Whilst the likes of British Rail, RailTrack and Network Rail have been the butt of many jokes for British comedians over the years, the Swiss rail system is the complete opposite - a symbol of the nation's renowned efficiency and tidiness, something the country looks on at with pride. And so they should, because it's a great way to travel around this fantastic country, be it in summer or the depths of winter.
And we can speak from experience that Swiss trains are every bit as good as their reputation - we've used the Swiss Rail Pass three times on family holidays and pre-printed our timetables before the holiday and the trains have always been on time, spotless only once was the platform different ! All the transport, be it train, bus, cable-car or even boat seems to tie together seamlessly it genuinely is the sort of efficiency and precision that you'd expect from a country that has become so famous for it.
The Swiss Rail Pass gives you a whole host of options as the entire rail network is available to you and resorts that are often overlooked by British tour operators are all of a sudden available to you. You can even add a number of resorts to your itinerary and make a real adventure of it.
The pass is great in summer as well for glacier skiing or just as a great way of travelling around this fantastic country. It's useful if you fancy fitting in a city break or two as well - and you also get free public transport in some of the towns and cities as well as free admission to a whole host of the country's museums.
There's only one thing you need to know to plan a rail journey in Switzerland and that is the following website:
www.sbb.ch
The only word that can describe this site is awesome. We've used it many times and it never ceases to amaze us. It's simple, it's clear, it's quick, and most important of all, it's correct. Enter in all the usual requirements (start/end locations, date of travel etc) and not only does it list all the trains that match your requirements, it will also show you connecting buses, boats (on the lakes) and even cable cars !! It even tells you which platform the trains will arrive on for goodness sake - and these are correct too. No hang on a minute, I think we once got off at Interlaken Ost and it was one platform out from what the website said !
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