Holidays to Switzerland Travel Podcast Episode 107 Transcript
Experience Switzerland in Winter! Top Rail Packages for Snowy Adventures
You can see the full show notes and listen to this episode > here.
Intro
Are you dreaming of visiting Switzerland? Planning a trip to Switzerland is very exciting, but it can also be overwhelming. How do you choose which of the many scenic cities, towns and villages to visit, which mountain top excursions should you take? And what’s the best way to get around Switzerland and of course, how much of the country can you realistically see within your time frame? If you’ve asked yourself any of these questions, this is the podcast for you. This is the Holidays to Switzerland travel podcast. And in each episode, your host, Carolyn Schönafinger, chats with Swiss travel experts to answer your most commonly asked questions, provide practical tips and take you on a virtual visit to the most popular destinations, and, of course, some hidden gems to help you plan your dream trip to Switzerland. And you’ll hear plenty of conversations about Swiss cheese and chocolate too. Are you ready to plan your trip to Switzerland? Well, let’s get started.
Carolyn Schönafinger
Hi there, Grüezi, and welcome to Episode 107 of the Holidays to Switzerland podcast. Would you love to visit Switzerland’s Christmas markets? Perhaps you’d like to witness a real life Winter Wonderland, or go skiing or visit one of the many other winter festivals in Switzerland. Winter really is a magical time to visit Switzerland, and with the country’s extensive rail network, you can soak up the stunning winter scenes from the comfort of a lovely, heated train. In today’s episode, I’m welcoming back Fabian Bryner from Switzerland Travel Center to hear all about the winter rail packages that they have on offer, from single and multi location vacations to the grand train tour of Switzerland, these rail packages are a simple, secure and hassle free way to book your winter holiday in Switzerland. Of course, Switzerland Travel Center offer rail packages all year round, but today we’re focusing on their winter offers. If you’d like to learn more about some of the rail packages available at other times of the year, take a listen to my chat with Fabian in Episode 66 now as a special bonus, Switzerland Travel Center have generously offered our listeners a discount off their Switzerland rail packages. So make sure you listen right to the end so you can save on your vacation costs.
Carolyn Schönafinger
Hello, Fabian, thank you very much for coming back on the podcast. It’s great to have you back here. For those listeners who perhaps haven’t listened to your previous episodes, would you like to start by introducing yourself? Please?
Fabian Bryner
Yes. Well, first of all, thanks again for inviting me over and to your podcast. Yes. My name is Fabian. Fabian Bryner. I’m born and raised in Switzerland, working for Switzerland Travel Center, which I can explain also, in a nutshell, Switzerland Travel Center is the biggest tour operator for Switzerland, and we only do Switzerland. We have our shareholders, our Swiss tourism, the Swiss Federal Railways, at the Swiss Hotel Association. And hence, we’re really experts in Switzerland. We have about 120 staff overall. They’re based in in our head office here in Zurich, some in Stuttgart in London. We have a bigger office and one office in Hong Kong, so and all we do is Switzerland.
Carolyn Schönafinger
Yeah, fantastic. Excellent. Now, you mentioned there that STC, as you’re known, is the largest tour operator in Switzerland, or for Switzerland. But when people hear the word tour, they perhaps think of, you know, like a coach tour. But that’s not really your core product, is it? It’s a rail package, or the rail packages that you offer. So can you perhaps give us a bit of an insight into what the benefits of booking a rail package are.
Fabian Bryner
Yeah. I mean, if you look at our product range, yes. I mean, obviously we still also hotel only or Swiss travel passes as a train ticket itself, but mainly our packages, probably 80% of them are train based. And why booking a package with us or with the tour operator as such, is definitely the convenience. It’s the simplicity. And I’ll give you just an example. Let’s say we, we all talked about the grand train tour for many episodes, I guess, which includes five panoramic trains. So just imagine we needed to make seat reservation on all these five trains. So this is like five different websites, five different systems you need to operate. And then it comes down to the ticket, where we have specific tickets for each of our package depending on the length on the itinerary. And then we obviously have also a range of hotels that are conveniently located to train stations or to public transport access. So get these are the elements that make it, yeah, make it very convenient to book with us, or with any to operate for that sense. Yeah.
Carolyn Schönafinger
Yeah. And I think one of the things too, that I think is a great benefit, is that you’re actually providing the best value tickets for the specific itinerary. So if someone’s sort of going to multiple places in Switzerland, they might think, well, you know, the Swiss Travel Pass is best for us, but based on the itinerary that you do or that they do, you actually calculate the ticket prices and work out the cheapest fear for them.
