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Advice on the best use of Euro Global Pass first Class in Italy and Switzerland

  • 12 March 2024
  • 3 replies
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H

I have a Euro Rail Global Pass for my wife and I, both Australian Senior Citizen. Our planned Itinerary for Italy and Switzerland are starting on 31 May 2024:

  1. Castiglion Fiorentino (attending a wedding) to Naples (2 nights in Naples), From Naples to Florence (2 nights), Florence to Venice (2 nights), Venice to Milan (1 night). We will come back to Rome for 2 night stay to take our flight back to Australia on 17 June
  2. Travelling to Switzerland on 7 June travelling as per below trajectory: Milan to St. Moritz via Bernina Express (1 night), St. Moritz to Zermatt (2 nights) using Glacier Express, Zermatt to Interlaken (3 nights) using local/regional train. From Interland we will try to cover Jungfrau, Mount Pilatus, Mount Titlis and a day trip to Geneva using Golden Line.

Given train travel in Italy is not that expensive and we do no really need first class travel we intend to amend our Euro Global Pass dates from 22 days to 10 days just to cover Switzerland. That will save me probably A$$800 compared to A$500 the likely train travel costs in Italy. My questions are:

  1. would it be worth changing Euro Global Pass dates?
  2. would be wise to buy any other swiss travel pass such as Half Fare Pass or Regional Passes so that the combined use of Global Pass and Swiss passes would reduce mountain excursions cost from say 25% to 50% or in some cases 100% discount. Note we will be using Funicular, Cogwheel, chair lift, Gondola, mountain trains etc.
  3. Any other advice to make the best use of our time particularly in Switzerland will be appreciated.

Habibur Rahman (Habib)

 

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Best answer by Hektor 12 March 2024, 06:21

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Hektor
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I have a Euro Rail Global Pass for my wife and I, both Australian Senior Citizen. Our planned Itinerary for Italy and Switzerland are starting on 31 May 2024:

  1. Castiglion Fiorentino (attending a wedding) to Naples (2 nights in Naples), From Naples to Florence (2 nights), Florence to Venice (2 nights), Venice to Milan (1 night). We will come back to Rome for 2 night stay to take our flight back to Australia on 17 June
  2. Travelling to Switzerland on 7 June travelling as per below trajectory: Milan to St. Moritz via Bernina Express (1 night), St. Moritz to Zermatt (2 nights) using Glacier Express, Zermatt to Interlaken (3 nights) using local/regional train. From Interland we will try to cover Jungfrau, Mount Pilatus, Mount Titlis and a day trip to Geneva using Golden Line.

Given train travel in Italy is not that expensive and we do no really need first class travel we intend to amend our Euro Global Pass dates from 22 days to 10 days just to cover Switzerland. That will save me probably A$$800 compared to A$500 the likely train travel costs in Italy. My questions are:

  1. would it be worth changing Euro Global Pass dates?

Sorry, but that's not easy to understand. I do count just 9 travel days in both Italy and Switzerland. So your best choice would be a global pass with 10 days in a month. You may choose these travel days freely. Don't know why you are thinking about a 22 day pass that isn't needed or about buying normal tickets in Italy when everything is covered? If you do hold a 22 day pass that’s of course not needed. But you don’t need a 10 day pass and regular tickets in Italy. You should get 10 days in a month Flexi Pass. 

  1. would be wise to buy any other swiss travel pass such as Half Fare Pass or Regional Passes so that the combined use of Global Pass and Swiss passes would reduce mountain excursions cost from say 25% to 50% or in some cases 100% discount. Note we will be using Funicular, Cogwheel, chair lift, Gondola, mountain trains etc.

If you do plan to use these type of transport in Interlaken area a lot it might be a better idea to have a look at these regional pass offers: https://www.berneroberlandpass.ch/ and https://www.jungfrau.ch/de-ch/jungfrau-travel-pass/.

Your Eurail Global Pass is valid from Interlaken to Lauterbrunnen / Mürren/ Wengen / Grindelwald; for the reduction from Wengen or Grindelwald to Jungfraujoch you'd need a valid travel day, too.

  1. Any other advice to make the best use of our time particularly in Switzerland will be appreciated.

Habibur Rahman (Habib)

There's also a peak pass for the Zermatt area: https://www.matterhornparadise.ch/de/buchen/tickets/peak-pass.

In general: If you like to do many trips these regional passes linked above may be a better deal than buying a half fare card and tickets. Personally, I wouldn’t decide this before getting there and would decide what to buy depending on weather. No need to buy in advance.

A
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You can't combine different passes to get a higher discount. When getting a discount you must choose which type of pass to use if you have several different types.

Please note that I don't work for Interrail/Eurail and that I don't reply to personal messages.
H

My apology that I did not provide the full picture.

  1. Will arrive in Italy on 28 May and will be busy on wedding matters until 30 May 2024. So free for travel from 31 May
  2. Italy trave from 31 May to 6 June 7 days and Switzerland from 7 June to 14 June (with one night extension depending on how we go with sight seeing. 
  3. Will come back to Rome from Zurich either on 14 or 15 June for a couple of nights and depart on 17 June.

I bought Euro Global pass 22 consecutive days to cover Italy, first leg of journey, and Switzerland travel. Your suggestion of 10 days in a month Euro pass is worth considering given I will not be using trains every day. Thanks   

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