Hi guys,
I and my wife will be traveling from Venice to Paris via Switzerland (2nights) during mid-September and I need your advices on the intra-Switzerland part.
Day1 :
Venice to Tirano via Milan (already booked the train arriving Tirano at 12:50) >> and then Tirano to St Moritz in the afternoon >> then stay overnight in St Moritz
Day2 :
St Moritz to Zermatt >> stay overnight in Zermatt
Day3 :
Zermatt to Geneva >> then a TGV to Paris (already booked the TGV)
You can see that we basically just want to get on the Bernina and Glacier Express routes and sit there in the trains for the first two days.
The schedule in term of duration and stops are quite fixed. But I am scratching my head with below;
1) Take the reservation fee out of equation, and assuming we do not have any discount pass, does it cost the same on the Glacier route between the case if we just get on the non-reserve 'regional' train and if we get on the advertised, reserved-seat Glacier express between St Moritz - Zermatt? (I guess the same answer applies to Bernina route). I see from the Glacier Express webpage it would be something around CHF 136/person/2nd class before reservation fee.
And would you recommend making the reservation on the express bogey, considering the availability during mid-Sep?
2) Would you help check my calculation if it makes sense regarding whether or not to get a rail pass. This is for all 2nd class seats, taking any reservation fees aside, and assuming I can really get the pass at the price I am using in the calc.
Case 1 >> a la carte, without any pass >> CHF 29 x2 (Tirano - St Moritz) CHF 136 x 2 (St M - Zermatt) CHF 50 x 2 (Zermatt - Geneva) = CHF 430 for two person
Case 2 >> With Half price card >> CHF 220 (already for 2 person) 29 x 2 x 50% + 136 x 2 x 50% 50 x2 x 50% = CHF 435 for two persons
Case 3 >> With 3day Flexi Card (the pass itself costs around the same as 4day Swiss card) >> CHF 350 (already for 2 person) + zero CHF for all the route = CHF 350 for two persons
So it looks like the 3day Flexi card (or 4day Swiss card) is going to be the cheapest way by around CHF 80 ?
3) How do I make reservation on the Glacier Express if I am ordering the Flexi Pass online? The express' official website does not seem to have option to tell if we are holding a pass.
4) Just curious if the Flexi card can be given away to other people? Will it have our names printed on the pass? If we do get this pass we will have around 27 days' worth of 50% discount portion that come with the pass left so we are thinking we will just give away to some strangers/fellow travelers when we depart Geneva for Paris.
Appreciate your advice very much. Cheers guys : )
Edited by: gooiup