Fabian Bryner
Yes, absolutely. So that makes it, can make a difference, because sometimes also the Swiss Travel Pass may be not, you know, suitable for your length of stay. So, I mean, you get an eight day or 15 day pass in between. It’s, it’s, there’s nothing. And our train tickets that we use are, as I said, itinerary based. They’re ready for 30 days, and they have a offer card included, so lots of benefits that you have at these tickets. And overall, these packages are also well priced, because we have these benefits in included, yeah.
Carolyn Schönafinger
Yeah. And then another great benefit that I see is that everything can be paid for just with one payment you mentioned before, if you have to make seat reservations for different panoramic trains, you’ve got to go on to all the different websites. You’ve got to make all these different payments. If you’re booking a rail package, it’s one payment for your your transport, your accommodation and any seat reservations.
Fabian Bryner
Yeah. And the other thing is, you know, we have a bit of a peace of mind when you travel, because, you know, this season we had a couple of unfortunate incidents where trains were not running. One was the Glacier Express you may have talked about that was disconnected for almost, I think, about two months in the summer season. And then you have someone who takes care of you and make sure you know you’re taking care of for your reservation and your package.
Carolyn Schönafinger
Yeah, that’s definitely gives you peace of mind. Now, we’ve talked on a previous episode about some of the rail packages that you offer, in general, but I wanted to chat to you today about some of the winter packages, because you’ve just released some brand new winter rail packages for anyone who is thinking about visiting Switzerland in winter. Why do you think that is a good time to visit?
Fabian Bryner
Well, let me start with promoting all the seasons. I mean, we have four seasons, yeah, in Switzerland, and each season has its term for visitors, honestly, for some guests. I mean, they don’t have winter, they don’t have snow. It’s the experience of snow in the first place. And then you have, in winter, you have the festive season with the Christmas markets, all the decorations, the Christmas lightning, the different food stalls that you have out in the streets. Then obviously, yes, the winter sports, which Switzerland is famous for, skiing, Nordic sports, and we now see that touring is booming as well in winter time, for one it’s, you know, summer has become hotter in Switzerland as well, has become more crowded. And people love the ones who experience the train tour in winter. They just love the fact that you’re sitting in a warm train in a comfortable first class chair, ideally, and see the Winter World Glen Pass by, and this is what makes what makes it so unique in winter, because, yeah, it’s an experience you don’t have nowhere else, I guess, in that density of winter and train.
Carolyn Schönafinger
Absolutely. So could you tell me about some of the packages, rail package that you that you’ve had for a while that operate specifically during winter.
Fabian Bryner
Yeah, sure, sure. One I would highlight is the new one you just mentioned. Is this, we call it Winter Wonderland and magical trains, which is a four day three night package and and we put that together in collaboration with with Interlaken and with the Jungfrau railways, and also with Montreux tourism, because it connects kind of two very interesting winter spots. But actually the tour starts already in Lucerne, especially in January we have a very unique season with with this, they call it Lilu. It’s like the the Light Festival, which, especially by lighting, is put up in the whole city. So you start from Lucerne, take the Interlaken place to Interlaken. And Interlaken has, for this season, prepared something unique. For the first time they have this Well, it’s kind of a winter wonderland, where you have all the food stalls, all the different little shops. It’s like a Christmas market on the main area of Interlaken. And then you have two nights in Interlaken, whereas you also have time for exploring the neighborhood, kind of these surroundings. And then you take the Golden Pass train to Montreux. And if you’re actually visiting in December, you’re going to have the benefits of seeing the Christmas market in Montreux. Christmas market is one of the most famous one and most beautiful ones, to be honest. So you have a bit of everything. And it’s, ideally, it’s going to be in December, because then festivities is at its peak, everything. But it also works well, you know, up to March, you know, our season, winter season, goes, you know, pretty much into March. So this is, you know, train is, in this case, you have two panoramic trains connecting, you know, very nice and interesting and winter cities. But then we have one of my favorite is to, we call it winter peaks and glacial dreams. Basically, it starts in St. Gallen. It goes a bit, you know, not off the beaten tracks, but it takes a bit different routes. So you start in St. Gellen, and you’re going to Lucerne again. You have the benefits of Oxford Lucerne in winter, hopefully snow covered, everything very nice and calm. And then you take the gotardino down to Locarno, into the Ticino. Ticino is normally since it’s bit the sunny side, the sunny side of Switzerland, the more warm, more Italian climate, they don’t have snow all of the time in winter time, as you may even see palm trees in the winter time. So you spend the night in Locarno before you actually take the Centovalli Express into Valais, where you then go to Montreux, and from Montreux again, GoldenPass to Interlaken and and so connecting kind of what we what we talked about before, with Montreux and Interlaken, just the other way around. So this is a nine day, eight night package. So it gives you a bit more time stay more than one night. In some places, it’s more relaxed and more peaceful. Maybe the last one here, the last one to be mentioning is the Grand train tour, which we also have a winter version. You know that. We call it the best of winter, and it’s following the Grand train tour itinerary with a bit of a change in terms of where you overnight. Because we know that, or we may have talked about this before, you know, winter is as too high, very high, super peaks, peaks, you know, in terms of in the mountain destinations, such as them up themselves. And this is like the Christmas season, you know, from 20th December to the, you know, I think the fifth or so of January, where the school holidays are, and over Christmas and New Year’s, and then again, February. Whole February, pretty much, is the Swiss school holidays. Swiss are going to the mountain skiing, so then prices are up, it’s crowded, it’s lower availability. So we consider that in our planning for the package. And so our grand train tour of best of winter is staying in Brig instead of Zermatt and in cool instead of song. Now, you know, you’re still visiting these well known destinations, but you’re staying in a more calm, but very nice, and we call it the second tier cities that now are booming as well. You know, people are looking for that off the beaten track, nice and calmer, which they are definitely.
