FlyingDebris
Traveller
0 comments
Posted 12 years ago
Hi Flo,
Picked this up from your response quoted.
My wife, my 8 year old son and I are travelling to Paris from Bangalore, India and then planning to visit Switzerland for 5 days before departing either from Zurich or Geneva.
Based on advice across different forums, my tentative itinerary is as below:
<<Tentative travel dates to Switzerland - first / second week of April 2013>>
Day 0 - Paris to Basel by TGV (starting Paris early morning) - For connecting only, no stop at Basel.
Day 0 - Basel to Interlaken by IC (staying at Interlaken, spending evening local sights)
Day 1 - Interlaken to Jungfrau (or Glacier 3000) - Full-day trip
Day 2 - Interlaken local and surroundings (Schilthorn, Murren, Lauterbrennen, Stchelberg, etc.)
Day 3 - Interlaken to Lucerne (staying at Lucerne, spending evening local sights)
Day 4 - Lucerne to Mount Pilatus (or Rigi) - Full day trip
Day 5 - Lucerne to Zurich (start Lucerne early morning)
Day 5 - Zurich local sight seeing (less than half day tour)
Day 5 - Depart to Bangalore from Zurich (late evening)
I am sure I will include your round trip suggestion, if I build Lucerne-Rigi into my plan.
Firstly, I would be happy to have your comments or better suggestions for choice of places, if any.
Secondly, I have a few questions.
- Would there be traini to Jungfrau or Glacier 3000 at that time, irrespective of weather conditions?
- As I have time for only one day trip from Lucerne, which would be a good bet out of Mount Pilatus and Rigi? Both from a rail travel time and view perspective
- I have an option of departing either from Zurich or Geneva. Which would be comparatively convenient place from a rail perspective, if I had to choose only one?
- If I choose to depart from Geneva, what would be the best possible sequence of places and trains?
- I will purchase the train tickets (best possible options) online before leaving from India. How early should I be purchasing to get good offers on the tickets?
Thanks in advance,
FD.
:arr: [b]Swiss Pass:[/b] [ux]https://rail.shop/acprail/switzerland[/ux]
[quote]Hi,
first things first:
A EuRail pass basically covers railway only - on some lines (most important are MGB on the route of Glacier Express and the railways in the Jungfrau area) you only get a 50% discount!
The Swiss pass covers all railways plus public transport in cities as well as most funiculars, rack railways, boats on lakes etc...
So, you have to compare the price of each pass to see what is better for you. If you were for instance going to Rigi close to Lucerne or want to go to the Jungfrau area a Swiss pass probably will be better (Swiss pass doesnt cover all in the Jungfrau but has the best value though).
You dont have to worry about Golden Pass route, it is included in both EuRail and Swiss Pass. For the Golden Pass you dont need a reservation, just hop on the train. :)
A nice route could be:
Geneve - Montreux - Spiez - Interlaken
Interlaken to Jungfrau area (day trip)
Interlaken - Luzern; from Luzern to Rigi, best is a round trip: Luzern - Vitznau by boat, then up to Rigi. On the way back to Arth-Goldau and back to Luzern by train
Flo 8) [/quote]
Flo
Traveller
10724 comments
Hej,
I have split the topic... ;)
Regarding tickets, I would recommend you get single tickets for the TGV Lyria Paris - Switzerland and a Eurail pass for Switzerland.
:arr: [u]https://rail.cc/en/train-tickets/france/fr[/u]
:arr: [ux]https://rail.shop/eurail[/ux]
Some general remarks first. Your trip sounds nice; consider that you will have to buy separate tickets for travel in the Jungfrau area (the Eurail pass gives 25% discount though).
Also, you will need an extra ticket for Rigi, Rigibahnen grant 50% discount for Eurail (on Pilatus, you get 30% discount).
Since you are in the area, you might think about going to the Aare gorges as well, they can be reached easily from Meiringen on the route Interlaken - Luzern.
I would also recommend visiting Bern, which is a more interesting city than Interlaken in my opinion.
Regarding your questions:
- Jungfraubahn is operating all-year; Glacier 3000 is a bit off your route (unless you are planning to go to Geneve), I'm not sure if the cableways are open in April..
- Pilatus and Rigi are moreorless the same distance from Luzern (there are two ways to get to Rigi: One is to take a ship from Luzern to Vitznau, then to Rigi; the other is by train to Arth-Goldau, then to Rigi - you can combine this for a nice round trip); the station for Pilatus is Alpnachstad.
I havent been to Pilatus yet but I think both offer fantastic views:
:arr: [u]http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6195/6120943509_96367058ef_b.jpg[/u]
View from Rigi over to Pilatus, Luzern is visible on the right. :)
-Both Geneve and Zürich airport are well connected by rail...it only depends on where you want to go before; looking at your current route, Zürich would be more sensible.
- Other way round: Paris - Zürich - Luzern (day trip to Rigi or Pilatus) - Interlaken (and Jungfrau area) - Geneve (depending on tie available, either the direct way via Bern - Lausanne or via Golden Pass route Zweisimmen - Gstaad - Montreux - Lausanne)
- If you go by Eurail, you should buy it at least one week before departure, TGV tickets at least one month before.
Flo 8)
Flo 8)