SBB Picnic vs Bordrestaurant: Eat on Trains for Less

A packed train picnic costs roughly a quarter of the SBB Bordrestaurant. A sandwich, drink, coffee and snack runs about CHF 22 on board but around CHF 4 from a supermarket you packed at home. For a family of four on a return trip, that gap is CHF 140 or more.

Swiss food already runs about 61% above the EU average, so the on-board markup lands on top of an expensive baseline. Packing your own turns a CHF 22 lunch into a CHF 4 one, and you usually eat better than a shrink-wrapped triangle sandwich.

How much does the SBB Bordrestaurant actually cost

The Bordrestaurant, run by Elvetino on many InterCity routes, is genuinely convenient: a warm meal at your seat while the Mittelland slides past. You pay for that. A café crème sits around CHF 4.90, a filled roll about CHF 9, a hot dish such as pasta, curry or Älplermagronen between CHF 16 and CHF 19, a 0.5 L soft drink about CHF 5.20 and a 0.5 L beer roughly CHF 6.50.

None of that is a scandal for a moving kitchen, but it is restaurant pricing layered on already-high Swiss prices. It follows the same logic as the convenience premium at Coop Pronto and Migrolino: you pay for location and immediacy, not for the food itself. On a two-hour Zurich–Geneva run, a couple who each have a coffee, a main and a drink can clear CHF 50 before dessert.

What the same food costs as a packed picnic

Assemble the equivalent from Coop, Migros, Lidl, Aldi or Denner the day before and the numbers collapse. Coffee from a home flask costs a few centimes; a roll you fill yourself is a fraction of the counter price; water from a six-pack is well under CHF 0.50 a bottle. The table below pairs a typical Bordrestaurant item with its packed-at-home cost.

Which foods travel well on a train

The trick is choosing food that survives a rucksack and eats cleanly on a fold-down tray, with no cutlery gymnastics and no smell that turns the whole carriage against you. The best picnic items are firm, dry and pre-portioned:

• Filled rolls, wraps and Brezeli: a Buurebrot roll with cheese and dried meat holds together for hours and needs no plate.
• Hard-boiled eggs and cheese cubes: cheap protein that will not leak; peel the eggs at home.
• Cut vegetables and sturdy fruit: Rüebli sticks, peppers, grapes, an apple. Skip anything that browns or squashes.
• Dried fruit, nuts and Znüni bars: the classic Swiss travel snack, and far cheaper by the bag than in single portions.
• A firm bake: a slice of cake, a Zopf, or banana bread beats a CHF 5.50 on-board dessert.

Pack it like a rolling apéro rather than a single meal and a long journey never feels like rationing. The same mess-free logic drives our budget apéro spread and a proper lake picnic for CHF 4 a head.

What to leave at home

A train is a shared, warm, moving box, so some foods that are fine at a picnic table cause trouble on board. Leave these off the list:

• Runny or saucy dishes: curries in flimsy tubs, dressed salads and yoghurt that need a spoon and a steady hand. One lurch and it is on your neighbour.
• Strong smells: hard-boiled eggs are borderline; warm fish, very ripe cheese and raclette leftovers are not fair on a full carriage.
• Anything that needs cutting: if it requires a knife and fork, it belongs on a table, not a tray.
• Highly perishable food in the heat: in a July heatwave, mayonnaise-heavy and raw-meat items spoil fast. Freeze a drink to double as a cool block.

How to pack a train picnic in ten minutes

This does not need a project. The evening before, or the morning of, run through five steps:

1. Shop from what is on Aktion. Build the picnic around whatever bread, cheese and fruit is already discounted this week; that is where the real saving compounds on top of skipping the Bordrestaurant.
2. Fill and wrap the mains. Make the rolls or wraps, boil the eggs, and cut the vegetables into a resealable box. Keep wet and dry components apart.
3. Portion the snacks. Decant nuts and dried fruit from the big bag into small boxes instead of buying single-serve packs.
4. Freeze a bottle. A frozen 0.5 L water bottle chills the bag and gives you a cold drink by lunchtime, which is essential in summer.
5. Add a flask. Coffee or tea from home in a thermos is the single biggest line-item saving versus the on-board café crème.

Ten minutes of prep replaces a CHF 20–50 on-board bill with a bag that also happens to be tastier and lower-waste.

How much a family saves over a year of travel

The average Swiss household already spends about CHF 636 a month on food and non-alcoholic drinks, according to the Federal Statistical Office. Travel eating quietly inflates that figure, because station and on-board prices are among the steepest you meet. Put numbers on it:

• One person, one journey: CHF 22 on board versus about CHF 4 packed, saving ~CHF 18.
• Family of four, return trip: roughly CHF 175 on board versus CHF 33 packed, saving ~CHF 140.
• A commuter who packs twice a week instead of buying: about CHF 36 a week, or well over CHF 1,500 a year.

Even a family that travels only for day trips and holidays, say ten return journeys a year, keeps roughly CHF 1,400 by packing rather than buying on board. That is a holiday budget hiding in a cool-bag.

Can you bring your own food on Swiss trains?

Yes, without any grey area. SBB lets you bring and eat your own food and drink in every class, including first class and the Bordrestaurant coach itself. There is no rule that you have to buy on board, and no minimum spend to sit in the restaurant car if that is simply where you found a seat. The only real limits are courtesy — keep smells and mess in check — and the occasional alcohol ban on specific event or night trains.

So the choice is purely about money and convenience. When you have ten minutes and a fridge, packing wins comfortably. When you are sprinting for the train with nothing prepared, the Bordrestaurant is there, and that is exactly the moment the markup gets you.