 Poster: A snowHead
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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| Agenterre wrote: |
| cheap -- especially if you use a 'Swiss-ski-and-travel-pass' ( includes piste access), or your 1/2 price travel pass |
Even cheaper if you use your GA
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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| abc wrote: |
Well, perhaps my geography is a bit rusty. But last time I checked, train from Zurich to Klosters is over 2 hours. And the cost of the public transport isn't exactly cheap even compare with the flight from England either. (granted, the flight was on top of the ground transfer)
Now, if there're a lot of people who's willing to travel 2 hours each way to ski a single day, I'm guilty of being ignorant. (Because I actually do the same once in a while, I do feel it's NOT an effective way to increase skiing days) On the other hand, if one is indeed so fanatical, then maybe £500 for 4 days of skiing isn't exactly that bad? |
Public transport is actually very cheap in Switzerland. I doubt anyone in Switzerland lives anyplace they can't go skiing for the day easily, certainly the majority of population can probably over 90% and I can't think there's many places that can say that other than Austria or Liechtenstein.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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| abc wrote: |
Well, perhaps my geography is a bit rusty. But last time I checked, train from Zurich to Klosters is over 2 hours. And the cost of the public transport isn't exactly cheap even compare with the flight from England either. (granted, the flight was on top of the ground transfer)
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You can do it in 1:48 (to arrive at 08:25).
I can't find out the price, there doesn't seem to be any facility on the website to find out about anything but "period" prices.
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We felt this this time last year and now we live in Canada!
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I did it!
Moved to British Columbia last September and have had the time of my life since....
Not actually living near any big ski resorts but having a very interesting time exloring the smaller local ski hills...MtTimothy, Smithers, Troll for example.
You need to turn that want into a plan then put the wheels in motion....it can be done. 
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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Living in Edinburgh was alright for skiing. Inverness would be even better.
5 ski centres within day-tripable 3hr drive.
For last 10 years have averaged approx 20+ weekend ski days on my £180 Glencoe season pass.
And that was just skiing weekends.
Never failed to cover cost of the pass - even in 2003.
Then maybe take a week away to the alps at easter time.
Doug.
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| alex_heney wrote: |
You can do it in 1:48 (to arrive at 08:25).
I can't find out the price, there doesn't seem to be any facility on the website to find out about anything but "period" prices. |
Not sure what you mean by "period" prices, but if you go to sbb site, search the journey and click on "fare/ticket" it says that a 2nd class return is CHF 92. Obviously if you have a 1/2 fare pass it is 46 CHF or a GA and its free
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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I couldn't see any "Fare/Ticket" option after searching for the journey.
By "Period" prices I mean the prices for the various cards that give unlimited travel for a set period, or give half price travel for a set period.
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brian
brian
Guest
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brian
brian
Guest
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Outward journey on 07.02.2008, ZÜRICH HB - KLOSTERS
via LANDQUART
Price (Swiss francs)
2nd Class, One-way 46.00
2nd Class, One-way 1/2 23.00
2nd Class, Return 92.00
2nd Class, Return 1/2 46.00
1st Class, One-way 76.00
1st Class, One-way 1/2 38.00
1st Class, Return 152.00
1st Class, Return 1/2 76.00
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You know it makes sense.
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alex_heney, you need to scroll down to the "detail" section of each option and the button is there.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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I must be fick or something.
That is the site I was at before, and I still can't see any prices for indivdiual journeys. I can search for the journey using either of the timetable links (each bring up the same window), but I can't see any way to then get the details you have shown.
I knew the passes were there - that is what I meant by "period" tickets above.
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Poster: A snowHead
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Slightly OT, but.......for 3,100 CHF (£1450) you can buy a GA which gets you free travel for a year on most of the trains/buses/boats in Switzerland. How does this complare to say a season ticket on a set route in the UK? It seems amazing value to me.
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brian
brian
Guest
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alex_heney, sorry, crossed wires, you already knew about the passes. 
Can't see how you're missing the fares though ?
- start at http://sbb.ch/en
- fill in from/to then either
- click search connection then scroll down on the results to the details for each connection, each one should have a fare/ticket button
- or click fare/ticket then scroll down to select a particular journey and it'll show you the fares
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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Hi,
Thanks for the healthy interest and discussion. All here are seemingly missing the point about the only addition between living near and living here is the flight.
It is not quite that simple. Many areas of Italy, France, Switzerland, Germany, Austria are within 2 hours drive to a skiable mountain. This means that justifiably a group of friends could decide on a Friday afternoon that tomorrow was a ski day. It is possible to get up at 6am and be skiing on the first lift at 8.30 then off the mountain at 5, quick drink and back in the car and home by ~ 8.30pm. Certain areas are even closer to built up areas such as Les Deux and Alp D'Huez to Grenoble or Geneva to Chamonix.
If I stretch it to a long weekend then pricing works out ~ £20 shared petrol, £75 accomodation, £40 food, £100 lift pass ~ £65 spending cash. ~ £300
It is a big difference and on top of this I have greater ability to choose the powder rich resorts. Also as people have pointed out if I choose a staple resort and buy a season ticket life becomes even cheaper!