Carolyn Schönafinger
And you’re getting the benefit of lower accommodation prices, because you’re not staying in those hot spots.
Fabian Bryner
Yeah, that’s it, yeah, and less crowded, and you still see the highlights that you may want to see.
Carolyn Schönafinger
Okay, so how long is that? Two or four?
Fabian Bryner
That’s now eight days and seven nights. But remember, you know, we talked about, initially, about this ticket so we can extend every tour to, you know, how many nights you want. So you can some of your listeners who have been booking with us and have or have checked out our packages, they’ve seen that our booking tool is amazing in terms of, you know, you can, we have a set itinerary, but you can first of all, choose your hotels. So you can make some match of four star and three star and five star hotel in each destination. And then you can add extra nights, so you can extend your stay. So this is the minimum. When I say this is four day, three nights, this is the minimum, because that’s what the itinerary requires. But you can extend to 10 days, if you want, and make it more relaxed. And then we also have, you know, the tool also offers the benefit of day excursions that you can book within tool. So you can, you know, if you for yourself staying Interlaken you just had activities. And then you can choose either Lake cruise or any of your excursion, whatever you want, and again, everything paid in one time you get one set of documents. So very easy.
Carolyn Schönafinger
Okay, great. So what about for people who like to perhaps go skiing? Do you have any ski packages?
Fabian Bryner
Yes, we do have them here with the classical ski package, where you stay in one hotel, Lake passes, including also transport included. In some cases, you even can arrange luggage transfer from the airport to the mountain destinations. So there are more. You know one, one destination package. We have one, pretty cool one, and well booked one is a combination, combination of the mud Sauks, and you transfer with the Glacier Express. Yeah, perfect. So it’s really kind of you combining three highlights, the two top ski destinations at the top train, and that’s people from different markets are kind of interested in as well.
Carolyn Schönafinger
Okay, great.
Fabian Bryner
And then besides these wind Yeah, besides these winter packages, we also have packages that are, it’s kind of up and spoke concept, you know, one is to mention is, for example, Thun, also one of the second tier cities we see picking up in demand. You can explore the whole Bernese Oberland from there, and you stay there maybe four days, five days and have a suitable ticket that takes you around.
Carolyn Schönafinger
Perfect. So how many different kinds of winter or how many winter packages would you have overall?
Fabian Bryner
Oh, that’s a good question. It’s probably about 10 to 15 well, then adding also all this key package in each destination. So I guess, since we are selling in all you know, we are operating all seasons right now. We are actually wrapping up the summer season. Currently, bookings are coming in for the for the autumn season. So on our website, you don’t see much snow yet, but the easiest way to find your winter package you want to book now, which is, which is the right time to book, actually. But just, you know, in our minds here being still in, you know, end of summer, it feels like far away. So you just enter, you know, in the search box that we have on our website, top right, you just enter winter, and then you get the full, the full list of all the winter packages. That’s probably the easiest way to to get to our packages,
Carolyn Schönafinger
Excellent. Then they can find all the different options there. Now, for a couple of years, you’ve at Switzerland Travel Center have been very generous in offering our listeners a 5% discount when they use our code HT Swiss when they book. So how and where should people who are interested in booking one of these rail packages. How do they go about doing that?
Fabian Bryner
Well, it starts with our website, and then you have the different category of products, and each of the products that can be booked online are eligible for this code. And I must say, I mean, it’s very fruitful collaboration we have, and your audience has taken advantage of these discounts, which can make up quite a bit of a difference in package for, you know, 10 days for two people. So basically, you just book it through, and at the very end, when you come to the payment page, you add this promotion code, and it takes off 5% from the total amount, yeah. Well, that’s all you need to do. And the payment is by credit cards. We talked about it one single payment.
