sth12

We're leaving for Zurich in about a week and after crunching all the numbers I think we'll be buying a Swiss Saver Pass. This might be a dumb question, but once I've bought the pass, what happens next?

Do you present the pass at the ticket counter before each trip and get an ticket & itinerary printed out? Do you just get on the train without a ticket and show your pass if asked? It would obviously be helpful to have an itinerary with platform numbers, departure times, etc. but I'm not sure what the procedure is.

indiancouple

Before your first journey, you are required to go to the Rail Center Office at any Swiss rail station and get your pass validated. Once your pass is validated, you do not need any ticket. You just board whichever train you want, and show your pass to the conductor.

For itinerary, schedules, timings, platform numbers etc , please refer to sbb.ch ; it will give you complete details.

Please also realize that for mountain lifts and certain special journeys (e.g. to Jungfraujoch etc), your pass only gives a 50% or 25% discount. So for those journeys only, you need to purchase a ticket before boarding.

DalaiLlama

indiancouple gave you correct info. Just one addition: When you go to validate your pass before using it for the first time, have your passport with you, you may have to show it. (That's for those who leave it in the hotel safe).

Have you seen the info on the wiss Pass and Swiss Flexi Pass as issued by the Swiss Railways (as opposed by the Eurail consortium)? Here goes:

http://www.swisstravelsystem.ch/en/c...offer/tickets/

sth12

Thanks for the info. I understand that I can find platform info, etc. on sbb.ch, but I don't expect to have internet access while traveling and our plans are not set in stone. Can I get an itinerary at the ticket office if I request one?

DalaiLlama

Sure, and they have pamphlets for specific routes, like a booklet for all Geneva-Bern-Zürich connections etc. excerpted from the big timetables, so look for them.

It is also easy to look up the timetables that are posted on walls in stations - take a minute to learn how to decipher them efficiently.

The upcoming trains are always displayed on the big overhead boards in central concourses of big stations, and in the underpasses that lead to the individual platforms, and on the platforms themselves - there is never a doubt as to where to go to meet a train.

Things are much easier in Switzerland than in France or Italy for example - there are no restrictions about going onto platforms (called Perrons or Bahnsteig), with or without a ticket.

Tracks are called Gleis or Geleise.

There are no compulsory seat reservations (except on trains that are heading for France and Italy if your ticket takes you there, because those countries require the seat reservations), so you sit wherever you like within the class you bought. (First-class tickets allows you to sit in second class if you wish, but not the other way around of course).

While you wait for a train on a platform (if it is a major train, not a local), look at the train-composition displays on yellow posters or on train mockups in glass cases, and figure out where your class will be.

Above the platform you see big letters A, B, C, D, sometimes E.

You will hear announcements in three languages, something like "On platform 2 arrival of the InterCity train for Geneva via Bern and Lausanne, departure 11:34. First class sector A, wagon-restaurant Sector B, second class Sectors C and D."

If you have a second-class ticket (nothing "second class" about second class, it is very nice), go wait beneath the letters C or D.

There are no proper lines forming for the doors - people sort of throng around them, leaving space for those who exit, then it's a give-and-take action when they get on, looks chaotic but it just simply works that way, you'll see.

When you approach the station where you get off, get your stuff together and move towards the doors before the train stops, or at least be ready to make your move as soon as it stops, people expect you to get off swiftly and step aside so they can get on. Trains only stop for a minute or so, unless it is the end of a line.

yk

If you want to take the Glacier Express or the Bernina Express (both the train and the Tirano->Lugano bus), you need to have a seat reservation (extra fee). You cannot get on a Glacier Express/Bernina Express train without a prior seat reservation, though you can probably request that at the station you'll be boarding from, but those trains *can* be fully booked already.

