Hi friends,
I am travelling to Switzerland with my family ( 2 kids ) for 10 days from 25/10/2012 covering Zurich, Chur, Zermatt, Interlaken and Lucrne. I have already purchased Swiss pass for myself and wife and family card for my children. I have to following doubts which i liked to be cleared in this forum.
1) The swiss pass i received through courier doesn't have any names. Should I activate the passes by again contacting railways? If yes how and where ?
2) Like to get mobile sim card amd sim for my Ipad in zurich airport. How and which is best for using for 10 days only? Address what shall i give?
3) Can i send my luggage from zermatt railway station to Interlaken station, but we will proceed to Chillon castle and collect the luggage in interlaken in the evening?
4) Can we get lockers in railway station Montreux? If yes any size restrictions?
Thanks
switzerland tour
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Hi milanchelian,
3) Yes. If you check your luggage before 09.00 in Zermatt, you can pick it up after 18.00 in Interlaken. Here's the information from the SBB website:
http://www.sbb.ch/en/station-services/services/baggage/fast-baggage.html
Be sure to download the pdf so you can see which stations are valid.
Between your departure from Zermatt and your arrival in Interlaken, it really doesn't matter where you go or how often you stop. So, yes, you can make a stop in Montreux and see Chillon if you like.
However, you should be aware that the baggage office closes at Interlaken Ost at 18.30; if you arrive after that, you'll have to pick up your bag the next day. So, you have that 30-minute window between 18.00 and 18.30 to pick up your bag. Here's the site showing the Interlaken Ost station facilities:
http://www.sbb.ch/en/station-services/am-bahnhof/railway-stations/bahnhof-finden.posid.7492.html
4) Yes, there are lots of luggage lockers at the Montreux station. Here's a site to see the facilities/equipment of the Montreux station:
http://www.sbb.ch/en/station-services/am-bahnhof/railway-stations/bahnhof-finden.posid.1300.html
Click on "Equipment" to see the size of the lockers.
Have fun!
s
Wow great information Swandav2000. Thanks a lot
1) The swiss pass i received through courier doesn't have any names. Should I activate the passes by again contacting railways? If yes how and where ??
The rule is I believe written on your pass conditions somewhere - the pass has to be activated once in Switzerland by a railway official - so you must take the passes up to any train station counter and show passports matching names and they will activate it for the time period - you should write the names of each person on before hand using the official passport name.
If coming on a train from outside Switzerland into the country then the conductor can activate the pass at the border so you do not have to get off the train - otherwise you must go to a ticket window to activate the pass - conductors no longer will do it on the train (and many trains may not even have conductors on them!)
For loads of great info on Swiss trains including answers to those questions I always spotlight these IMO fantastic sites - www.swisstravelsystem.com; www.budgeteuropetravel.com and www.ricksteves.com.
TNX PalenQ for useful information
I just bought my SIM card in Switzerland from Swisscom on a different deal, but here's a good one that another poster gave me after I bought mine:
http://www.swisscom.ch/en/residential/internet/internet-on-the-move/swisscom-pocket-connect.html
Should I activate the passes by again contacting railways? If yes how and where ?>
Too late now but you can often have a pass pre-activated by the issuing agency but this is not advised because once validated the pass is no longer refundable in case something happens. Until activation passes can be refunded often for up to one year for a 15-20% cancellation fee.
so just take it to the train station in the Swiss airport you will be landing at - may have to wait in line a bit but only way to do it. Get on a train without a valid pass and you may be considered to be riding without a valid ticket and fined plus having to buy a ticket or use of day on you pass as well (as happened to someone in Germany - pass was not validated - conductor sold him the regular fare ticket and also punched away one of the days on his pass simply because he had not validated it beforehand.