Does Swiss Pass Covers Tirano to Zurich 100%?
 

I'm planning a trip to Switzerland and Munich probably May 2012. My plan is to fly to Milan and take the train from Tirano to Zurich via Bernina Pass which I am dying to see. I have been reading the post about Swiss Passes and I'm still not sure about it. If I take the Swiss Saver Flexi Pass for 4 days and use it for the Bernina Pass trip, is it covered 100% or I still have to pay extra? When I log it in, it only shows the price with half fare card discount. We'll be staying for 5 days in Switzerland and then to Munich. Here's my planned itirenary.
2 days Milan (doesn't need more than that. Main reason is to go to Tirano)
1 day travel from Tirano to Zurich via Bernina Pass.
2 Full days in Lucerne ( planning on a boat ride only. Not going to the mountain since gondola ride is too much for us.. fear of heights)
2 Full days in Zurich
Zurich to Munich for 5 days with Day trips to Fussen and Salzburg using the Bayern tickets.

Does the train from Zurich to Munich also covered by Flexi Saver pass 100% or I still have to pay extra? It also shows half fare card discount. Is point to point fare better than the flexi pass for this itirenary? I did the math already but wasn't sure about the 100 % coverage for both trip. We are not into hiking but appreciates beautiful scenery. Any advice that you can offer will be greatly appreciated. Thanks./

Hi Slgnacio80,

Tirano is in Italy, so the Swiss Pass won't cover the trip from the beginning. I believe the first stop in Switzerland is at Le Prese, so you'll have to pay the portion from Tirano to there -- probably won't be much.

the same is true for the trip from Zürich to Múnchen -- the Swiss Pass will only cover the portion of the trip that is in Switzerland. You'll have to pay separately for the part from the German border to Múnchen, and that may be a different town depending on the route you take.

Good luck as you nail it down!

s

There is an SBB Synoptic Map showing exactly where it is covered.

http://swiss.swisstravelsystem.com/d...tskarte_en.pdf

If it is solid red,yellow,black, or white line, it is 100% covered. Gray lines are not covered.
The map has ambiguities. Where there is a tunnel, the line is broken, but it is still covered.

Compare:

<b>Goppenstein-Kandersteg</b> broken dash lines, 100% covered. The map is just showing tunnels. I rode this section in August. I did not have to pay extra with a Swisspass.

<b>Zermatt-Gornergrat</b> dotted line. Discounts only.

I used a Swisspass to travel from Martigny to Chamonix-Mt. Blanc shown in solid line=covered. A French SNCF fare inspector looked at my Swisspass between Vallorcine (France) and Chamonix (France) and said "ok."

I found the knowledge of just where the Swisspass is valid outside Switzerland to be poor among SBB employees. Most of the SBB ticket agents and fare inspectors gave me wrong answers when I asked when I wanted to confirm the Swisspass validity to Chamonix. The only place I got the correct answer=valid was at Martigny. Even then, the agent had to look up a cheat sheet.

For once swandav is wrong (sorry!) - the trains from Tirano to St. Moritz are run by Rhätische Bahn, part of the Swiss Travel System, thus the Swiss Pass covers it. There is an extra Swiss train station in Tirano from where the trains to St. Moritz depart.

But swandav is right about Zurich - Munich. Don't know exactly which route these trains run but guess through St. Margarethen as border station. The Swiss Pass is only good until the border. You might try to get a discounted ticket for this trip, though. Go to www.bahn.de and check schedules and fares there also.

Happy to be wrong in this case, Ingo! Saves someone some money!!

s

Good information - does the pass or a GAO cover the bus from Lugano to Tirano? We are heading down to Lugano tomorrow am and it might be nice to go home via Bernina Express. Roundabout way to get back, but great scenery...

Yes, it does - but you must pay a small surcharge (reservation fee) as far as I know.

If you travel on the regular hourly service no surcharge is payable. All you miss are the observation windows thast give a view of the sky

Yes Tirano, Italy to Zurich via Bernina Pass rail route covered 100% by both a swiss Pass and a Eurailpass valid in Switzerland. But the Swiss Pass will only pass from Zurich to the Austrian border if going onto Munich you have to buy a Swiss border to Munich ticket at any station in Switzerland beforehand so you need not get off the train. eurailpass of course would be valid the whole way.

For loads of great stuff on Swiss trains and passes and sundries like the Half-Fare Card, Swiss Card (about the same as the Half-Fare Card but since it includes a train ticket from any border point to any place in Switzerland and then another ticket from that place to any border point (or airport) it could for some itineraries be better than the Half-Fare thing as the Swiss Card also gives 50% off everything that moves in Switzerland, except cows, for the whole validity period, and the Swiss Transfer ticket, etc check out these fab IMO sites - www.swisstravlesystem.com - links here to Bernina Express, and www.budgeteuropetravel.com; www.seat61.com; www.ricksteves.com - and check Swiss Pass prices both in dollars if in North America and Swiss francs as often the past several years the exact same pass has been cheaper if bought here than there - this is not always the case however so check and also if your c card has a 3% fee for foreign transactions calculate that in too. And about calculating well the Swiss Pass solves that and even if you pay a bit more the ability just to show up at the train and hop on for some is priceless rather than having to wait and get a ticket each time you want to ride the train or boat or bus, etc.

However if you take the official Bernina Express, a fancy tourist oriented train with hostesses and commentary, I believe, an domed observation cars at least in first class and now 2nd class as well I believe then using a railpass would incur a small supplement of about $10 or so - but there are regular regional trains you can just hop on and off that also ply the same route about hourly or so - so no extra on those trains and of course the scenery is exactly the same.

tipsygus and Pal - we're talking about the bus from Lugano to Tirano here with FoFoBT.

Thank you all for the helpful information. It does help me a lot with my planning. I was looking at the U Tube and the Regional train window is big enough. I also looked at Rick Steves and got additional information. Thanks PalenQ.

tipsygus and Pal - we're talking about the bus from Lugano to Tirano here with FoFoBT.>

Yes this is the Bernina Express bus that is designed to tie in with official Bernina Express trains at Tirano to make a seemless transfer. Covered in full by Swiss or Eurailpass.

Had a gorgeous week-end just relaxing in Lugano on Saturday and then riding the Bernina Express to Chur, then home on Sunday. A lot of rail travel over the week-end (covered by a first class GAO, not a visitor Swiss railpass), but the scenery was worth it. FYI, the Bernina Express was completely full the whole way.
A recommended trip although we'd rather have spread it out over several days.

Again if the Bernina Express is full then regular regional trains with no seat reservations possible IME run the route as well. Some prefer the official Bernina Express for the trappings of luxury it provides yet others prefer local trains that are not packed to the gills as BE trains often are and on the regular trains you can easily hop back and forth as the scenery dictates, etc. And in summer only the local trains have open-air platform cars, which to me is the best of all!

"Some prefer the official Bernina Express for the trappings of luxury it provides"

That's a big snarky. We took the official train because it fit best with our schedule and we liked being in the panorama car. It was not because we had some craving for the "trappings of luxury".

foFoBT - point taken and I should not say trappings of luxury but what it offers - like commentary en route - on this I am not sure anymore - please did you get commentary en route on the official Bernina Express?

And yes for schedules no reason to avoid it and the panorama observation cars are neat and the train is also marginally faster because it does not stop at every little station like normal trains.