DalaiLlama

Right, yk helps me out by mentioning those specialty trains - I should have said "regular trains" don't require seat reservations. There is alway an exception, and there are other such specialty trains like the GoldenPass (Montreux-Oberland), and the Palm Express postal bus from Montreux along the lake Como to Lugano, and probably a few others that are not SBB/CFF (the Federal Railways) but semi-private etc. And it's those specialty trains where your pass may not be valid, or not in full.

yk

P.S. While I'm not a Rick Steves fan, I thought his "Swiss Rail Journeys" page has good info regarding the various scenic routes, as well as the basic stuff (ie, is it free with Swiss Pass, or need reservations etc):
http://www.ricksteves.com/plan/desti...srailjourn.htm

PalenQ

For loads of great info on such questions as you pose on Swiss passes/trains i not only endorse yk's advice about ricksteves.com but also these two other sights that are similarly info-laden about Swiss trains - www.seat61.com and www.budgeteuropetravel.com - actually the later you can call with any questions and IME of buying passes thru them for years, will answer any such questions as you pose whether you are buying anything from them or not - Byron there is an absolute expert on Swiss trains/passes.

And to possibly correct DalaiLlama, who is usually IME a font of expert knowledge about Swiss trains, buses, etc but when he/she/it says >the Palm Express postal bus from Montreux along the lake Como to Lugano> should indeed be from St Moritz and not Montreux, miles and miles away in western Switzerland.

DalaiLlama

Oops, yes indeed, must have still had the GoldenPass rattling around in my brain (and believe you me, that's painful) when I typed Montreux instead of St. Moritz. Thanks, PalenQ!

swandav2000

Hi sth12,

I'll add some information to the good info above --

I always print out my train schedule, including track numbers, ahead of time. I use a 3x5 card for each likely trip, and if I decide to take it, I just grab that card. It's unlikely that anything will change, but it's quick and easy to check for changes as DalaiLalma says.

About those scenic trains -- both the Bernina Express and the Golden Pass routes do NOT necessarily require reservations. There are many trains that go over the very same tracks, and of course the regular trains do not require reservations. It is only the designated "scenic" trains or coaches with larger windows that may require reservations. Locals travel on the routes all the time. In addition, on the GP anyway, there are always a few coaches added onto the designated "scenic" train for locals to travel, and these don't require reservations either.

When I did the BE, I took the "scenic" train one way with reservations and returned on a regular train without any reservations. And I often stay in towns on the GP route, and never use reservations for my frequent travels there.

Have fun!

s

PalenQ

In addition, on the GP anyway, there are always a few coaches added onto the designated "scenic" train for locals to travel, and these don't require reservations either.>

and on the Interlaken-Ost to Lucerne segment of the official Golden Pass special scenic train i have been told several times in Interlaken that reservations are option even in the vaunted domed Observation or Panoramic car - they are advised in affluent periods to be guaranteed a place but with a railpass you can just jump in one of the ballyhooed observation cars if seats are empty and the times i have oogled these trains in Interlaken-Ost there always has been ample empty seats.

PalenQ

Do you just get on the train without a ticket and show your pass if asked?>

Well yes as others have splained above - but in Switzerland many train cars will have a picture of a huge black eyeball and eye on a yellow background - meaning that those trains are on the honor system - you will ordinarily see no conductors nor be asked to show your pass. But there are indeed spot checks to nab miscreants with stiff fines so if using a flexipass have the date always filled in before you get on the train or at least when the train starts rolling!

PalenQ

IME quite a few Americans with railpasses often do not write the date in on their flexipasses and just think the conductor will do that - and then there are those who would take a chance to gain an extra day by purposefully not filling in the date until they see a conductor coming - this is obviously possible on honor system trains - sit in the middle of the car so not be surprised - but i certainly do not condone this type of theft but it does happen

For whatever the reason i am always surprised at how many just do not fill in their flexible day - and often the conductor lets them slide for being naive tourists - but there are other conductors that will not let you slide and slap a steep fine on you - actually the conditions of use means you could even have your pass confiscated.

So fill the flexible date in between boarding the train as the rules require IMO - consecutive-day passes obviously do not need to have anything done from get go to get gone - just flash to conductor if asked.