{"id":2186,"date":"2014-10-19T07:00:31","date_gmt":"2014-10-19T14:00:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/suitcasejournal.com\/?p=2186"},"modified":"2015-08-14T11:33:58","modified_gmt":"2015-08-14T18:33:58","slug":"swiss-rail-pass-evaluation-extensive-benefits-justify-price","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/suitcasejournal.com\/?p=2186","title":{"rendered":"Swiss Rail Pass Evaluation: Extensive Benefits Justify Price"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Swiss<\/a>Our upcoming journey to Switzerland will be our first Europe trip since our first international trip together in 2009 in which buying a rail pass makes sense relative to purchasing individual tickets. \u00a0In our last train-intensive trip to Europe (Portugal\/Spain 2012<\/a>), we actually determined that planning ahead and buying tickets directly from the operator<\/a>\u00a0lead to greater savings than a rail pass. \u00a0This same rule applies to our planned travel in Germany and Austria during this trip, however the comprehensive benefits of the Swiss Rail Pass make it the clear choice for funding our transit within Switzerland.<\/p>\n

The Swiss Pass<\/a> is different from the passes offered by Eurail<\/a> that are the standard in most countries. \u00a0Although Eurail offers regional or global passes that include Switzerland, the Swiss Pass, with its associated benefits, is only available from Swiss Travel System<\/a>. \u00a0Also unlike the Eurail passes, the Swiss Pass offers free<\/strong>\u00a0fare on local transit options, free<\/strong> admission to many of Switzerland’s\u00a0best museums and attractions (link to master list<\/a>), and\u00a0free<\/strong> rides on many of the mountain cablecars and railroads. \u00a0Our first analysis, without considering these benefits, indicated individual tickets would actually be very\u00a0comparable to a pass at around 305 CHF for our total train travel cost in Switzerland (cost of\u00a0a 3-day flexi pass, 20 CHF shipping, and one ticket not included on the pass vs. 5 individual rail tickets and Mt. Rigi Majestic Round Trip).<\/p>\n

Once we started looking at are other planned activities in Switzerland, however, we began to realize the benefit of the Swiss Pass. \u00a0The “flexi pass” we originally evaluated (which does not require the pass days to be consecutive), only offers the benefits on travel days. \u00a0Most of our planned activities will not occur on the same days we travel, so to take advantage of the Swiss Pass benefits, we needed to instead evaluate buying a normal 8-day Swiss Pass, which would cover travel and activities for our entire stay in Switzerland. \u00a0For a couple, this pass costs 365 CHF per traveler<\/strong> (including the 10% saver discount and 20 CHF total shipping for 2 passes). \u00a0Here are the expected benefits we expect to accrue with the pass per person (organized from largest value to smallest):<\/p>\n