10 Train Travel Hacks Only Swiss Locals Know 🇨🇭🚂

These are 10 travel hacks only Swiss locals know. In today's video you will save money and you will enjoy Switzerland by public transportation. This is Switzerland Insider, my name is Greg, I'm a Swiss local and I help you travel Switzerland like a local. So first off, when you want to travel to Switzerland and you chose the option to come by train, eventually you will hear about the Glacier Express or the Benina Express. Now both are fantastic, panoramic trains that have spectacular views, but they have a small downside for some and that is the length of the trip is, for example, from St. Moritz to Zermatt, although it takes almost 8 hours. And some of you, I know, they came home maybe from the States in an 8 hour flight and I do not want to repeat that maybe once or twice while they're here. But here are some good news for you, okay? You do not have to do the whole journey in one bit, okay? You can do it on the Glacier Express, okay? Because the Glacier Express or the Benina Express, they work in a way where you have a normal train ticket and on top of that you will have to purchase a seat reservation, okay? If you do not do the whole journey, it's going to be a bit cheaper, but it's still going to be a seat reservation. Now if you do not want to be on the specific Glacier Express, here's a local tip number two, these trains, they run on normal train tracks, okay? Normal train routes ride on the same track. So from Zermatt down all the way to Uist, it's the same train track for the Glacier Express as for the other ones, okay? Now if you want to save on the seat reservation and only take segments of the entire trip, go with regular trains. So a lot of people ask me, Greg, do I need to make a reservation on a Swiss train? And my clear recommendation is no, unless you go on a panoramic train where it's mandatory, okay? And it's no for a reason, because even though we have the whole system in place and it costs 5 Swiss francs per seat per train you take, normally you travel not during rush hour and then you have enough space. And even during rush hour, there is not one train, okay? Sometimes they put two or three trains after each other, so you have this huge train where normally you will find a seat. So if that's still too risky, I've got two hacks so you can still get a seat on the train. Normally in Switzerland, you look at the board and then you will see where the first and where the second class are for the trains. So you can already prepare and stamp on the track in a way that you hit the sector that you can do that, okay? Now when you board the train, and let's assume it's not a day where you have two huge suitcases with you, you can just walk through the train wagons and then eventually you will find the seat. And the second one is, normally there are train stations like Lucerne or Zurich where the train drives in and then back out again. And usually these train stations are used for the train to have mild cleaning done to them and sort of like take away all the newspapers and so on. These trains are often there for maybe five to 15 minutes. So much more than the usual one or two minutes where it's just a normal train station. So in there, you can already go maybe five to 10 minutes earlier. So when the people come out of the train, you can directly hop in and grab a cool seat. But as you already know now a little bit how the trains look like, there are two special compartments in trains that are very interesting for you. One is if you are traveling with a family and two is if you hate families, okay? So we have these two spots. One is a children area. It's usually among the larger trains that ride between the larger cities of Switzerland. There, your kid can go in, you can play, can maybe meet some other parents and you have a lot of space. Or if you do not like noise or anything and you want to work and you want to work in peace, in the first class compartments on some Swiss trains, there are silent areas where it's indicated with a sticker, as you see here, that you should be a little bit quiet. You can do some work and everyone around you respects that. Now you might have heard of the Swiss travel pass. And for this reason, I'm not going to talk about it in this video because there are other ways for you to save money as well, okay? First up is the Swiss half-hour card. And this is a card a lot of Swiss locals use as well. So the Swiss half-hour card is one card that you buy and then you keep it. And this allows you to purchase tickets in Switzerland for half the cost. Now it costs 120 Swiss francs to purchase. It's valid for one month. And trust me, when you go on a couple of mountains and you ride here and there, you will absolutely have your money's worth afterwards. And because a lot of people do not want to rush in three days throughout the entire Switzerland and spend three hours on a train each day. For those people, I recommend the Swiss travel pass. With the Swiss half-hour card, you can relax a little bit more and still reap some benefits. Now if you're interested in the Swiss half-hour card, you can go down in the description of this video where you'll have a link to my website where I will explain more about it. And I will also explain more about the second point right now. And that is saver day passes. Now, a saver day pass is basically a cheaper day pass. And a day pass basically is a one-day pass of the Swiss travel pass. Now let's say you arrive on a certain day and on this day you will have to make a lot of ground by train. And you might think, wait, maybe it might actually be cheaper with this saver day pass or even a day pass. Then you're in good company. Because a lot of Swiss people do that. And not only the Swiss people do that. Even our train company, Ascomade, does it on their website. Now let's say you want to travel from Zurich to Geneva, which is about a distance as long as it gets in Switzerland, it will automatically recommend a day pass for you. Or when you book a little bit earlier, you will have the saver day pass. It works sort of similar like you have it with airfares. The earlier the book, the cheaper it gets. And the cool thing is, you can do this with the half fare card as well. So now you get discounts that lower your prices of a saver day pass to around 30 Swiss francs. Now this is a really good deal. And now when you think about that, covering a lot of grounds, oh, Glacier Express, Benino Express, you can purchase a saver day pass for that day. And then just add your reservation. Now let's say you will use the half fare card the entire journey for the Glacier Express. 