Hi. I wonder if anyone can be of help. Im plannig to arrive to basel on 29th of JAN and am travelling to arosa. The Train Prices i was quoted was like £100! Im only going to be in Switzerland for 3days so I dont think a Halbtax would be worth it, does anyone have any other brainwaves for bringing the price down?

I would appreciate any reply!

is that price for roundtrip?

Yes, for return, its like 146chf.

SBB website shows CHF 69 for a 2nd class return Basel-Arosa, 1st class return would be CHF 118. Where are you getting your prices from?

I get the same thing: 34.50 (=23.50GBP) each way.

Are y'all sure you don't have the halbtax box checked? I get 69 CHF each way.

Anyways, to the OP - if you can find someone in CH to get you a Tageskarte ticket for one or both days you are traveling, that would help. (Search on this site) I can't think of any other options.

Well, it seems you are right. Looking closer it says "from 34.50" and when you go to buy the ticket it defaults to the 1/2 fare. Naughty, naughty site!

Sorry!

Call going out to all members!? Anyone can give me abit more info in regards to this gemeinde card, and can it be bought on-line and delivered to a Swiss address?

Had you spent half an hour looking at the sticky at the top of this sub-forum, you, too, might have found this.
Can't blame you though. I'm not sure that it will give you the info you need anyway. In Switzerlnd every, but every place has their own rules about everything - and they all change as soon as you have memorised them.

Lol I spent a long time yesterday trying to make head or tall of that website which is why i put question out for an Anglo-Saxon to help me decipher the site!

I've just had a friend stay for a few days and we looked into getting a 4 day Swiss Pass (http://www.swisstravelsystem.ch/en/c...ts/swiss-pass/), which is like a short-term general abonnement. In the end we decided against it, as we weren't sure where we would be visiting and we wanted (given the weather) the flexibility of being able to change plans without worrying about 'wasting' the money spent on a Swiss Pass.

It's 266 CHF, but if you're planning on doing any other travels during your stay it might be worth it?

My plan is just to go to Arosa and stay around that area, so i don't think that it would be cost effective. The geminde Card seems interesting its just I cant work out how to get my hands on a pair!

You can't get your hands on a gemiende card on line unless your a resident of the community. You see, they are provided by the tax payers of the community for the people of who may not have sufficient funds to travel in normal circumstances. I'm afraid you may have been misled by some people on the forum as to the exact purpose of these cards.

In a nutshell, you are not entitled to them.

Cant blame you for trying though.

Ok, so lets rephrase that question, where does a law abiding citizen of one the citys or towns of switzerland lay their hand on a pair of geminde tickets?

Residents go to the parish offices and ask if there are any left for the day they choose. Or they ring up and ask the same question. Or they check the internet and ask. It's one of the perks for paying taxing here. Some parishes do not officially allow them to be resold.

I think I'd try and find some other sort of ticket if I were you. Over the holdiay season it could well be that most parishes have already got rid of all theirs anyway. They don't buy all that many from the SBB as they have to buy the same number for grotty wet days in November as they do for beautiful sunny days in July. And they can't get a refund for those they don't sell .

Ok. And if they are bought on the internet they will be sent by post to the applicants address?

Considering this depends on the commune they actually reside in, which - short of a functioning crystal ball - strangers on www.theinternet.com cannot guess, have you thought about asking your family "in Swiss" to do a bit of the legwork??

Have you tried the "supersaver"-tickets? If you are happy to give away the flexibility of normal tickets and only travel on specific trains, you can get much better deals. I just found a connection from Basel SBB to Arosa for 27.60 (without a halbtax) if you take the TGV at 11.33, arriving in Arosa at 15.09.

depends heavily on the times and dates though - basically the more "unpopular" a train is, the cheaper.

Check it out -> SBB Supersaver tickets

Thanks for all the info. I would like to ask a question, I wonder if someone could answer me. If I where to have a Geminde's Tagaskarte until what time would it be valid?
My preferred train would be leaving arosa at 21:08 and getting to zurich at 23... The connection leaves Zurich at 00:08 does this mean that my Tageskarte would be Void?

You can use the Gemeindetageskarte from the time the service starts(5am ) until the last train of that day arrives at your destination (max until 3 am the following day).
Once i returned to zurich from Lausanne (dep 23.45, arrival Zurich HB around 2am the following day), no problems at all