swiss pass vs regular eurail pass
 

I am purchasing and 8 day flex eurail pass to travel throughout Europe. I have been reading about a swiss pass. 2 of my 8 days of eurail pass i was planning on using in Switzerland. Would I be better off to get a 6 day pass and buy a Swiss pass separately when I get there, also I may want to take a train or cable cars up to Murren area. I should have 1st stated I am staying in Luzerne for 2 nights and would like to go to Interlaaken are for a day trip? I'm confused!!

What other countries are you visiting? If you need a pass at all you probably don't need a so-called "universal Eurail Pass that covers a whole bunch of participating country railroads.

The SwissPass will get you some discounts of mountain railroads; it will get you use of transportation systems in selected Swiss towns; it will get you discounts on some cable cars. All of this info is available on the RailEurope site.

I would check the price of point to point tickets in Switzerland before I bought a pass especially if you are only going to be there for two days.

You can check ticket prices at www.sbb.ch/en

Before deciding which pass, decide if a pass is the best option. Passes were bargains 30 years ago but these days they are a moneymaking opportunity

Start by reading the following

http://seat61.com/Railpass-and-Eurai...m#.UYGJZ7XYdCU

Your Eurail Pass will pass until Interlaken-Ost in full even if you take the Golden Pass specialty scenic train from Lucerne up and over the Brunig Pass and then down along lovely Lake Brienz to Interlaken-Ost (a slower but infinitely more scenic route than the main route via Bern.

You will get 25% off Interlaken to Lauterbrunnen and back but nothing up to Murren - but that ticket will not cost enough to justify a Swiss Pass which would cover it in full. Eurailpasses valid in Switzerland are valid on all main rail lines in Switzerland like those you will be taking from Lucerne to another country and are also valid on lake boats on some lake - again like Lake Lucerne so stay with the Eurailpass IMO and forget any Swiss Pass as you are not traveling enough on lines not covered by Eurail to make much a difference.

For lots of great stuff on Swiss trains I always spotlight these fantastic IMO sites - www.swisstravelsystem.com; www.budgeteuropetravel.com (any rail questions ask Byron there who I have bought passes from for years and even if not buying IME he will answer any question expertly) and www.ricksteves.com and www.seat61.com.

Apparently all of my advice was totally incorrect.

The SwissPass will get you some discounts of mountain railroads; it will get you use of transportation systems in selected Swiss towns; it will get you discounts on some cable cars.>

get you discounts on all cable cars - 50% and some are 100% covered.

some discounts is 50% always except Wengen/Grindelwald to Jungfraujoch which is 25%. All others are 50% if not covered in full - these are trains to mountain tops - all trains between any towns are 100% covered.

Passes were bargains 30 years ago but these days they are a moneymaking opportunity>

a ridiculous statement IMO - passes were ALWAYS money-makoing entities - making money for the Eurail Commission, sitting in Utrecht Holland last I knew that sets policies and prices - they always made a lot of money for the railroads - actually maybe less now since there are so so many alternatives with online discount ticketing.

And they can still be bargains - it basically depends often on whether you desire complete flexibility to hop any train anytime - full fare tickets can cost a ton of money - like in Brit - a BritRail Pass lets you hop any train anytime a handful of long trips means the railpass will save you lots of money often if you want flexibility - cheapest is not always the best for everyone, something that just does not sink into all heads - that some folks, like me want to hop any train anytime (most countries allow this - a handful do not so it depends on the country too) and we do not want to spend often hours of time tracking down in advance some discount ticket that cannot be changed nor refunded.

So a railpass can indeed still be a bargain and everyone of my zillions of passes has been for what I do. So generalities about passes being such a waste of money should always be qualified - what do you want out of a railpass - cheapest way between points A and B - well often that may be discounted tickets but if you want to walk up and hop on a train it may well be a railpass.

Thank you all for all your advice. This is my first time traveling in Europe and the planning has been fun but very confusing. I too was so surprised on the price of the eurail pass. I thought my daughter and I could just jump on and off whenever we wanted but most places need reservations on top of the flexi saver. What the heck!! Our tickets have totalled $2200.00 for 18 days in Europe. Starting in Brussells to Amsterdam to Nurnberg to Fussen To Munich (may leave out Fussen and just make Munich my home base for Bavaria?) then to Lucerne then Paris and back to Brug or Ghent. Sounds like I should go through someone else other than Rail europe Any suggestions I think I need more advice that just Swiss pass after reading your responses. LOL

I could just jump on and off whenever we wanted but most places need reservations on top of the flexi saver.>

In all your trains except the one to Paris you can just hop on and off at will - no reservations needed except with trains involving France and Thalys trains in Benelux which you do not have to take. And remember the pass is first class and there are significant benefits to that - a much more relaxing trip -you will always find or usually find lots of empty seats in first class - again you have at most a few-euro surcharge for mandated seat reservations on trains and places you listed.