7 to 8 hours train ride will cost you about 70 to 80 Swiss francs. If you now think, wait, Greg, this is too much commitment. One day, two days, so many days, so long distance. I just want to have a short hop by train and that's it. I just want to go from Zurich Airport to Grindelwald. That's all. I'm going to go hiking. Don't bother me with all this. Now here's a good deal as well for you. We have super saver tickets, which is like the saver day pass, but for a specific train. Now let's say you want to travel from Zurich Airport to Grindelwald. You can already select your train. And if it's off peak, it will most likely be at a limited fare. And the super saver tickets can take off a huge chunk of the fare already, making train travel for you really affordable. So now you see traveling in off peak, not only beneficial when it comes to seat reservation, it's also beneficial to pick out the right seat when you then can take pictures out the window. And most likely it will be cheaper. And the next point is for those who have a family and they were already thinking, hmm, should I just leave them with grandma and grandpa or should I take them with me? And my recommendation is take them with you because you do not have to smuggle them in your suitcase around everywhere. In Switzerland, for tourists, we have the Swiss family card. For locals, there is something very similar. Even we have to pay for it, but I'll tell you how to get it and what it is of course as well. So the Swiss family card, you will get it if you purchase a Swiss travel pass or a Swiss half hour card. And that means when then you, the adult or the adults, parents of the children travel in Switzerland and have a valid ticket, the children that accompany you, when you then registered for the Swiss family card, registration is free, they will travel with you for free. Now when our children in Switzerland, at least when it comes to trains from zero to six years old or to sixth birthday, all the children travel for free. Now then sixth birthday to 16th birthday, all the kids travel for half price. But when you purchase the Swiss half hour card or the Swiss travel pass and then register for the Swiss family card, they don't pay half price, they pay nothing. Now you think again, the Benin Express and the Glacier together. Now if that's not cheap enough for you and you're saying, well, I don't want to spend money Greg, how can I get free transportation or at least access to almost free transportation or very discounted transportation? Very good point for you as well. In Switzerland, a lot of locations have guest cards, okay? And they have benefits that are so good, I had to write them down because I couldn't believe it myself. These guest cards normally you get when you stay in an accommodation like a hotel. Now there are other accommodation partners where you can have guest cards as well, normally sort of linked to the tourist tax you pay and this is what you get as a benefit for. So let's say for example, you go to Lucerne and I don't want to pay transportation in Lucerne. Good, because you don't have to. When you have a guest card, okay, on the day of arrival until the day of departure, you will travel in the city of Lucerne for free. But that's not all. You get good discounts that even sometimes you might question the purchase of a Swiss half fare card. So if you are in possession of such a guest card in Lucerne, there are huge benefits of mountain tops nearby, okay? Some of those mountain tops I made videos about, also linked in the description of this video. There are Klevenalp, you get 20% discount. Stanzerhorn, the mountains the Swiss don't want you to know about, also 20% discount. Rigi, 20% discount. Pilatus, 10% and Titlis, 10%. Then you say, well Greg, this is nice, this is Lucerne. How about Grindelwald? Okay, Grindelwald, you get something very similar. You get the local bus in Grindelwald for free as well. Then if you want to go up Mandelheim, which is a superb viewpoint in the Jungfrau region, 30% off a return ticket. Kleineschedeck, 20% off a return ticket. Grindelwald first. Some of you know it as Grindelwald first. 15% off now. Well, these are cool things now, because you are sold now and you say, well, I want to travel now, but there is something holding me back and these are my two really big suitcases. I just have to drag them with me all the time and I don't want to. Is there a way that I can get rid of my suitcase without placing them in a corner for them to be stolen? Yes, there is. In Switzerland, we've got lockers, okay? Luggage lockers. And in these luggage lockers, you put it in for a couple hours and then you take them out again. All safe, all good. Now, these luggage lockers give you a huge freedom when you travel to Switzerland, especially on your first day and your last day, because normally you want to say, well, I don't know where to go with my luggage on the first day, so I'll only come in the evening. No, forget that. Come in the morning, luggage locker, already spent the day here, okay? Same for the last day. Take an evening flight, luggage locker, you're all set. So now you've stored your luggage in one of these luggage lockers and you wonder, well, I've got all this free time. What do I do now? Okay, for example, if you stay in Lucerne, you can go on a boat cruise on Lake Lucerne. Super nice. And even there, we've got private providers, okay? But with a ticket you have, or maybe with Swiss Travel Pass, or if you want to purchase one with the half-hour card, you can not only rely on these private tours, but you can also go on a scheduled cruise, a scheduled boat tour that takes a couple hours. Or if you are in Lucerne, there is one to Bergen-Stockenbeck, there's this really cool looking ferry, which you can take, it's included in the Swiss Travel Pass, for example. Now if you're all fired up about travelling to Switzerland, I've got another video for you in the description about 10 tourist mistakes to avoid when travelling to Switzerland and also the many links I've mentioned before. Now, see you soon around in Switzerland, bis bald und tschüss!