I was reading on the Swiss Rail website that you get a free Swiss card when you order your Swiss Rail Saver Pass from the USA; I'd prefer to wait until we arrive in Switzerland before buying any type of rail pass but not sure if we'll still get this FREE Swiss card if we wait and purchase rail passes in Switzerland...?? Where do you obtain this Swiss card in Switzerland? Is it still free like it is here in the USA? Thanks, Marcie

The Swiss Card that the SBB web site talks about is a discount certficate that entitles you to a 50% discount on the purchase sprice of all SBB rail travel and many boats in Switzerland plus the buyer is entitled to a free trip to his/her first rail destination and return. It is not dependent on, or directly connected with, any other Swiss rail pass or card. (Some of the private lines honor the Swiss Card, too, as do many of the cable lift systems.)<BR>The types of Swiss rail passes include the Swiss Pass, the Swiss Flexi Pass, the Swiss Youth Pass, Swiss Tranfer Ticket and the Swiss Travel System Family Card.<BR>The Family card is free to purchasers of the various rail passes. <BR><BR>As far as know, any of those rail passes for travel in Switzerland will cost you more in the United States than they will in Switzerland. Rail Europe wants $120 for the same pass. ($110 plus $10 shipping.)<BR>The Swiss card is sold only at border and airport train stations. The current price for a second class Swiss Card is 165 chf, or about $103.<BR><BR>I am not sure I understand just which Swiss rail discount instrument you are asking about.<BR>

I should be more clear.<BR>The Swiss card runs about $103 right now purchased in Switzerland. Rail Europe wants $120 for the same card.<BR>(It get worse as I get older.)

We are planning to get the Swiss Saver Pass. On the site "myswitzerland.com" you can order the passes on line and it says you can get a FREE Swiss card when you order on line. If this same card cost $103. than it sounds like a very good deal....??<BR>this is where my confusion is because I was planning on buying the Swiss Saver Pass once we arrived in Switzerland to get a better price. Marcie

Hi Marcie. I visited the web site you described, but I have not been successful in finding the exact deal you describe or the reference to the "free card". I found links to Rail Europe, and to the SBB system page.<BR>You can follow the SBB link to the same place where I got my information about prices. It is public information on the SBB site. <BR><BR>Rail Europe is higher always for the same ticket. For exampe the 4 day Swiss pass (no discount) is $160.00 plus the $10.00 Fed Ex fee. In Switzerland that same pass sells for 240 chf, which today converts at about $148 - 149.<BR>That is about 14% more expensive at today's rate.<BR><BR>The only free card I know about is the family pass which is given out to families with small children. Essentially, children up to age 16 travel free with their parents, if the parents or parent have purchased a Swiss rail pass.<BR><BR>If you want me to comment farther, tell me a little more detail about where you found the free card reference. I cannot come up with it.<BR><BR>I did find several wild stories on that web site, however. I nearly fell off of my chair when it described Mount Pilatus as the "Kingdom of Ice". If you want to see ice, just meet me in Lauterbrunnen between September 8 and 15 and I will show you ice!!<BR><BR>

What ice, Bob?

Well, assuming that this question is serious, which it probably isn't, the answer is simple.<BR>We go to Stieregg, cross the gully beyond the restaurant, and stare right up into the glacier that comes down from the peaks "behind" the north face of the Eiger. The Fieschergrat is a series of peaks on a ridge that lies south of the Eiger. The Fieschergletscher tumbles down from this ridge and becomes part of the Unter Grindelwaldgletscher.<BR><BR>In fact, you can get a good view from the terrace of the cafe. No need to cross the gully unless you want a first class look right into the crvasses and seracs of the glacier itself. <BR><BR>And then we can clamber up to Cabana de Moiry and stare at the expanse of the Glacier de Moiry. <BR><BR>And the longest of the Swiss glaciers is the Grosser Aletschgletscher that flows south from the Jungfrau. It can be viewed from the Jungfraujoch.<BR>Or we can go to the Valley of the Rhone and take a look from the area around Bettmeralp. <BR><BR>

Thanks Bob for setting me straight. I was getting the "Swiss card" and the "Swiss Family card" mixed up thinking they were one and the same. We won't have any children with us so the family card is of no value to me. Thanks for clarifying this for me. Marcie

I hope I helped a little. I fought my way through that maze of Swiss pass once and finally decided that selecting THE best one was impossible unless you could predict every trip you would take before you took it. I can well understand how someone could be unsure of just what was what in that jungle.<BR>I spent several hours in 1998 trying to figure all the angles, and finally decided that I would never know until I got back and counted up the actual trips.<BR><BR>There are so many of those passes that I am not sure the Swiss know about all of them, not even the ones in the tourist trade. <BR><BR>In additon to the Swiss Federal Raiway passes, you can also throw the prvate lines passes in to the mix. <BR>Then the variations become even greater.<BR><BR>The first year I settled on the Swiss Card because we took the train from the Zurich airport and the cost of the tickets was included in the price of the pass. Then we used the car extensively on mountain trains and cable systems. <BR><BR>In 2000 we arrived by car from Lausanne and bought the Berner Oberland Regional pass. It served us well because we had nice weather for 5 consecutive days.<BR>By the 6th day, we had ridden everything in sight, even some that we did not know about until we found them up in the hills. <BR><BR>

But Bob, how many people begin and end their trip the SAME day, from what I understand the Swiss pass gets you from say Zurich airport (my example) to say Interlaken in one day but don't you have to return the same day....??? This doesn't seem very likely when people are visitng for a week or more. Am I missing something?? Thanks, Marcie

marcie,<BR><BR>No; the inbound travel must be completed in one day, and the outbound travel must be completed in one day. Not the same day. So, for instance, you can't get it started at Zurich airport on 5 June and then claim on 6 June that you're still "enroute."<BR><BR>s

Yes, Bob, I was serious and interested. I will be in the Berner Oberland in July and have been trying to read all the posts re what to do there - hikes, etc. Thanks.

The answer above this posting is correct about the use of the Swiss Card.<BR>(My friend who is a little out of it keeps calling a Swiss Chard, or perhaps she thinks it is charred, or it could be her Midwest twang saying chaired.)<BR><BR>The rule is that you must complete the trip to your destination in one day.<BR>And the return trip must also be made under the same conditions.<BR>The card is good for a month.<BR>So if you arrived on Sept 1 and went to Interlaken, you can stay there for a month before returning at no extra charge to where you came from, in Switzerland.<BR>If the kind of restriction you are talking about was in force, nobody would buy one of the silly things.<BR><BR>I found it to be effective for my use because I was wandering around.<BR><BR>The Berner Oberland Regional Pass is hard to beat if you are in the Interlaken area. The effective zone of the regional pass is from Bern to Zermatt. The problem is that the Regional Pass is a bummer if you hit cloudy weather. I did NOT buy one in 1999. I arrived in Lauterbrunnen in the rain and left in the rain. We had two out of seven days that were good; one was marginal, and the other 4 were washed out. Miserable weather. <BR>But we had fun elsewhere.<BR><BR>