travel System Area of Validity".

https://www.sbb.ch/content/dam/sbb/e...skarte-sts.pdf

Period of validity.

The "Swiss Transfer Ticket"is valid for a maximum of 1 month. The outward and return journeys must be completed within one day. Before travelling, the Card holder must enter the outward or return journey date in the relevant box. With an OnlineTicket, the outward and return journeys must be defined in advance.***
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Old Jul 8th, 2015, 10:19 AM
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Yes can do diferent entry and exits and the most direct route is vague as it should say fastest route which I think they mean by most direct - cannot use a sidelines or boats even if they are shorter - that's my take on it.
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