Swiss Card validation / first trip questions
 

I will be traveling to Switzerland next month, and plan to purchase a Swiss Card. After a search on this forum, and checking guide books and the Swiss rail webpage, I am still unsure how to use the pass for the first day's travel. I will arrive at Milan Malpensa and plan to take the train from Gallarate to Interlaken.
Do I just buy a ticket from Gallarate to the Swiss border and then, once in Switzerland, hand the pass to the Swiss conductor?
Do I need to have the pass validated at Gallarate, or will a Swiss border guard stamp the pass on the train?

Before you buy the Swiss pass in Switzerland, you may consider checking out www.railpass.com and buying one there...I believe they might be slightly cheaper than the ones that they sell in Switzerland. In any case, you get your ticket validated usually at stations in Switzerland...but perhaps the website might also offer an 800 number where you could check and call them and ask your question there. Also, just so you know...the Swiss pass offers you unlimited use of train, bus, and tram routes in most major cities and places in Switzerland and will be a great value if you are travelling (especially by train) around the country. Enjoy your trip!

I doubt that any product bought through an agency such as Railpass will be cheaper than if it is bought in Europe simply because agencies genrally charge you either a processing fee, a shipping charge, and sometimes both. However, you may wish to pay the extra fees for the sake of convenience.
Technically, any railpass can be validated at "any" rail station in Europe. However, some have reported "problems" with getting passes exclusive to another country validated outside of that particular country. I personally have had passes exclusive to both Switzerland and to the Czech republic validated in Germany without any difficulty at all but your experience may vary.
Regardless, you cannot simply buy a ticket to the Italian-Swiss border and then produce a Swiss Card/Pass UNLESS it has been validated and the train conductor will not/cannot validate it. You'd have to get it validated in Italy before leaving and also buy your ticket to the border.
I suspect if you explain your situation to the rail clerk in the station you probably won't have any trouble.

By the way, the base prices for all the products are set by the individual railroads and the various agencies usually are bound to charge those same prices. Processing/shipping fees are left to the individual agency.
You might call the Railpass folks and inquire DIRECTLY about what they suggest you do rather then simply relying on a bunch of "maybe this" and "perhaps that" "information" which is based on previous experiences (such as my positive one or others' negative ones). Good luck.

Hi SPQR,

This is a tough question. Yes, it'll be more expensive to buy your Swiss Card by RailEurope, but it may be worth it in this one case --

I checked the Swiss Rail website (www.rail.ch) and saw that there are a few vendors who sell the SC in Milan (go to "Travel/Timetable," then "Guests from Abroad," then "Swiss Travel System," and finally "where to purchase"). So if you're in Milan for a few days, you can pick up your SC there. On the other hand, if you're just arriving by plane and leaving right away, you won't have a lot of time to try to find one of these agents. So in that case, it'll be worthwhile to have your SC in hand from Raileurope.

Alternately, you can call the Swiss Rail folks and ask them if you can buy the SC online & pick it up at the Milan station.

Sorry, I don't know about how/when/where to validate.

Of course, you know that the Swiss Card is not the same thing as the Swiss Pass -- with the Swiss Card you get a free inbound & free outbound trip, plus 50% off most trains, ferries, etc.

Hope this helps. Let me know if I can help further.

s

I live in Switzerland so can't answer your particular question on the rail pass as I don't qualify for them.. However, I can offer the following comments.

1. I would suggest you buy your Swiss Card on line from rail.ch (the Swiss national railway) and have them mail it to you. Mail from Switzerland to the US takes about 7 days, so if you order today you should have it before the end of April. Go to rail.ch and click on "Ticket Shop" and then "Swiss Rail System"

2. As you know, the Swiss Card is not valid for travel outside Switzerland, so you will have to buy a one-way ticket from Milan to the last station in Italy on the Milan-Interlaken route, which is Arona. Domodossola is the first stop in Switzerland on that route, so it may be necessary for you to buy a ticket to Domodossola instead, the person selling you the ticket should be able to help. When you buy your ticket, you can ask the person selling you the ticket whether they can also validate your Swiss Card. (I can't tell from your message if you are going first to Gallarate and staying there for a few days, or if you are taking a train right from Milan to Interlaken and thought that was the last station in Italy.)

