Travelling around Switzerland for a month

Haucouwhou21

We will be staying in Gailingen for 4 weeks starting early May. Much cheaper than Switzerland 😉. Short walk to Diessenhofen to catch the train. What is the most economical way to use train and buses for us please? I’m 70 and my wife is 68. I’m also a dual citizen, Australian and Swiss. We would love to see lots of Switzerland on our last trip to Europe. I left for Australia in 1975. Many thanks Peter and Jola Vogelsanger

RolandP

Hello Haucouwhou21

Welcome to the SBB Community and welcome back to Switzerland.

I think, nobody answered your question yet because nobody wanted to speak out loud their opinion 🤪

Despite the fact that Swiss do no like to talk about money (you might remember that), the saying “much cheaper than Switzerland” against a Swiss is rather a faux pas. We do not like these comparisons, although there is certain truth 🙂

In your case, however, I, personally, think that you took a totally wrong decision. No, you are not a dumb, but your decision is not wise either. Diessenhofen is nowhere near the Swiss Alps, nor centrally located, allowing you to get “here and there” easily and quickly. Surely, you will spend a lot of time for “commuting”. Perhaps, yes, you will see savings from a money perspective but definitely not from a time perspective. It will not mean easy travel; you will face long travel days if your places of interest are not all around Bodensee. And, I think, this should weigh in on your decision at your age.

Please check again the travel times using www.sbb.ch/en. A place like Bern or Lucerne would have meant a perfect home for your last visit.

As I said, this is my opinion, yours is different. I only wanted to share another point of view although your question was ticket related.

What concerns the travel cost, no matter where you will be staying: I suggest getting the Swiss Half Fare Card plus single tickets or the GA Monatskarte. The latter gives you full flexibility and allows you using the Swiss public transit network at will. You can get it at the ticket office upon arrival.

https://www.sbb.ch/en/tickets-offers/travelcards/ga-travelcard/ga-1-month.html

Viele Grüsse
Roland

Haucouwhou21

Thank you Roland, appreciate your email. The reason we are staying in Gailing is that I was born in Schaffhausen and my wife loves the town even though she was only there for 2 days some 12 years ago. Got some friends and more than happy to use that area as our base. I am fully aware of the distances, please remember that I have lived for 50 years in Australia and distances here are real! Cheers Peter

RedBaron

Haucouwhou21 I have lived for 50 years in Australia and distances here are real

Cheers mate - agreed, but here we’re talking about travel times, not distances.
In Oz, 100km are easily travelled within 1 hour (by car). Here, e.g. the approx. 200km from Diessenhofen to Grindelwald takes almost 4h by train, and after that it’s still at least another hour up to Jungfraujoch. So this results in very short days, and that was Roland’s point.

Regarding the most economical way, this mainly depends on how much you want to travel and/or how many expensive trips like my example above will be included. Strictly spoken, the absolutely most economical way would be one single trip to Schaffhausen during the entire month, that’s only 15.20 (full fare) per head. 😉
So whether the Swiss Half Fare Card, a Swiss Travel Pass (Flex 15 days) or a 1-month GA Travelcard is the “best” option for you, really depends on your travel plans.