Ok - this train thing is about to get me down. gt

Do we get a Swiss Pass, Swiss Flex pass or buy individual tickets as we go? Which would be the cheapest on an 8 day trip to Lucerne. Help me compare. Oh and any suggestions for the days I haven't planned anything would be great. Inluding places to eat, drink, soak up the views for lunch and/or dinners. I think we'll do all of our breakfasts at the cottage.

Day 1 (Sat Sept 23, 2006) - Arrive in Zurich, drop luggage at train station (do they have lockers big enough for 2 med-lg suitcases? and how much), grab brunch or lunch (any suggestions), check out Shopping Streets, get some chocolate at Sprunglii then take the train to Lucerne then to Merlischachen.

Day 2 (Sun) - After breakfast at the cottage, take the train from Merlishachen to Lucerne, boat trip (lunch on the boat) and/or mountain trip, dinner in Lucerne and train back to Merlischachen

Day 3 (Mon) - After breakfast at cottage take the train from Merlishachen to Lucerne, then to Brienzi (to Open Air Museum Ballenberg), have lunch there (any suggestions),back to Lucerne for dinner (any suggestions) then back to Merlishachen.

Day 4 (Tues) - After breakfast take train from Merlishachen to Lucerne, rent a car, drive to Sursee/Buron area, have lunch (any suggestions), back to Lucerne/Merlishachen for dinner (may cook out this night).

Day 5 (Wed) - Another day trip by car (any suggestions including lunch ideas) or return the car in Lucern and take another train trip (any suggestions including lunch ideas maybe even dinner)

Day 6 (Thurs) - Another day trip by car or train (see day 5)

Day 7 (Fri) - Another day trip by car or train (see day 5) Our last day!!

Day 8 (Sat Sept 30, 2006)- Early train from Merlischachen to Lucern to Zurich to catch an 11:00am flight to US - BOO HOO!!

You guys are great!! Thanks for the help!!

Hi whitneykt,

Don't forget about the Half Fare Card, which costs 99 chf and gives you 50% off all your train/ferry/bus tickets. Whenever I do the spreadsheet (which you have to do if you really want to find the most economical pass), it comes to the HFC.

Have fun!

s

Hi swandav2000

I won't - thanks!

Whitneykt--it looks like you are taking a bunch of short trips--so it will be a toss-up whether the Half Fare Card will save you money. If you take the longer day trips by train (Appenzell, Schaffhausen, Bern, and the Berner Oberland would be my suggestions) it should be worth it.

OHHHHH!!! I'm soooo confused!!!! gt;

Why can't I find out what the individual ticket prices are? I've check www.sbb.com and I have to type in where I want to go - WHAT IF I DON'T KNOW? Which I don't. How can I do a spreadsheet on something I can't find the info to put into the spreadsheet?

I'm about ready to just get there and take my chances. I'm just worried that I can only buy some tickets/passes in the states and some you can only buy in Switzerland and some I can buy online (but are they only available online?).

Can they make this anymore confusing?? Or am I making it more confusing? I am a perfectionist and maybe that's why I'm having such a hard time figuring all this out.

Thanks for all your input - it is helping. Because, just like our Lodging, everything will all of a sudden fall into place. A light bulb will finally go off in my head. gt;

Hi Whitney,
From one beginner to another -
we are also looking at all the rail passes for Switzerland and are just as confused as you. I have read a lot of posts on here and have spent hours on www.sbb.com too, still can't decide which is best for us, just too many different passes to pick from. We are basing ourselves in Brienz for 10 days and plan to do lots of day trips.

On the sbb website using the online timetable type in your choice ie Luzern to Interlaken Ost, enter your time and date and click on search connection. Your will be given 4 connection choices, scroll down to the one that suits you the best then click on booking, it will give you another 2 choices, select one of these and you should have a window with the prices available.

We have done our spreadsheet with a sample of the places we most want to visit, then put in the prices. As I said we are still clueless to which pass will be best but sooner or later I hope it will become clear! Have you also clicked on the "International Guests" on the ssb site and read all the info on passes there?
Best of Luck

Also, make sure your spelling is correct.

Merlischachen
Brienz
Luzern
Rigi
Titlis
Engelberg

Schuler,
Simple but excellent piece of advice!

Maudie

Although not having to do with Swiss passes, is there a particular reason to head to Sursee/Buron? I just wonder since that area doesn't usually rank high on your typical tourist's radar.

By the way, it is very easy and fast to get to Sursee from Luzern by train, and Buron is only 10 minutes from the Sursee train station by Bus. If you wish to just visit the towns, I don't feel you need to rent a car.

Finally, following schuler's thought, if you do try to look up Buron on the SBB website, you will have to enter Bueron instead.

maudie - thanks for the tip. So I don't have to actually book the trip, but act like I am to get my prices? Because we don't know when or where we'll want to go. But, maybe I can get an idea of prices for different places without actually booking them. I don't think I've checked the international guest. I'll try that.

schuler - what? another "jab" at my spelling? gt;

adwinn - Sursee/Buron is where my grandparents family is from. I have a book that mentions those two towns as well as some others in the area. Mainly Buron. In that book there are some old photos and I'd like to get more recent photos of them and see them in person. One is of the school house and a church that are still there (found it on a website). Plus some photos of their homes. So taking a bus there is fine but, walking around trying to find these places may be hard. So I thought if we had a car, it would make it easier.