3. If you are not able to have your ticket validated in Milan or another Italian station, then on the train when the Swiss or Italian train conductor asks to see you ticket show him the Swiss Card, plead ignorance and also show him your airline ticket stub to verify that you just arrived in Europe. They may then be able to validate it for you.

4. It is very unlikely that there will be any border formalities on the train when you cross over into Switzerland on the train. The train will not stop at the border, and no one will look at your passport. Of course, there is a very small chance that there may be an immigration official on the train who may ask to see your passport at some point during the journey, but that is very unlikely. In any case, he certainly won't care much about your ticket, just your passport.

Sorry, I need to correct myself. The last stop in Italy on the Milan-Interlaken route is Verbania-Pallanza
NOT Arona. You will need to buy a ticket from Milan to Verbania-Pallanza or possibly Domodossola (i.e., the first stop in Switzerland.)

I bought a Swiss Pass (Swiss Saver Flexipass, in fact, since there are 3 of us) on the Internet from the GoSwitzerland site which in turn directed me to the following site -

http://www.raileurope.com/us/index.htm

From the time the order was placed, it took less than 2 days to receive the passes at my address in California. The price is $213 per head for First Class. This seems to be cheaper than if you buy straight from the Swiss Federal Rail site (once you convert CHF to USD at the prevailing rate).

Are advance reservations necessary for First Class passes? I understand there is a separate charge.

Hi Folks,

agtoau, your fare information is *very* interesting. 'A course I didn't believe it, so I did some checking . . .

Sure enough, the Swiss Rail website lists the 3-day Saver Flexi pass at 294 chf, which converts (by Oanda) to $223. So you've saved some bucks there.

I then checked the Swiss Pass, which I'll buy for my trip next month, but no luck for me!! Raileurope is selling them for $440 (15 days, first class) and Swiss Rail is selling them for 410 chf, or $311 after conversion. So I guess I'll wait and buy mine on the ground at Zurich.

Anyway, to get back to SPQR, who also won't save anything from Raileurope: RE sells the Swiss Card (2nd Class) for $166 while Swiss Rail sells it for 170 chf or $129.

And most trips don't require reservations -- only the special panoramic trains.

I guess this proves that it pays to do the research every time . . . !

s

????

There are obviously some mistakes in the previous posts. But I am in a hurry now (tennis match) ... so wait two hours for my reply.

agtoau - I understand you are three persons, but for how many days did you purchase the Flexi Pass?

Ingo, our Swiss Saver Flexipass is for 3 days.

Rajan

First, SPQR - I don't think the Swiss Card is the best value for you. The Swiss Half Fare Card (SHFC), valid for one month, is probably cheaper.

The SHFC costs 99 Sfr (for one month, as said before). For the trip from the Swiss border to Interlaken the (half) fare is 20 Sfr. Assuming you leave Switzerland the same route or via Zurich Airport the fare for this leg is additional 20, max. 30 Sfr. Makes not more than 150 Sfr. while the Swiss Card, which offers these train rides for free, costs 170 Sfr. For travels within Switzerland the other days the reductions are the same.

Second, I have doubts that Raileurope or another agency sells these tickets cheaper than the Swiss Railways. As far as I understand agtoau did not purchase a 3-day Flexi Pass, he purchased Flexi Passes for three persons. And if there are travelling more than 1 person the others get a reduction of 15% on their passes, so the calculation is a bit different ...

Third, you should check by email with the Swiss Railways from where the Swiss Card is valid (where the Swiss border station is). I know that the route Brig - Domodossola is included in the Swiss Travel System, so you might have luck that you have to buy tickets in Italy from Gallarate to Domodossola (although it is located in Italy!) only. But I am not sure and it might be possible that Brig is the border station. Neither Arona nor Verbania-Pallanza are border stations for the trains.

Let me know if I can help further.

Ingo

Rajan, thanks for the info. It is unbelievable, but the website you mentioned does sell the Rail Passes for Switzerland indeed cheaper than the Swiss Federal Railways. That's very interesting!

