When to use Swiss Flexi-pass
 

Hello,

My husband and I are traveling in Switzerland in October and plan to purchase a 2 for 1, 4 day Swiss Flexi-pass. I am trying to figure out which days will be best to use the free travel days. Here is our itinerary:

Day 1: Arrive in Zurich
Day 2: Travel to Lucerne (travel day?)
Day 3: Travel to Murren (travel day)
Day 4: Jungfrau (travel day?)
Day 6: Travel to Zermatt (travel day)
Day 8: Travel to Zurich (travel day)

I know that we can't use to free travel all the way to Jungfrau, but can it be used to Kleine Scheidegg? Should we use it on the day we travel from Zurich to Lucerne or the day we travel to Jungfrau?

When are you arriving in Zurich? Do you have to stay 1-2 separate nights in Zurich?

If I was to do this, if the Zurich arrival is early enough, I would do go straight to Muerren, do Berner Oberland, may be do Zermatt, stay at Luzern then travel to Zurich airport (if that is how you are leaving Zurich) from Luzern. If the Zurich arrival is late, I would try getting to Luzern upon arrival.

Thinking of going to Switzerland for the week between Christmas and New Years. May arrive there somewhere between 23rd and 26th.

Do the trains run normal schedules on those dates?

I tried to search and put in 12/25/12 from Zurich to Wengen and it wouldn't let me search that date. Something about date being out of range.

So I can see the schedule for today and the near future. But not the approximate dates I'm thinking of.

Hi scrb11,

Yes, the trains run normal schedule -- if it's a holiday (24 Dec, 25 Dec, etc) trains will run on a Sunday schedule.

The rail system hasn't yet changed to the winter schedule; it should change over by the end of this month. The schedule won't change much, maybe 10 or 15 minutes here or there. If you want to see how often trains will run on 25 Dec, just use any Sunday.

Have fun as you plan!

s

BTW, the dates you mention are prime time for the snowy ski resorts and many hotels require a full week's stay. Many will already be fully booked. I suggest you get your reservations asap if you haven't already.

s

I did some searching and found some available accommodations in Wengen and Murren for the time period I'm considering.

I wonder about 3 nights though. I hear that there are a lot of beautiful destinations in the region besides Jungfrau. In my one visit before, I spent 2 nights in Grindlewald, going up to Jungfram. But really didn't see much else. I did exit the train at Wengen on the way back and then took a cable car back to Grindlewald.

But I heard of Schilthorn and other scenic points. Yet I hear some cable cars are as much as 70 CHF round trip (they said the one that goes up to the restaurant featured in a James Bond movie is that much)? Is there like a pass for the cable cars and trains in this region? Does the Swiss Pass or Flexi pass get you discounts?

Hi again,

There are many different passes and discount cards you can use to cut the price. The Swiss Pass gives you 25% off, I think, and the Half Fare Card gives you half off. You can research these items at

www.swisstravelsystem.com

You can get the exact price for the trips at the Swiss rail site at

www.rail.ch

But make sure you UNcheck the "Half Fare" box to get the full fare. The default is for it to be checked (that's how popular the HFC is).

Have fun as you plan!

s