Ingo - Swiss Half Fare Card Question
 

Hi Ingo (and everyone else!),

On a previous post Ingo had recommended the use of the Swiss Half Fare Card instead of the Eurail Flexipass Saver. Rather than continuing the discussion on that thread, I figured it'd be better to start a new one. Ingo - hope you dont mind the direct question !

Here is how I was planning to use the 3country-10day Flexipass Saver (US$480).

*Vienna-Salzburg
*Salzburg-Innsbruck-Salzburg (day trip)
*Salzburg-Lucerne
*Lucerne-Lauterbrunnen
*Lauterbrunnen-Montreux-Lauterbrunnen (day trip)
*Lauterbrunnen-St. Moritz
*St. Moritz-Tirano-Venice
*Venice-Florence-Venice (day trip)
*Venice-Sorrento
*Sorrento-Rome

Rest of the travel will be point-point.
*Salzburg-Hallstatt-Salzburg (day trip)
*Lauterbrunnen-Thun-Lauterbrunnen (day trip)
*Lauterbrunnen-Jungfraujoch
-Lauterbrunnen (day trip)

So given this itinerary, do you still feel that I should get the Swiss Half Fare Card ? If I do get it, should I get a different Flexipass to cover travel *outside* Switzerland ?

Thanks all and hopefully you can give me some tips to save $$$ :-)

Hi Carl,

good idea to post on a different thread.

Yes, I still believe a Swiss Half Fare Card (SHFC) saves you $$$ !

If you get it in advance and you can show it in Salzburg, you can even get a reduction of 25% on the Austrian leg of your train ride to Lucerne (and 50% on the fare from the Austrian/Swiss border to Lucerne).

The SHFC will save you a lot of money in Switzerland, much more than the Eurail pass. With regards to the other thread - on the Glacier Express you can use the Day Ticket which I mentioned before on the other thread (btw, it costs 56 Sfr. per person). Looks like you don't have to pay a surcharge for the Glacier Express, only a reservation fee for the seats in the Panorama Car - these are maybe 1st class (Day ticket 90 SFr.).

The SHFC also gives you a reduction of 50% on the day trips from Lauterbrunnen - and the Jungfraujoch trip is really expensive, so this alone makes it the better choice.

I am not sure if you should buy an Eurail Pass for 2 countries (Austria, Italy). Point to Point is maybe cheaper, esp. in Italy. And the train rides Tirano-Venice, Sorrento-Rome each do not justify a day Eurail Pass. Salzburg-Hallstatt is no deal, dito.

That means you would need a day of Eurail Pass only for Vienna-Salzburg, Venice-Florence-Venice (maybe?) and Venice-Sorrento. How much would this Eurail Pass cost?

Beside that, a thought on your itinerary: skip the day trip Salzburg - Innsbruck - Salzburg. Not worth IMO

Hmm .. I'll pull out my spreadsheet and plug in all the numbers again (eurail pass, half fare card, point-point) and see what the best option is.

Also, in case I havent mentioned this before, we would prefer to travel in 1st class, so that could be one reason where the point-point fares are much higher.

I have put in the entire itinerary on the railsaver.com site and it had suggested the 10day flexipass. What I'll do is compare all the numbers again and then post them here.

About the Interlaken daytrip - I've added it to my list, but this is one that I may cut out from my trip (based on a number of -ve opinions I have recvd). The main reason for the trip to Interlaken was the Swarovski tour which is something my wife seems really interested in.

Oh typo in my last post - I meant Innsbruck, where I said Interlaken.

Hi Again,

You're still planning to do that marathon 3h30-each-way daytrip to Montreux? I do hope you do a trip report so we can hear how it went!!

s

Hi again swandav - some of these trips I have planned for, but we will decide at the last minute where we feel up to it or not. If we are as energetic and enthusiastic as we feel we will be, then some of these marathon, long, 18hour days wont be an issue. But if we feel that we're not enjoying ourselves, then we will either skip these trips (Innsbruck, Montreux, Florence, etc) or plan for an overnight stay.

I will definitely post a report as to what we ended up doing, how it compared to our original plan, what we would do again, and what we felt was a waste of time or an anti-climax !

Carl: add to that spreadsheet the three-country saver (pass) for Austria-Italy-and Switzerland although i am wondering if you could buy point-to-point tickets for Austria and then buy a two-country passsaver for Switzerland and Italy.

