I thought I'd let forum users know that from November 1st to December 17th of this year (2006), holders of a Swiss half-fare card can purchase a full-day train pass for 39.- CHF., which is a 17.- CHF reduction from the normal price. With one of these cards you can travel to anywhere in the country (and back if you like!) from the morning until 1:00 am the next day.

These passes are a great excuse to get out an explore a bit more of the country you live in. If you're in the German-speaking part, why not travel to the Lake Geneva region for a day? Or if you're in Geneva, why not travel to Basel to check out the city and it's awesome museums, or some of the sights in Zurich? (Or even better, some of the free sights mentioned in this thread.)

I'd like to start the ball rolling and make a few day trip suggestions:

Science-Tech people might enjoy travelling to Geneva and back to take in a tour of the European Nuclear research Laboratory (CERN). The Microcosm visitor area is free (displays in English) and three-hour tours are free as well, although given the three-to four month wait, it's not something you can do in conjunction with this day card offer.

Sightseers might prefer to take a panoramic train. Two I've taken are:

Golden Pass service: between Zweisimmen (Bernese Oberland) and Montreux (Lake geneva Region)
Glacier express: trains through the Valais/Graubunden region from Zermatt to St. Moritz/ Davos (with connections to Zurich in Andermatt).

Because you can hop-on and hop-off anywhere you like, it's a good opportunity to take an extra hour to check out little mountain towns as well.

Ticket conditions:

-The special fare is only available to holders of a SBB half-fare rail pass.
-Travel is limited to after 9 am on weekdays; there are no time restrictions on weekends. In all cases the return journey must be completed by 1:00 am.
-Day cards include most public transit within cities but NOT most cable cars. For a complete map of validity, see:

Area of validity map

I'd love to hear day trip suggestions from other users.

Happy travelling!

For that period, a day in Ticino would be a great sanity break for Zurich high fog sufferers.

Great work HeatherM! I shifted this from transportation to day trips. Technically it is about transportation, but it seems the main purpose of the thread is to inspire people to go out and take a day trip. Well, those with half fare cards, that is.

So go on people - get out there. The weather is supposed to drop to 0 degrees on Friday so don't forget your warm coat

I debated the transportation/day trips thing before posting, but apparently settled on the wrong one in the end.

Between day trips and train passes, it's been a busy day in Lausanne....

It turns out that if you validate your card after 11:30 pm, it's valid for the entire following day and second subsequent day until 1 am. Might come in handy for some people.

(email from the SBB contact centre)

From my gemeindehaus (village office), I am able to buy 1-day pass for something like 38chf each, with or without any halftax card.

This pass is valid for 24 hours and can be used for all transports, ranging from buses, trams to trains within Switzerland.

This is a FIFO, first come first serve, thingy. I usually buy up to 4 tickets at one go, they only need to know that you are from the same village. The date is pre-printed, meaning it is not transferable after purchase. I can buy up to several months in advance I think. There seems to be no limit how many I can buy.

Sorry, my missus just added, this is only for our gemeindehaus, others may differ.

HAT

	Quote:
	Golden Pass service: between Zweisimmen (Bernese Oberland) and Montreux (Lake geneva Region) Glacier express: trains through the Valais/Graubunden region from Zermatt to St. Moritz/ Davos (with connections to Zurich in Andermatt).

But these are special trains you have to pay extra for right??

Nope. It's true that during the high season reservations are compulsory on The GoldenPass and Glacier Express trains, which is why sometimes there is a supplemental cost. However, at this time of year reservations aren't necessary. Last November, even on weekends, the panoramic trains were about 1/4 full. (I think that's why they always have day cards on offer in November: it's a pretty slow month for train travel.)

If you look at the map I linked to in the original post (here is the link again: it's a pdf) it shows all the train lines in Switzerland you can ride on with a day card. Any train line in solid red is 100% covered by the half-price card + day card. Any train line in dotted red is a line where you get a 50% reduction. So you can get to Zermatt and back with a day card, but to go up to Gornergrat you would have to but a ticket at 50% of the full price. (Note: yellow lines are bus routes).