Fabian Bryner
Yeah, definitely. I would just mention it early in the conversation that you’re coming from, you know that you’re part of your community, and they’ve seen this, this is where you have seen it and come from, and then we can apply the discount. I mean, there’s, you know, as you said, email, phone or, I mean, you can start the booking, because we have so many packages, especially for summer, we have, like, I don’t know, 50-60, different packages, so you pretty much come close to what you’re looking for, I’m sure, with one of the packages. And then what you can do, you can save it and call us or send us an email, and then we, together with you customer, we actually gonna finalize the program and tailor made.
Carolyn Schönafinger
Okay. And the website, of course, and I’ll put a link to it in the show notes, but it’s switzerlandtravelcentre.com. Is the website now, so some people perhaps may not be able to book their package online, or they might have questions before they sort of actually finalize their booking if they contact Switzerland Travel Center, either by phone or email, can they still qualify for the discount?
Carolyn Schönafinger
Yeah, fantastic. That’s great to know.
Fabian Bryner
That’s another option that we can offer that team. You start yourself, and then we we help you finish it to your needs.
Carolyn Schönafinger
Okay, perfect. That sounds great. So do you have any final tips for anyone who’s considering a winter vacation in Switzerland?
Fabian Bryner
Well, if you want to beat the crowds, it’s definitely gonna be January. January is a very good month in between these super peaks I mentioned before, Christmas, New Year’s, and then the school holidays in February. And February is, you know, pretty much all February school holidays, because you need to consider that, you know, Switzerland has, like, the all the cantons have, you know, these school holidays, and they’re not only the same week, but they’re spread out over, like, four weeks. And another tip is definitely, especially for the training packages, is March. Because March, sometimes has become already a bit of spring in the mountain destination, still have kind of the winter feeling. And then you take the train, let’s say, from Glacier Express takes it down to the valley of valleys. Then you may have already, you know, spring, kind of, you know blossoming of flowers and the degradation.
Carolyn Schönafinger
Then, okay, so you’re getting a bit of both seasons that time of year.
Fabian Bryner
Yeah, you get two for one, basically you get a bit of winter in spring. And also, you know, again, talking about prices, January is the dip in the price price curve, and then definitely march again, when through the switz winter is wrapped up after the winter school holidays. You know, people are focusing on spring.
Carolyn Schönafinger
Okay, before we go, I’ve got one more question for you. Do you have a favorite train ride in Switzerland during winter?
Fabian Bryner
Good one, but I don’t want a favorite one, actually,
Carolyn Schönafinger
We won’t tell anyone.
Fabian Bryner
No, no. Well, I guess the Golden Pass not only because it connects, you know, the two highlights we mentioned, Interlaken and motor, but it’s also from duration point of view. It’s somewhere between two and three hours, and it’s the gentle slopes and the different coming from the from the Bernese Oberland into down into the lavo, into the Lake Geneva region, at a bit of of everything.
Carolyn Schönafinger
Sounds great. Thank you so much Fabian for sharing all that with us today. Hopefully we’ve got plenty of people interested in booking a rail package in winter or, if not at least at some other time of the year, because Switzerland is always, in my opinion, best seen by train. So thank you very much.
Fabian Bryner
Thanks a lot to you, Carolyn. Hope to see you soon.
Carolyn Schönafinger
How good does a winter experience in Switzerland sound? Imagine seeing those snowy landscapes from the comfort of your train seat as you travel from one magical destination to another, there’s nothing like it. Booking a rail package is a hassle free way to plan and book your trip, with all reservations taken care of, but you get to choose whether you want to travel in first or second class and the standard of accommodation that you’d like. Those all important seat reservations on the panoramic trains are booked on your behalf, and you can customize the itinerary exactly how you want. So if you’d like to stay additional days in any of the locations, that’s perfectly fine. You can also include excursions in any of the destinations, making it easy, because you’ve got one package, one payment, all done. There’s also the added security of knowing that there’s someone there to assist if an unexpected problem arises, such as a railway line closure due to bad weather. It really is an easy way to plan and book your Swiss vacation. Now, of course, as Fabian mentioned, they’ve offered a very generous 5% discount to anyone who quotes the promo code, HTSwiss, that’s H t, s, w, i, s, s, when booking their rail package, we’ll include in the show notes that promo code again, and a link to a video with step by step instructions showing you how to make your booking on the Switzerland Travel Center website. I’ll also include a link to the Switzerland Travel Center website and their contact details if you’d prefer to get in touch by phone or email. If you do, make sure you mention that code and you will qualify for the discount as well. Those show notes can be found at holidaystoswitzerland.com/episode107, thank you very much for joining me today, until next time. Tschüss.
You can see the full show notes and listen to this episode > here.