I would advise you to attempt to factor in the "cost" (or perhaps the "convenience") of not having to buy tickets anywhere, for the passes and obviously not for the card since with that you have to spend time at ticket windows...unless that is of no importance to you. Time is money don't forget.

From railsaver, here is the cost of the point-point 1st class tickets.

Vienna-Salzburg: $96
Salzburg-Innsbruck-Salzburg: $86
Salzburg-Lucerne: $144
Interlaken-Montreux-Interlaken: $84
Interlaken-St.Moritz: $125
St.Moritz-Venice: $85
Venice-Florence-Venice: $92
Venice-Sorrento: $127
Sorrento-Rome: $48

The 10day Eurail flexipass is $480 - so the rule of thumb (as suggested by a poster) was that if a point-point ticket is more than $48, then the pass makes sense.

Adding all this, and comparing it against the Swiss Half Fare Card, it still appears that the 10day Flexipass is cheaper.

Am I missing something here !?!

Another train question. We are flying into Geneva in January and wanted to spend the night in town and continue to Zermatt the next day. So that would be a ticket from GVA to Geneva, then another ticket to Zermatt and then another ticket from Zermatt back to GVA.
That looks like three tickets x 2 people. I am confused about the options. Which would be the less expensive?

Glad this question got posted as I'm also trying to figure out the Swiss passes.

I was just reading about the pass that gives you transportation from any "entry" point in and out and then half fare on other tickets. How exactly does that work? For example, I'll be coming from Stresa in Italy and going to Interlaken. I think I have to change trains in Brig. So when I get to Brig (is that an "entry" point?) do I buy this pass there and the trip from there to Interlaken is free and then all my other tickets while in Switzerland are half price? And my last trip will be from Lucerne to the Zurich airport. Does that one count? And what about the trips up into the mountains from Lauterbrunnen, do they get half fare?

And the half fare card - do you buy it on the internet before you go, or once you get to Switzerland? I seem to have read conflicting things about that. Also, can't seem to figure out how much it is? Am I that dumb or it really this confusing? (Please answer nicely)

I don't think a daytrip from Lauterbrunnen to Montreux and back is unreasonable, but I would be careful of the routing. If you go through Bern, you will be traversing some rather uninteresting countryside. If you route it through Spiez, Zweissimen, Gstaad, to Montreux and back, you will be seeing some very lovely countryside. Of course, you would not have a lot of hours in Montreux, but certainly enough time for a walk along the promenade and lunch.

Interesting Fares with railsaver.

I found the fare Interlaken Ost - Montreux return trip 1st class is 156 Sfr (USD 130) through Gstaad and about 180 Sfr (USD 150) via Bern.

Seems you need to re-calculate.

And yes, you missed something. You'll spend one week in Lauterbrunnen. And you are planning a trip to Jungfraujoch, which is extremely expensive (about 180 Sfr undiscounted I think - 2nd class) The Eurail Pass doesn't give you reduction on that fare - the SHFC does. And you did not tell us how much a Flexipass for 2 countries is (for less days). I still believe it is not an option for Switzerland.

Clevelandbrown - yes, you are right about that day trip. We (esp. Swandav) tried to talk carl into NOT doing this. I think he will play it by ear. (not reasonable to reserve a day for a not-sure day trip in the Eurail pass)

isabel - the Swiss Card (with free in/out Switzerland trips) doesn't pay for itself in your case. Lucerne - Zurich airport is too short and quite cheap. But the Swiss Half Fare Card is well worth to purchase. You can buy it in advance from the SBB (www.sbb.ch) or Raileurope (?) It costs 99 Sfr. for one month. It gives you the reduction of 50% on the part Brig - Interlaken. Just show this SHFC at the ticket desk in Stresa and they calculate the fare with reduction. Same in Switzerland.

bajaflash - it depends on your plans in Zermatt. If you plan to use mountain railways, cable cars etc. extensively, the Swiss Half Fare Card might be an option. Otherwise not, simply buy point-to-point tickets.

I.

I actually made a typo in saying that I would use a Flexipass - Its actually a Selectpass Saver and it costs $480 for 10 days. The other fares for the Selectpass are :

5days - $316
6days - $348
8days - $414

And the minimum number of countries is 3 countries - they dont seem to have a 2 country pass.

I'll try to see if I can get a pass for less than 10days, add up the SHFC and see if any one of those combinations turns out to be cheaper.

Thanks !

If you order the Half Fare card in advance, the postal and handling fee is exhorbitant. So, if you can buy it at a train station just inside the border (e.g., when you change at Briga), you make out better.