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Switzerland Travel – My Experience and Recommendations
Hello Guys! So i am just back from my trip to Europe and Switzerland to be precise. [revec2t text=”Presenting to you a first hand information of the best modes to travel in this beautiful country.” hashtags=”Travel, ttot, traveltips, TraveldiariesHY”]
After around five trips over the last five years, experiencing all modes of transport, stay options, here is my blog talking about it with recommendations.
The first and foremost that you need to know is that while, Switzerland is one country, it is highly influenced by local towns / counties and the culture they inherit as a part of their lifestyle.
A quick reference could be to its neighbor Germany, which having a major automotive hub, focuses on enabling its people in driving cars / thereby boosting its economy, they also have free lanes in the country, contrary to which in Switzerland, you would find towns which do not encourage cars and would prefer having a robust public transport system in place to ensure people and tourists alike do not faces challenges and are reaching their destinations in good speed.
I happen to visit one such town, Basel as is the headquarters of the company i love working for, and base my thoughts looking at the number of lesser vehicles that you find on the road.
[revec2t text=”Irrespective of your status in the society, you would find people opting for public transport, and you have wonderful connectivity to say the least and your government focusing on enhancing a green environment” hashtags==”Travel, ttot, traveltips, TraveldiariesHY”]
Travel
Travel Options in Switzerland
Let me take you through the options available and then see which one suits a traveler the most.
- Flights: Most of the towns are well connected by air and have Euro-Airports which offer regional connectivity.
- Road: Roads offer you the flexibility to travel with speeds ranging between 60/80 kmph to 100 kmph on highways / expressways / motorways. You should also be able to hire cheap euro self-drive cars but beware that Switzerland has Left Hand Driving (unlike in India), if you desire to drive in Europe, particularly Switzerland, you need to hold a valid Indian Union Driving license and a International Driving Permit
- Train Travel: Coming to travelling by Rail, in Switzerland this could be a costly affair if not planned properly and executed well, there is a dynamic pricing if not wrong but you may want to spend for a comfortable travel with precision of time in most cases.
With the cost element intact, i would basis my experience, recommend a train / rail travel in Switzerland as I can vouch for one thing, trains in Switzerland take you to places where a flight / road cannot take you and i am sure, you would agree that you would visit this wonderful country either on business / for leisure, you would definitely want to explore its beauty.
Switzerland Travel Pass
Travelling by Rail in Switzerland as i have already mentioned is the most preferred option and for tourists, SBB / Switzerland Tourism has options that would be very economical on pocket.
For international tourists, SBB offers a Swiss Travel Pass, this would help you in technically travelling free on all of their rail, bus, tram, boat services. The detailed map of the coverage can be found here.
You could select from options that they have in the products – Swiss Travel Pass, Swiss Travel Pass Youth (if you are under 16 years of age), Swiss Travel Pass Flex (very useful if you are not travelling on consecutive days), Swiss Travel Pass Flex Youth.
You can purchase the Swiss Travel Pass for a duration of 3, 4, 8 or 15 days.
Cost for the Swiss Travel pass currently are as below:
Benefits of Swiss Travel Pass:
- You can travel across all the public transport system of Switzerland without additional charge
- A seat reservation and/or supplement is required to travel on some trains / buses / boats such as Glacier Express, Bernina Express, Gotthard Panorama Express, Palm Express, etc.
- On the Mountain Rail / Gondolas, you get discounts ranging from 25% – 50%
- With Swiss Travel Pass, you get a few scenic rail tours free of charge, noteworthy that you should not miss –
Free: Stanserhorn Cableway, Funicular and Mt. Rigi Boat Ride & cog wheel train
Discounts: Engelberg to Mt. Titlis (Ropeway); Zermatt to Matterhorn View / Gornergrat; Grindelwald / Lauterbrunnen to Jungfraugoch
With the above post, i am sure you have the basic information that you would require to select on the mode of transport and also the benefits of the travel pass.
With this post, i sign-off and will be coming in my next blog posts on the stay options in Switzerland and the different places i visited.
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Until then, good bye and take care…..