There is a final point and it is time off work, if i am within 2 hours driving or even up to 4 hours driving then I can always consider leaving early Sat morn and returning late Sunday night. Only 1 day stay in hotel and 2 full days skiing ...... every weekend!
Oh and to Whitegold, did Egg send you a letter recently? Credit sucks 0% very quickly turns into 16.9% or whatever high interest credit cards are? I have very little credit and prefer to keep it that way .... the 300k mortgage is credit enough in our life!
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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| Elizabeth B wrote: |
| Slightly OT, but.......for 3,100 CHF (£1450) you can buy a GA which gets you free travel for a year on most of the trains/buses/boats in Switzerland. How does this complare to say a season ticket on a set route in the UK? It seems amazing value to me. |
I pay just a little less than that (£1384) for use of all trains, buses and tubes within a sort of circle around central London out to just beyond Richmond, so probably a bit less than 10 miles radius, and it gives me some discounts on tix for my family when they travel with me, not worth much, and a few other even less useful discounts. This is clearly massively inferior in terms of area and scenery to the Swiss GA, but could conceivably be as many miles of track (IIRC, the GA only covers CFF railways; it gives a discount on some others, such as Tasch to Zermatt, and on some ferries).
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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richmond, thanks for the comparison
| sbb site wrote: |
| With the General Abonnement (GA), you can hop aboard the next train and enjoy unlimited travel on SBB's network as well as on most privately operated railways. The card also entitles you to free travel on postbuses, lake and river boats and on trams and buses in numerous Swiss cities and urban networks – totally over 23'500 kilometres of public transport. And many mountain railways and cableways grant special discounts for GA holders. |
My understanding is that it covers all public transport....it's just the private mountain railways that it doesn't include. Still looks a good price though.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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brian, Thanks for that.
It seems I had bypassed the "pure" sbb.ch site, and was only seeing the travel.sbb.ch, which didn't link back to the main one, and the "online timetable" from there shows the schedule, but doesn't have the fares/tickets link 
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Elizabeth B, and everyone else you all need to look at snow'n'rail prices anyway: http://www.snownrail.ch/ If you mostly only use the train for ski trips a GA is not worth it unless you also would have to get an expensive ZVV season ticket for commuting.
Let me give a quick sell for Zurich:
Very high quality of life on a worldwide scale
Low crime
High salaries, low tax mostly outbalance high cost of living
Many English speaking jobs in IT and finance
Less stress than the city
Great public transport
High acceptance of foreigners
Great place to bring your kids up
Better climate than the UK, hotter and sunnier in the summer, colder and sunnier in the winter
Skilifts around 1000m within 30 minute drive when open in good conditions
Skilifts in 1200-1500m range within 45 minute drive (Dec-March)
Ski resorts open from mid November til the end of April (Flumserberg and Hoch Ybrig) around an hour
Flims-Laax, Lenzerheide, Davos/Klosters less than 2 hours
The Italian side of the Alps is completely different (also different ski conditions) and only 2 hours away.
If you make a long term move to an alpine country don't get hung up on skiing every available minute. The locals season lasts a lot longer than the holiday season. You can always go the best location for the snow on the day and even ski a morning or afternoon and still go to work.
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nessy, sorry, I wasn't suggesting that anyone would buy a GA just for ski trips....more along the lines of the fact that a reasonable number of Swiss residents would already have a GA therefore it wouldn't cost them anything additional to travel to a ski resort at the weekend.
I'd love to live in Zurich......all I need now is a job offer 
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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Elizabeth B, as you probably know, CFF/SBB/FFS also does an annual half price abonnement, which I used to have as I visted CH a lot. I think that they do a monthly version as well, which could be useful for someone spending a few weeks in CH, as well as a visitors pass which gives a free trip to and from your prot of entry and half price on other journeys (or something like that), which can be pretty useful.
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| Elizabeth B wrote: |
nessy, sorry, I wasn't suggesting that anyone would buy a GA just for ski trips....more along the lines of the fact that a reasonable number of Swiss residents would already have a GA therefore it wouldn't cost them anything additional to travel to a ski resort at the weekend.
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That's not true, most people simply won't commute the distances and time that would make GA worthwhile. It's only a minority that find it effective.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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I can see it's quite feasible to do a day-trip if the journey is, say, 90 minutes each way but the OP is costing a 4-day trip. I think it's unlikely anyone would do 4 consecutive 3-hour round-trip day trips so I think it's fair to assume they would have to cough up for a roof / bed and sustenance.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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richmond, I have been the proud owner of a 1/2 fare card for the past few years. It doesn't take too many journeys to get your money's worth, especially as any journeys through France, Germany (and I think Austria) that start or finish in Switzerland also attract a 25% discount. Saved me a small fortune when travelling from Denmark to Wengen 
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I did have a pass for the trams in Zurich but had to buy a ticket if I went on the train to see friends down in Lucerne, but from memory the cost was not too unbearable.
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You know it makes sense.
