By Dean Marriott
Being an expat in Switzerland has given me a wonderful opportunity to discover and experience this country. Fortunately, it is blessed with a relatively efficient and reliable transport network which makes this even easier.
Whether you are looking to escape for a week, a weekend or simply for the day, why not start your excursion by sitting back, relaxing and travelling by train to your final destination. If you holiday with pets, as I do, train travel in Switzerland is extremely straightforward and our smaller four-legged friends travel free of charge. The general criteria for free travel is that your pet must not be more than 30 cm high (up to their shoulder blades) and is transported in a carrier, basket or other suitable container, although I have never been asked to put my dogs in containers when they are travelling with us.
One of the first and best purchases that I made when arriving in Vaud was the Half-fare travelcard (Abonnement demi-tarif). This can be purchased for 1, 2 or 3 years with prices starting at CHF 175. If you travel regularly by public transport, you will recoup the cost in no time. In addition, this also enables you to purchase the 1-day travelpass (carte journalière), as well as the 9 o’clock travelpass. Both of these allow unlimited travel throughout the whole of Switzerland for one day, with the latter being after 9am and only from Monday to Friday. Price details can be found here: http://www.sbb.ch/en/travelcards-and-tickets/tickets-for-switzerland/1-day-travelpass/1-day-travelpass-for-the-half-fare-travelcard.html
An alternative way to obtain a 1-day travelpass is from your local commune. Communes offer a limited number of discounted 1-day passes for 2nd class travel. For example, in Morges there are 8 cartes journalières offered per day at a reduced price of CHF 38 (standard price CHF 78). These can be reserved online and are only valid for the selected day of travel, which must be determined in advance. So if you know when you want to travel, it makes sense to purchase your train ticket from your commune.
You should also keep an eye out for special offers that appear during the year from La Poste, Co-op and Migros. The most recent offer, which was valid until 31st January 2015, was from La Poste, where it was possible to purchase a carte journalière Duo, a 1-day travelpass for 2 people, for CHF 69 (2nd class travel) or CHF 105 (1st class travel). The criteria was that one of the passengers held a Half-price travelcard. These offers appear regularly and are excellent value for money.
We took advantage of this offer twice. Firstly in late December, with family visiting from England, we travelled to the Christmas market in Montreux, and then took the panoramic Golden Pass train to Zweisimmen, taking in Gstaad and Saanen en route.
Our second daytrip, in mid-January, took us from Morges to car-free Zermatt for Sunday lunch. For this journey, we chose the 1st class option. The journey was relaxing and we were both able to take in the stunning scenery, as well as enjoy a few glasses of wine during the day, without the need to worry about driving afterwards. The Matterhorn Gotthard Bahn from Visp to Zermatt is included and this alone was worth the price of the ticket. It was an incredible panoramic experience. Of course, the dogs came too!
Unless you buy a 1-day travelcard from your commune, you have complete flexibility as to when you travel, so you can wait for the weather to be on your side. We had initially planned to go to Zermatt on the Saturday, but after looking at the weather forecast switched to the Sunday. Fortunately, there are many decent restaurants open on Sunday in Zermatt, so we changed our lunch reservation without a problem. It turned out to be an extremely memorable Sunday lunch!
For breath-taking views of the Matterhorn and a menu that accommodates all preferences, including vegan and gluten-free, you should certainly consider the Old Zermatt Restaurant, which is centrally located and a short walk from the train station. http://www.oldzermatt.com
Finally, if you want to travel out and back on different days, and you have some flexibility with regard to your time of travel, always check the Supersaver tickets. These offer substantial reductions (up to 50%). http://www.sbb.ch/en/travelcards-and-tickets/tickets-for-switzerland/supersaver-tickets.html
So whether travelling as a couple or a family, with or without pets, choose the environmentally-friendly option: forget the car, sit back, relax and enjoy your adventures together.
Author's bio
Dean Marriott was born in London and educated in the UK and Germany. He retired from a career in finance, aged 33, and subsequently retrained as an actor and teacher. From an early age, his passion for languages has underpinned both his professional and social lives. In his quest for leisure activities, Dean keeps one key thought in mind: if Shakespeare’s words are true and ‘All the world's a stage’, we shouldn’t have to look far in order to be entertained. We just have to make the time to appreciate it.
If you are searching for an element of entertainment in your leisure pursuits and have a desire to look beyond the obvious, then Dean will use his artistic eye to point you in the right direction.
Dean is currently the Director of the World Language Learning Centre at GEMS World Academy-Etoy, where he promotes the idea that language learning is about embodying a new language, not simply studying it.