S, you must calculate once more: 410 Sfr is for 2nd class! And this one is sold for 290 USD on Raileurope. Looks you also have luck!

I.

Everyone, thank you for the responses. Ingo, thank you for the tip on the one-month half fare card - I had only noticed the 1-year card for SF 150 on the Swiss Rail webpage. You are correct, the SHFC will save me more than the Swiss Card.

Last year we had flexipasses. We went to the station in Florence and asked for tickets from Florence to Boltigen (in Switzerland) and that our passes be validated. The agent would not validate the passes, but gave us the tickets, charging only for the portion in Italy. When we crossed the border, the train stopped for a few minutes while customs walked through, then started again. When the conductor came through, I handed him our passes, and he validated them (I don't know if this was having mercy on the innocent tourists, or having disdain for the Italian agent who wouldn't validate them). When we got to Boltigen, I notices some apparent small error in the validation, and went to the agent in the station, who corrected it.

I was under the impression that the passes should have been validated in Florence, but the above is how it worked for us.

Going through the calculations necessary to determine whether we needed passes, and the type of pass, was the only unpleasant part of our visit to Switzerland. You almost have to have your trip planned to the hour, with no flexibility, to find the best option, and then the weather changes your plans!

topping because this exchange is very interesting though I must confess that it makes my head spin. J.

Might there be some sort of add-on fee at raileurope? J.

jmw44,

There are no hidden charges. This deal is as genuine as they come. The mySwitzerland.com site is linked even on some Swiss embassy pages -

http://myswitzerland.raileurope.com/us/index.htm

My hunch is that the situation here, in its abstraction, is similar to that between buying an air ticket directly from an airline and from a consolidator. The latter invariably gives you a much better deal.

Rajan

Having determined that the Swiss CARD is my best option, I bought two of them. Now the question arises as how best to validate them.

New procedures are in effect for this year. For example, I could NOT buy the CARDS from the SBB. I tried and was told that the current business operations prohibited anyone living out side of Switzerland from buying directly from the SBB ticket office. I was referred to Rail Europe instead.

After checking the prices in chf (178) and the price at Rail Europe, they were about the same, $US 133 plus a little for shipping. (Not the $20.00 fee I have seen in the past. With the Swiss franc at about $.81, the cards might have been a little cheaper through Rail Europe.

Now the question is this: How do I validate it. Last year, I simply wrote on the card with a ball point pen. This year, there is a validation box on the face of the card.

I have written the SBB and asked them that very question. I will be entering Switzerland via Basel on a train from Karlsruhe. I think it would be absurd to have to get off the train at the Basel SBB station to have the card validated.

Based on what I read above, the agent at the train station in Germany where I will buy my ticket to Basel will validate it for me. Otherwise the conductor will when he comes through checking tickets.

I hope this is correct.

I don't know what prompted all of this validation business. This is the 5th time I have purchased a Swiss Card, and it is the first time that the validation issue has come up.

Let's see if we can lay this validation issue to rest. If it is indeed the Swiss CARD we are validating, the procedure is very simple. Just take a pen and write the date on it yourself. No need for anything else.

Below is the text of a message I received in response to my specific inquiry of the SBB contact office.

Message follows:
------------------------------------------
Thank you for your e-mail. (n° CC519978)

To valid your Swiss Card just write yourself the date for the first day of use (border to destination). You'll have to do the same when you liv your place of stay to go home. Between these dates you can buy tickets for the half fare within Switzerland.

Have a nice journey and enjoy the swiss mountains!

Should you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to contact us. We hope to have been of service.

In appreciation and friendly greetings,
Bernhard Merminod

I was wondering the same thing about my Swiss Card brookwood (bought through BETS who has no shipping charge and got the card to me in 2 days) - there is a space to write the date, AND a small box which says validation. When we write in the date of first use, that little box seems to be waiting for something too!

Since I fly into Zurich, I will have the luxury (?) of going to the ticket window to be sure I do this right, although I've been told on another post that they will hand me a pen at the window and I'll write in the date myself. Brookwood - from what I've gathered from other posts, your method sounds like it should work too, and that there isn't much other choice for you, unless someone knows more about that little validation box in addition to the date space.