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| Elizabeth B wrote: |
| Slightly OT, but.......for 3,100 CHF (£1450) you can buy a GA which gets you free travel for a year on most of the trains/buses/boats in Switzerland. How does this complare to say a season ticket on a set route in the UK? It seems amazing value to me. |
Yes, it is very cheap but given the seemingly infinite flexibility of Swiss Season-tickets , 1/2 price cards , SOs ... I'd be surprised if many really have them, wouldn't you ?
My Ski season ticket takes me between Zweisimmen and Rossiniere (45mins - 1hr ish(???)) .... buses as well as far as Sion  add a 1/2 price card for rest of Switzerland .... OK , unique to my circumstance ... but point being they have loads of options which you can tailor to your needs as Ise suggests.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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| Elizabeth B wrote: |
| richmond, I have been the proud owner of a 1/2 fare card for the past few years. It doesn't take too many journeys to get your money's worth, especially as any journeys through France, Germany (and I think Austria) that start or finish in Switzerland also attract a 25% discount. Saved me a small fortune when travelling from Denmark to Wengen |
I didn't know that. So I could go from, say, Calais to, say Zermatt and get a 50% or 25% discount the whole way. Sounds good. Does it apply to the monthly half rice abonnements too, do you know?
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Poster: A snowHead
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| Quote: |
| guys surfing in Fiji |
Not much surfing in Fiji, actually...... better on the Atlantic coast of France.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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At the risk of being shouted down.
How about moving to vancouver - No language to learn and skiing virtually in the city if you don't want to take the bus out to one of the multitude of resorts not too far away.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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richmond, Sorry Doesn't seem to include France. My error.
| sbb site wrote: |
| When you travel by train from Switzerland to Germany and Austria, your Half-Fare Card entitles you to a 25% discount if you buy your ticket in Switzerland. |
Buying from sbb online counts as "buying your ticket in Switzerland"
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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plectrum, I'm reading a very good book at the moment on doing what you want when you want. It's call 'The 4-hour work week', there is also a website www.fourhourworkweek.com. The idea is to set up a business that requires little work from you but yields sufficient returns to finance your lifestyle.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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I just wish the rail prices were cheaper on the eurostar and the TGV and I would go on much more ski holidays.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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| nessy wrote: |
Elizabeth B, and everyone else you all need to look at snow'n'rail prices anyway: http://www.snownrail.ch/ If you mostly only use the train for ski trips a GA is not worth it unless you also would have to get an expensive ZVV season ticket for commuting.
Let me give a quick sell for Zurich:
Very high quality of life on a worldwide scale
Low crime
High salaries, low tax mostly outbalance high cost of living
Many English speaking jobs in IT and finance
Less stress than the city
Great public transport
High acceptance of foreigners
Great place to bring your kids up
Better climate than the UK, hotter and sunnier in the summer, colder and sunnier in the winter
Skilifts around 1000m within 30 minute drive when open in good conditions
Skilifts in 1200-1500m range within 45 minute drive (Dec-March)
Ski resorts open from mid November til the end of April (Flumserberg and Hoch Ybrig) around an hour
Flims-Laax, Lenzerheide, Davos/Klosters less than 2 hours
The Italian side of the Alps is completely different (also different ski conditions) and only 2 hours away.
If you make a long term move to an alpine country don't get hung up on skiing every available minute. The locals season lasts a lot longer than the holiday season. You can always go the best location for the snow on the day and even ski a morning or afternoon and still go to work. |
Pretty much exactly the same can be said for Munich.
- Nearest decent skiing in Lenggries about 40 minutes
- Garmisch about 50 minutes
- St.Anton about 2h15 ( get over Fernpass early )
- Kitzbuehel about 1h30
- etc.
Lots of IT, finance and insurance jobs. Also jobs in aerospace.
All in all it's a great place to live, which is why I came here for a two year stint back in 1985!
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| Quote: |
please change the title to England, those of us at the pointy end of the UK have found some good snow so far this year.
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How much and how long would it take to get to the pointy end from anywhere south of Birmingham compared to the Alps?
Seems to me that the best way to increase the number od days skiing in one year - excluding moving - is to overnight it by car and share the driving.
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nessy, Salivating at the thought of life in Zurich, only minor issue is personally I feel the food is far inferior in Switz to any of its' neighbours.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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| Elizabeth B wrote: |
richmond, Sorry Doesn't seem to include France. My error.
| sbb site wrote: |
| When you travel by train from Switzerland to Germany and Austria, your Half-Fare Card entitles you to a 25% discount if you buy your ticket in Switzerland. |
Buying from sbb online counts as "buying your ticket in Switzerland" |
Oh well, it was a nice idea.
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| plectrum wrote: |
| nessy, Salivating at the thought of life in Zurich, only minor issue is personally I feel the food is far inferior in Switz to any of its' neighbours. |
Too harsh. In the French speaking part, particularly Neuchatel, the food is often outstanding, and in my limited experience of other bits, it's good there too. There are many reasons for not living in Switzerland, but the grub isn't one of them, as I see it.
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