Switzerland Travel Forum

I am going to buy Swiss rail passes for myself and my children. We are traveling in July. If I get the family card, do I need to purchase a ticket for my child under age 15? My understanding was she would ride for free with the family card but I don't want to encounter a problem when we arrive.
We are going to travel from Murren to Venice as well. Any advice on the best train route?

Please let me know about some good hotel in Interlaken for about $200. We'll be there in June.
Thank you.

Hi all,
I am planning a trip to Switzerland in June. I would like to spend few days in typical Switz villages with the lakes and the views. And would like to know if there will be any place was there will be snow in June. Can you all please give me some suggestions?
Thanks,

Hi!

Can one take day trips to Cote d'azure from Geneva? If so, which places can one visit?

Looking forward to your responses...

thank you!

I will be spending a week in Geneva at the end of June. What is the best way to get to Chillon?

Any other day trips I should take?

Hello, was wondering if anyone knows any discount airliners that fly from Rome to Zurich?
Thanks.

Can anyone suggest me the train route to St. Moritz from Locarno or Lugano.

thanks,
Ranjeet

We would like to visit factories in Switzerland. I have found two places so far. The chocolate factory in Broc and the place where one can watch cheese being made in Gruyere.
Are there any other factories offering tours?
Thank you.

Hi everyone,

I am from Iran and my trip to Switzerland was apparently canceled, I was told by my boss yesterday! In short, I was planning to go there on business (NOT as tourist) to meet officials from a swiss-based medical company. Nothing illegal of course. And I work for a private corporation with no ties to the Iranian govt.

Anyway, it seems crazy the kinds of 'general' documents the Swiss Embassy in Tehran demands from Iranian applicants for all types of visa, and then.... there are even MORE additional documents for each individual visa ( eg, bank statement, international health insurance, etc.etc.) They even want to see old/expired passports and so-called original and copies of 'Shenasnameh', a passport-size Iranian birth certificate-booklet in which one's name, age, date of birth, date of death (!), place of birth and death, current and past spouses info, all elections one has voted in, food rationing stamps, etc. etc. can be observed. Please see the link below.

So I got curious. I know US and many EU passport holders don't require a visa to visit Switzerland. But if you are from Asia, Africa, South America, and even Eastern Europe, did you have to go through almost the same procedure or Iranians are special case because they from a so-called 'terrorist' state with Ahmadinejad at the helm; hence people like me have to suffer the consequences! Honestly it is truly absurd the sort of documents the Swiss embassy is asking for to issue tourist visa.

Finally, someone told me if I have a valid EU 'Schengen' Visa then I might be able to obtain a 3-day visa at the Swiss border! Is this true?
Thanks for your help.

http://www.eda.admin.ch/etc/medialib/downloads/edactr/irn.Par.0025.File.tmp/Visa-Rules200805.pdf

How do I get to Paris from Zurich? Should I buy the Euro rail ticket? I'll buy a Swiss Pass to travel within Switzerland. The website www.swisstravelsystem.com does show travel from Zurich to Paris. Is there any way to travel to Paris on a Swiss Pass?

Greetings to all on VT,

We are going to Switzerland next month and this is our plan. Request you to let us know your opinions. All advice is welcome.

2 nights in Zurich
3 nights in Zermatt
6 nights in Interlaken
1 night in Luzern

Is it good? Do we need more time in Luzern?

Thank u.

Hi,
I'm looking for a spa in Switzerland that's not a resort.
Can anyone share their Swiss spa experiences with me? any suggestions or recommendations would be great!

thanks!

Thanks for the earlier replies.

Which is a better choice for a road trip:

drive from Interlaken to Zurich with a stop at Lucerne for a night?

OR

drive from Zurich to Zermatt with a night's stop at either Lucerne or any other place?

If the second one, is there any place to leave the car outside Zermatt? I've heard cars can't enter Zermatt. Can we park the car some where and travel to our hotel in Zermatt by train or tram? Please advice.

Thanks a lot for the help.

Hi friends,

Further to my question on Locarno, I would like to know if the Swiss rail pass (8 days) covers the below scenic routes:
1. Glacier express
2. Golden pass line
3. William Tell express
4. Bernina express
Thankyou!

Avis

Hi, I'd like to book the SparNight train (http://mct.sbb.ch/mct/en/reiselust/europareisen/laender/oesterreich/sparnight.htm) that goes from Vienna to Zurich (can we catch that from Salzburg?) and the Cisalpino (http://mct.sbb.ch/mct/en/italien) to Vienna.

The website says "Available at the railway station, by calling Rail Service 0900 300 300 (CHF 1.19/min.) or at travel agencies selling railway tickets" Can that only therefore be booked in Europe? Would it be available through a German train station or travel agency, for example?

How much might I expect a seat on the Cisalpino night train to cost from Bern to Venice?

Hi friends,

I will be going to Switzerland in mid-Jun with my parents (both of them are over 65). I would like to know the fastest/easiest way to go
1.from St Moritz to Locarno
2.from Locarno to Zermatt
Anybody can help? Thankyou!

