Fodor's Travel Talk Forums - Getting around in Switzerland

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Getting around in Switzerland

My wife and I are contemplating a trip to Switzerland this fall. Any advice on purchasing local bus tours? Are there maybe any online sites where I can purchase bus tours in advance? Also, should we take trains between towns or get a rental car?

It all depends on where you are and what you want to do. I have not taken a bus tour, nor have I felt the need to do so because there is no regularly habited place in Switzerland that I have been to or heard of that cannot be reached with a bus, train, or cable lift, or some combination thereof. Here are some examples. Three years ago we went to Saas Grund and Saas Fee. No trains go there, but buses do. I found it much more convenient to have a rental car for that area. Last year in the Grindelwald - Lauterbrunnen area (the Berner Oberland), we had good weather, so we purchased the Regional Pass and spent 3 full days riding everything we could find to ride on, including some we did not know were there until we found them up in the hills. Two years ago, we were in the same place and the weather did not cooperate. Several days we got in our car and headed out to someplace. We had a good time wandering around the small towns for the day. There is one caveat to the above comments. Although buses go over some of the spectacular mountain passes, without a car it is not convenient to take the so=called Three Pass Drive, which includes the Grimsel, Furka, and Susten Passes. Also buzzing around some of the hanging valleys off of the Rhone Valley, such as Val d'Anniviers and the Turtmental is not nearly as conveniently done. Also, a car is of restricted value in downtown Bern, Luzern, and Zürich. Also, depending on how many are in your party, renting a car is possibly cheaper than constant train travel, although the Swiss rail passes can be a very economical purchase.

http://www.search.ch/index.html.en -try this. Don't rent a car go by train, bus or cable car. Have a nice stay.

Good evening, Vince XXX@XXX>com??? Go into www.raileurope.com/us/rail/passes/swiss pass.htm. for information on the Swiss Pass. You get unlimited travel on some special trains, however reservations may be required. Unlimited travel on the lake steamers. Unlimited travel on most city bus lines and the Swiss Postal bus system, which is quite extensive. If you are going a good deal of traveling and sightseeing the pass is well worth its costs. Use rail between towns, baggage can be sent ahead and picked up at your destination the next day or a week or more later..Richard of LaGrange Park,m Il

Hmmnn, not sure about the bus tour thing. I can tell you that the parts of Switzerland I usally visit, a person can travel from village to village, town to town using the network of Swiss rail, post buss, funiculars, lake steamers and so and so forth. Let's say if you were traveling to the Jungfrau region and staying in Wengen. You could use the network of Swiss rail, post bus, funiculars, gondolas, cables, chairlifts to connect to any village and town in the area with little problem. Bob mentioned Saas Fee. I was there in 1998 and connected from Saas Fee to Saas Grund using the post bus. btw,There are some nice walks in that Saas Fee area. I have used the network of Swiss rail system for years with NO trouble. Some people use the rent a car deal, but in the Jung Frau area, you can get around without the car. Other parts of Switzerland, you might need a car. Geneva for instance, but the Berner Oberland-Jungfrau region-Kandersteg and Vallis areas of Saas Fee and Zermatt , I have used the Swiss rail pass for years with excellent results. The Swiss rail pass will let you use point to point rail connections as part of the paid deal. Mountain lifts will be extra, but usually with a 25& off discount. Some post bus rides are included in the Swiss rail package at no extra charge, but some post bus routes might charge you extra. You should get the 25% discount though on the post bus routes that are not included in the Swiss rail pass. Lake paddle steamers are free, or included in the Swiss rail pass package. What about it Bob and Ed. Am I pretty much right on here?

I lived in Switzerland for about 10 years. Never owned a car, there was no need, the public transportation systems are extremely extensive. You can get an idea of the train network at this site: http://www.sbb.ch/index_e.htm. It's the Swiss Railway system's English-language page. Have fun!

Greg, a little belated. I bought a new computer and had problems getting the internet connections re-established. You are right on. I liked the Swiss Card! It sells for 160 chf for one month, second class. The pass yields half off virtually all fares on trains and on cable lifts. It also includes a free trip to your destination and return. (Which saved me 120 chf.) It even gave me half off of the Jungfraujoch trip. That trip alone saved me 72.60 chf -- not quite half of the cost of the card. So the savings resultisng from the round trip to and from Lauterbrunn plus the Jungfraujoch trip was more than the cost of the card. Of course, you have to be willing to spend the travel money, but given that you are there and want to see Switzerland, there are several good bargains. EVERYBODY: To get a good view of the wide variety of passes available from the Swiss Federal Railway system visit this page: http://s26282.sbb.ch:80/pv/sts_e.htm The number of options is impressive, particularly for families. There are also regional passes for the Berner Oberland and the Zermatt area. These work with the Swiss federal system, but the interchange is complex.

I've just discovered this site. May I add my praise for the Swiss Pass? The Swiss trains, busses, and boats are so efficient and comfortable that I cannot imagine bothering with the headaches of a car. I've daytripped from small-town locations using combinations of all three -- towns like Rivaz on Lac Leman, Leissigen on Thunsee, Brienz on Brienzersee, Rapperswil on Lake Zurich, Bulach (north of Zurich, perfect for night before the plane--town bus to the flughafen), and beautiful little Gerra-Gambarogno on Lago Maggiore. May I suggest staying awhile in each of the different language areas of this fascinating country: Lake Geneva is French, Maggiore is Italian, and the rest that I mentioned are German speaking. I love that country. JW