Switzerland - Drive or take the train?
 

Planning a trip to Switzerland for about ten days to two weeks sometime next year and am debating between renting a car and using trains / public transport. Two adults and a 2 and a half year old.

Itinerary includes the typical touristy areas, starting from Zurich and working our way around to Lausanne, Geneva, Zermatt (possibly), Interlaken, Lucern and back to Zurich for the flight home.

Driving:
Pros - Much more convenient with a toddler, not beholden to train schedules
Cons - Probably more expensive, parking might be a chore

Train / Public Transport:
Pros - Apparently really easy to go everywhere in Switzerland with public trainsport
Cons - Not sure how I feel lugging a toddler (and assorted gear) around without a car..

What do you folks think?

I travel often with family and would never take the train unless I had no other choice. Especially if the kid isn't potty trained yet. Trying to lug all that stuff around hopping on and off a train, running to the train if you are late, not being able to stop in small villages that look interesting, etc., are the reasons to use your car.

I travel a lot on business on my own and in that case I always take the train. It's much more convenient. But never with family.

If you decide for a rental car and check the train prices after your trip is over, you'll get the extra satisfaction of having saved a lot of money. It's Switzerland we're talking about: great and frequent trains going everywhere, but for a price!

You'll have to take the train in any case from Täsch to Zermatt, as Zermatt is car free. Otherwise, Parking might be challenging and expensive at times, and traffic can be slow in places. But, you will have the freedom to stop wherever you wish.

That's a lot of stuff to not have a car. You'd lose a lot of time via trains as well. My wife and I recently did Geneva-Gruyeres-Zurich, decided to rent a car, and we had plenty of time to do the things we wanted, and that's without a 2yo in tow. We'd be rushing and drenched in sweat if we had taken the train everywhere, and probably would have found closed stores every time.

depends on season and weather conidtions, too. winter driving is no fun.

doesnt have to be binary decision, also. hire a car for parts of the trips , esp away from the big cities

I am thinking this. You can do most of the hub-to-hub stuff by train and then maybe rent a car to do some exploring of villages, mountains, etc. For me there is just something very Swiss about doing it by rail, part of the overall experience.

If you decide to take the train, you also should have a look at the available rail passes: http://www.swiss-pass.ch/

Children below 6 years are free, so only 2 adult passes necessary.

Well I'm more a train person and the company is family friendly with special child dedicated cars on long distance trains. Some mountain trains (I think the Matterhorn Gotthard Express but not sure) have different fun board games printed on the small tables by the windows. I find a car an utter nightmare in Switzerland, unless for the mountains or deep country, with all the endless radars and fines, plus ridiculously priced parking in Geneva and Zurich. When I give a rental car back I suddenly get a feeling of relief and freedom. Maybe just me, but I really don't think it's a great car country, with, like in so many European countries, Mickey Mouse signage and dolls house road markings. Very sweet but damn dangerous sometimes.

I think it's important to know that the train in Switzerland allows you to enjoy the landscape while travelling. When you drive a car, you need to focus a lot on the road.

You could als opt to use the glacier express when leaving Zermatt (instead of going to Interlaken). They say it's one of the best sightsee trains. It can bring you all the way to St. Moritz.

The driver needs to focus, but the passengers can have the great views. However the real issue is that you can stop your car at one of the great view places, whereas on the train you only have a second to look.

IMHO the Lauterbrunnen-Wengen train has the best views, followed by the Wengen-Jungfraujoch line. And as automobiles aren't allowed in these places and the train moves quite slow, it makes for a great tourist trip.

I think you need to go way off track to have some great views/ pittoresque places. Cause the highway doesnt pass through these places. If you really planning to traverse a mountain pass, or want to see villages on your way, you can take a car.

It's also better to take a train because of zigzag roads when visiting the mountain villages. (you can get ill) Also, sometimes you see unexperienced drivers, driving very slow because they are scared, they aren't used to drive in the mountains.

There is a difference between these local trains and the panoramic express train. The Glacier express ride can last more than 7 hours. It takes you across the country.

These trains at a certain destination, you would better compare that to cable cars

Oh, there are some amazing views and places to stop along the highways. Have you never stopped at Giessbach for instance?

I've driven thousands of kilometers in Switzerland and not experienced any of that.

From memory there's *no* difference in route between the local train and the panoramic express train aside from the number of stops and changes. The route is exactly the same, you just have to change once or twice (which admittedly with a 2yo might be a hassle). The Glacier Express is an extra 30 euros or so per person for which you get bigger windows, the option of ordering a very expensive cooked lunch served to your seat, and no changes between Zermatt and St Moritz or Chur.

We took the Bernina pass using the seat61 booking advice to book a Europa Specziale fare to save money. But we were planning around a trip from Switzerland to Italy anyways. We found even the 14 euros for the panoramic cars a bit of a waste. The regular trains had plenty big windows and they could open allowing better photographs.

We also went to Grindlewald and the Trummelbach falls by car. I don't know how much it would have costed to go by train or if it would have been possible to combine those two destinations. The car gave us a lot more flexibility.

The flip side is parking. Having a car in Switzerland is a bit of a hassle due to parking. There's lots of free parking for 2 hours but any longer there's pretty much *no* free parking. The paid parking isn't always expensive but it can be a pain to deal with finding somewhere. Once you know an area it's no big deal but when you're trying to follow a GPS to a venue or restaurant it can be a royal pain and an extra source of stress.

Getting around big cities is way easier and less hassle by tram than getting in a car and trying to navigate city streets, read road restrictions that are impenetrable pictograms, then find parking that isn't a waste of money. Then having to worry while you're wherever you are when you have to get back to the car.

By contrast we didn't find getting around the motorways and even secondary highways to be a challenge and it gave us a lot more flexibility to change our plans midway and stop where we wanted.

If you do go with the train there are a number of passes. We were there for one week and found the passes didn't quite pay for us. But for two weeks ymmv... Do the math on a airport transfer ticket with one month half-price pass add-on. I think if you were going to spend about 200 euros per person on other tickets during your stay it pays off.

I think the last handful of posts contain the best advice you can find anywhere. I'm not knocking using a car though, if you want to drive deep into the country and get off the beaten track without having to depend on a once a day postbus schedule.

If you're up in the mountains you have to remember that they close mountain passes irrespective of the weather conditions, such as the fine unseasonable weather we are having now. It is done according to date. Same goes for walking trails, as I found out in Crans-Montana a week or so ago. The yellow walking trails are covered and the snow and cross country ski trails are uncovered ready for the winter season. No matter if it's like summer up there, as it was last week! For mountain passes, always check ahead.