Avis

Hi,
I'm trying to figure out how to call home once i get to Switzerland. I heard that you can buy a sim card (chip) and replace the one thats currently in the phone and buy a calling card so you don't have roamng fees.(?)
has anyone done this?

Would interlaken be the place to go for whitewater rafting? Not necessarily in interlaken per se, but the surrounding area?
Which river is the best? Im looking for class 3+ rapids.
Thank you in advance.

Hello, we are considering taking the golden pass train from luzern-interlaken as an alternative to the regular InterCity/InterRegio train. however, I read on the golden pass site that the train on this section does not have VIP (driver's view) seats or the transparent top; it only has bigger windows compared to the regular trains. given this, is it worth making this trip via golden pass? I will be buying the 4 day swiss pass anyway, so I can always make this trip without an added expense on the regular train. golden pass on this section would be an added expense. Thank you.

I wanna drive from Interlaken to Zurich in June. Is it a good drive? How long will it take by car? Any good stopovers on the way?

Thanks a lot.

Crap. I just read on a website that if you're over 26 you have to buy a first class pass. = (


does this count for foriegners? or only people living in Switzerland?

I'm going to be passing through Montreux for a few hours and will have luggage. Does the Montreux Train Station have luggage storage? If my plans change and I go through another station, do all the train stations typically have luggage storage? Thanks in advance.

So, i will be in switzerland for a week or so in june. I want to do a day or 2 of hiking in mid june. Where is the best place to base myself for beautiful, somewhat aggressive hikes, that can be done in a few hours. I plan to see lucerne, zermatt and interlaken.
Care to offer up some or any other must see spectacles?
Thank you in advance.

I am from Dubai and I want to travel Switzerland for 12 to 15 days with my wife and a 3 yrs daughter. Can anyone tell me the place to visit during my travel thru train in switzerland.

Hi,
since alot of things in Switzerland are extremely expensive (or so i've heard) i think i will be buying most of my meals at the market to cook in my apt.
Are grocery stores expensive as well?

What are your favorite Swiss souvenirs?

Hi,
This is our first time in Switzerland and we are going to be there for 10 days in early june. I am thinking of purchasing the swiss saver pass. My question is with this pass, do I still need to make reservations on the train I want to take and do I have to pay extra for it? I looked at the website and when I check for trains/schedules it asks if I have a rail pass and then the fare that shows up if I tick it is much lower. We are going to travel to Zurich, St. Moritz, Zermatt, Geneva, Interlaken & Lucerne.
Also when I was looking for trains from Zermatt to Geneva, I was not able to find connections on one website but found it on another, so are there trains run by different agencies? And can the swiss rail pass be used on all of them?

Thanks

Also, we're still not sure whether we should do Geneva or Zurich. Which place do u think is better for us, considering that the other places we're visiting are Interlaken and Zermatt?

Thanks.

Please advice about travelling by train in Switzerland. We're a couple and will be there for about 14 days in June covering different places like Zurich, Interlaken and Zermatt.

What pass should we buy?

Thanks.

I'm going to be travelling in Europe in the summer with a friend and we should be spending about 6 days in Switzerland. Would be my first time in Europe so I'm quite excited about it and we want to travel as economically as we can. Planning to mostly spend out time in Interlaken and make short trips to attractions in the area.

I'm planning to take the Sparnight train (http://mct.sbb.ch/mct/en/reiselust/europareisen/laender/oesterreich/sparnight.htm) from Vienna to Zurich for 48CHF/30EUR and arrive on 2nd August in the morning.

We'll probably then leave for Lucerne in the afternoon and stay the night there. (2nd Class, One-way for 23CHF/14EUR)

On 3rd August we'll take the Golden Pass train from Lucerne to Interlaken (2nd Class, One-way for 30CHF/19EUR). While in Interlaken we would probably want to see Lauterbrunnen/Gimmelwald/Murren and also go paragliding. I think we'll probably see the Schilthorn instead of Jungfraujoch unless it truly is worth the cost. Would love to trek on a glacier but that's probably not feasible. Not entirely sure how much all the travel in the Interlaken/Jungfrau region will add up to. Can other good activities/sights there be recommended? We can probably be there until the 6th.

From Interlaken we'll then take the train to Bern (26CHF/16EUR) and on the 7th take the Cisalpino train from Bern to Venice (not sure how much this costs.. is this the cheapest option?).


So within Switzerland: the Zurich-Lucerne, Lucerne-Interlaken and Interlaken-Bern train tickets should total to 79CHF/49EUR. I think the cable car to Schilthorn is 94CHF/58EUR and is half-off with a pass. How much should I expect the rest of the travelling in the Interlaken region to be?

Because, with regard to the rail passes, I'm not sure if we should get one or not. The 4 day consecutive one probably isn't good for us as we're there for 6 days and we could get the 3 day Saver Flexi pass for 206CHF/128EUR or the 4 day Flexi for 250CHF/154EUR.

Are there other places in Switzerland, especially the Interlaken area that could be recommended to make a rail pass more worthwhile or are we better off not getting a rail pass?