Guide To Swiss Travel Passes
Switzerland is the most expensive country to visit in the world. We found ourselves eyeing menus with $30 vegetarian burgers, $8 fast food fries, and $100 train tickets among many other expensive daily items. Grocery store meals helped reduce our food costs, but we were stuck with the cost of train and bus tickets. That is, until we discovered the different Swiss travel passes!
The Swiss company SBB operates the countries public rail and bus system. They’re extremely efficient but also extremely costly. That high cost applies to the travel passes that SBB offers. They’re the best way to cut costs if you plan to visit many Swiss cities, but if you’re only visiting a city or two, consider buying individual tickets instead of the pricey travel passes. It doesn’t matter how long you’ll be in Switzerland because you only save money with a travel pass if you, well, travel. For example, after only a week in Switzerland we made up the cost of the pass because we traveled to four cities across the country. Had we only gone between two we wouldn’t have bought a pass.
So what are the different Swiss travel passes and which one did we purchase? Here's a quick summary:
The 1-month GA Pass: For 420 Swiss francs you get a month of unlimited travel on trains, busses, and most ferries marked with a solid line on this map. This includes the famous routes Glacier Express, Golden Pass, and other scenic trains. If you have this pass there’s no online ticket purchase required when you want to get on a train. You just hop on or hop off the trains as you please! You even get at least a 50% discount on almost all of the cable cars taking you to the mountain tops. We didn't actually see this pass advertised anywhere. Since it works for 30 days, most tourists wouldn't get the full month value if they're only staying a week or two.
Half Fare Card: For 120 Swiss francs you get train, bus, ferry, and cable car tickets at 50% off. You will still be required to purchase tickets, and remember, there's no cap as to how much you could end up spending. This is a great value even if you only plan on doing a couple long haul train rides! This is a common card that locals choose. It’s so common that, WARNING: the SBB website defaults to showing you prices as if you have the Half Fare Card! We took that to mean at a minimum, the entire country expects you to at least have this pass.
Swiss Travel Pass: You’ll get unlimited travel on trains, busses, and most ferries for a predetermined number of days. The Swiss Travel Pass works for anywhere between 3 to 15 days, with the price increasing accordingly. You can choose to purchase all consecutive days or break up your days of use by buying the Flex option. Like the GA Pass you don’t need to buy advance tickets with the Swiss Travel Pass, and it includes access to over 500 museums! It’s a great option, and most tourists we met had this pass. If we were traveling in Switzerland for fewer days this is what we would have bought.
Before we decided which travel pass to buy, we ran approximate costs for longer legs of our trip we had planned. After comparing actual costs vs half fare costs vs museum costs that we planned to visit, the 15 Day Flex Swiss Pass at 449 Swiss Francs and the 1-month GA travel pass at 420 Swiss Francs were our final 2 standing.
Ultimately, I picked the 1-month GA Pass for the flexibility of being able to stay in Switzerland for longer if we wanted, and not feeling guilted into visiting museums we otherwise wouldn't have visited. I had a horrible experience in Vietnam several years ago where I bought my museum tickets in advance, and out of principle, I went to all 4 even though I normally wouldn't have. The 3rd and 4th ones ended up in the middle of the countryside, with no way for me to get home so I walked along the side of a highway for a while until asking a family if I could hitch a ride back to town. I'll be buying my museum tickets one at a time from now on.
This travel pass was the best thing we bought. We took FULL advantage! The ease of not having to buy a ticket every time we got on a train. The convenience of taking the fastest route when we typically buy slower & cheaper train tickets. It made traveling less stressful, and we knew we could always take the next train if we missed the first one. If you're staying for more than 2 weeks, and plan to spend most of your time outdoors and not visiting a ton of museums, check out the 1-month GA Pass here!
This feeling was amplified by the efficiency and promptness of the Swiss train system. We never felt stuck, and there was always a train or bus we could take even to the smaller mountain towns. Plus, by riding the trains, you see more of the country and the locals using the systems. We'd recommend everyone to buy one of these travel passes if you're planning on traveling Switzerland for a week or more and moving from place to place. Regardless of which one you choose you'll save money and enjoy some of the best countryside views we've ever seen.