Last year I took the Glacier Express trains to Zermatt, and on a separate day from Brig to Andermatt using these 39.- CHF day cards no problem. One nice thing about the trains being so empty was that I could change around where I was sitting depending on where the views views were. This weekend I'm planning on doing the GoldenPass route.

So no excuses, there are no supplements to pay. Get out there and travel, it's going to be a (sort of) nice weekend! (Bring your mittens!)

No, you can take these trains at no extra charge. In the tourist seasons, it is recommended that you pay to make a seat reservation on these lines, especially at certain times of the day (e.g., the train leaving Montreux at about 9:30am is particularly busy). In addition, they do run special trips on these lines that include gourmet meals, etc. However, to take the regular trains and at this time of year there is no need to have anything more than a normal ticket.

Thanks Heather and Chris, that is amazing, it proves again how good Swiss rail is, and the halbtax in my view! When "I was in Montreux I read the special leaflet on the panorama trains but I guess it was aimed at tourists, since I got the impression they were not part of the normal system.

So we have no excuses anymore! I'd better start planning, mountains here we come at last

Can anyone tell me what counts as my "gemeindehaus" if I'm living in Zurich city? My local "Kreisbuero"?

Well the english was translated as "village office", which is fine, outside a city. At 300,000 people Zurich isn't quite a village, but not far off . "Local government office" probably sounds more applicable, but at the end of the day for people in Zurich Kreisbüro is equal to Gemeindehaus - The place where all your local stuff happens.

I just noticed, that this offer is also available through the "state of the yard" blue/red SBB ticket machines, just check the "day cards" option there.

For Zurich, i think there is no gemeindehous, and also I don't think kreisbuero provide such tickets. Have to buy it from
Stadtpavillon Urania
Werdmühleplatz
Zürich
Tel. 044 212 81 70

as it is not listed in the http://www.tageskarte-gemeinde.ch/

cheers
Ollie

Thanks, Ollie and Mark.

I had the experience of using the tageskarte (38chf) from my gemeindehaus,
I paid for the difference to upgrade to first class during the GE portion, plus reservation fees.
In the end, I saved like 100-200chf per person I think.

Funny thing is: I personally have not yet used the Glacier express, but organised at least 3 trips for my visitors.

TAN

Migros launches a special offer, too. Beginning on November 7, 2006, they sell a total of 100'000 day tickets for CHF 28 (2nd class) or CHF 45 (first class). Travel time must be between 7 November and 17 December, and you need a Halftax card. All other conditions are the same as described by Heather.

Here is a list of the Migros shops where these tickets are available.
http://www.migros.ch/WMDBPublic/load...A-ADDDAB92C11B}

Enjoy
Idgie

What is it with these half tax cards? It|s like some exclusive club that all special offers are made for. What about us without halftax cards what special deals do we get?
It does annoy me that not everyone can benefit from these deals. Or am I missing something?
I know, stop winging and go and get a halftax card like everyone else, I’ll be quiet now.

If you are willing to travel at off-peak times then you can get discounts on full-fare tickets by using the SBB's "Click & Rail" deals . Of course, these tickets are half the discounted price if you have a half-fare card, but at least you get something off the regular price even without any pass.

I just thought of another thing, people without half-fare cards can also take advantage of all of the travel passes that I posted in this thread on travel passes for visitors (although it sounds like you might want to ignore the first one in that list since it is the half-fare card).
Happy travels!

Hey Chris,
Thanks for that info, I wasn’t aware of the special fares available, that reminds me of a couple of months ago, I was going to Geneva airport from Fribourg the fare is CHF40 each way , but when I went to buy the ticket the SBB chap said that because of the time that I was traveling he could do me a deal and gave me a return for CHF 40 great I thought , however on the train the conductor said that the ticket was only valid one way and that I would have to buy another ticket for the return journey, he then cancelled the return part. Had I known that these "off peak" fares were available I could have explained it all to him, instead I shrugged my shoulders in ignorance.