Thank you. My problem is I don't know what day trips I will make. I am one of those who decides when one gets there. The sure things are fares from Zurich to Luzern and from Luzern to Dijon.

I don't ride first class on Swiss trains.

I have used first class on a German train from Munich to Zürich and it was not worth the money.

We also rode the Maria Teresia first class to Vienna. The only bargain there was the fact that we had no competition for the compartment. The seats sat like they had been personally butt sprung by Maria herself in her later years.

I thought that a "named" train like that would have provided better accommodations in first class.

For those of you buying flexi passes, I strongly suggest you look at point to point prices for your anticipated trips.

You have to ride one heck of a lot to amortize the cost of a flexi pass.

I have NEVER seen a way I could do it even with extensive train riding.

I usually take many mountain cable lifts and mountain trains and I have to pay 50% of the cost of those regardless of the pass I have.

My choice for this year will be the Half Fare Card. My tDBB train travels point to point do not enable me to amortize the extra cost of the Swiss Card like it has in the past. Nor are they sufficient to amortize the cost of a one of the other rail passes.

Well I definitely did the research on point to point tickets and the FlexiPass was much cheaper. I thought about the 1/2 fare card instead, but it was still cheaper to get the 4-day flexi pass.

T.

Most people will travel enough to make passes a viable thing. Even though you could possible save a few bucks with a Half-Fare card this may crimp your style as you have to weigh each time you want to travel - do i want to pay 50% off and then buying the tickets - no real problem but not like just hopping on the train, boat, bus, etc.

Consecutive day passes are often the best deal if they fit into your time frame. And as they are good at 400 museums that's a perk as well, say if going to Ballenberg on Lake Brienz near Interlaken - probably about $15 a person there not sure though could be more, knowing Switzerland.

With a pass you may ride more than you thought without thinking 50% of what - on a whim hop the lake boats on Lake Tun, etc.

a 4-day straight pass is just about $9 more expensive than the 3-day flexipass so is a no-brainer unless you'll be plopped on your hotel balcony the 4th day - that is if you are only to be traveling 4 day period. Similar on 8-straight days vs flexipasses.

(3 day Swiss Flexi Saver = $156 p.p.

4-straight day pass = $165

if landing in Zurich, pay out of pocket to go to nearby Lucerne for 1-2 days then start 4-con day pass and end up in Zurich last day, etc.

Don't forget to look at Clickrail on the sbb.ch website. They offer last minute cheap train fares to certain destinations at specific times in Switzerland.

Interlaken is not usually a destination listed, but you'll find great deals from Zürich's main train station to Lugano/Locarno/Bern/Basel.

They offer discounted full and half fares.

schuler - are these last minute cheapies only online or if remaining can i ask at the station? merci

Only on-line. You will not find any last minute offers at the train station.

thanks Schuler - will check it out.

Schuler, where on the sbb website do you find the clickrail offers? I can't seem to find them.

Here it is --

http://mct.sbb.ch/mct/en/reisemarkt/.../clickrail.htm

It's under "Travel," then "Tickets," then it's part of the list on the left.

s

I would wonder what 'last minute' means - when do they come on the system - the day before? In that case not practical for the tourist planning trips and not knowing how available these tickets are and perhaps not having easy internet access on short notice. Good for locales or those flexible i guess and i wonder how much the discount is (site won't work on my old computer) Thanks.