Swiss Travel Pass Guide

If you are travelling alone or even in 2 to Switzerland and want to fully rely on the public transportation, I would highly recommend to get the Swiss Travel Pass where this pass gives you unlimited travel on the public buses, trains, trams and even boats throughout the nation with hassle-free. Not just this pass applies on the public transportation, you can even get free admission to over 500 fascinating museums and also get up to 50% discount on most mountain excursions to Swiss Peak. This pass is specially designed for foreign visitors who are non-residents of Switzerland and Principality of Liechtenstein. 

Swiss Travel Pass Categories

Swiss Travel Pass is divided into 3 different categories based on:

a) Consecutive or Flexible 

b) First Class or Second Class

c) Validity Period of 3, 4, 6, 8 and 15 days

Swiss Travel Pass - Consecutive Days 

Validity/Class	First Class (CHF)	Second Class (CHF)
3 Days	369.00	232.00
4 Days	447.00	281.00
6 Days	570.00	359.00
8 Days	617.00	389.00
15 Days	675.00	429.00

Consecutive Pass is where you get unlimited travel within the set of selected days. For example; if you choose Consecutive 8 Days Swiss Travel Pass and you select the start date to travel on 1st January, then your pass is valid till 8th January midnight. 

Swiss Travel Pass Flexi 

Validity/Class	First Class (CHF)	Second Class (CHF)
3 Days	424.00	267.00
4 Days	514.00	323.00
6 Days	610.00	384.00
8 Days	649.00	409.00
15 Days	706.00	449.00

Swiss Travel Pass Flexi gives you unlimited travel within 1 month from the selected start date. For example; if you choose Flexi 8 Days Swiss Travel Pass and you select the start date to travel on 1st January, then you pass is valid till 30th January and you can travel unlimited 8 days within these 30 days.   

Boat is included in Swiss Travel Pass too and you can ride for free

Where To Buy Swiss Travel Pass

Generally, you can buy this pass at staffed Swiss rail stations but do take into account that there might be a queue, especially during the peak hour. So for more conveniently, you can directly purchase this Swiss Travel Pass through online which not only helping you in saving your precious time, but it also ensures a digital back-up in case your printed copy gets lost or damaged. You might also get lower price than the official prices you'd pay in Switzerland as there might be some offer and promotion that is available by the online retailer. In our case, we bought this pass from Klook, our favourite travel platform and instantly we got our Swiss Travel Pass via email right after we had made payment for it.  

During the purchase of this pass, all you need to do is to key in your name, gender, date of birth, passport number, nationality and your departure date. Make sure that all your details are same as accordingly to your passport cause the train inspector will randomly check both of your passport and Swiss Travel Pass together. Do take note of the departure date, it's actually the date that you want to start using this pass in Switzerland, not your flight departure date.  

How To Use Swiss Travel Pass

It's pretty simple - just hop on and off as you like as long as you have the Swiss Travel Pass with you. The only thing you need to take note is the cabin class; whether it's the First Class or Second Class. Second Class pass holder is not allowed to be in the First Class cabin, so make sure you don't get fine/penalty for this silly and clumsy mistakes.

This is First Class Cabin which only First Class passholders are allowed to sit here

You can differentiate this cabin class by the number indicated on the train; 1 for First Class and 2 for Second Class. And this applies on the boat as well, but not for the buses and trams where you can just sit at any seats you want. This is why both of us considered that the Second Class passes are way more enough for us than the First Class passes.  

Platform display board where you can refer to know where you should stand before boarding 

Talking about seat reservations, you don't have to reserve any seats and you are allowed to sit anywhere as you like on most of the trains as well for the boats. However, seat reservations are mandatory for premium scenic trains like Glacier Express and Bernina Express and this is where you need to pay additional fees for the seat reservation, eventhough these particular trains are covered under Swiss Travel Pass. 

Is Swiss Travel Pass Really Worth To Buy?

Obviously YES! Although Swiss Travel Pass might seems pricey, but I can definitely conclude that we have no regret of buying this pass cause it's indeed helping us save tons of money, especially when our itinerary is packed with lots of places to visit. 

Take a look of the breakdown I did of all the places we went throughout our 11 days trip around Switzerland and this fare is calculated per pax: 

From	To	CHF	Mode
Zurich Flughafen	Luzern	30.00	Train
Luzern	Engelberg	18.40	Train
Engelberg	Luzern	18.40	Train
Luzern	Vitznau	28.00	Boat
Vitznau	Rigi Kulm	45.00	Boat
Rigi Kulm	Vitznau	45.00	Cable car
Vitznau	Luzern	28.00	Cable car
Luzern	Basel	34.00	Train
Basel	Bern	41.00	Train
Bern	Luzern	39.00	Train
Luzern	Interlaken OST	33.00	Train
Interlaken OST	Iseltwald Dorfplatz	6.00	Bus
Iseltwald (See)	Interlaken OST	16.60	Boat
Wilderswil	Lauterbrunnen	6.00	Train
Lauterbrunnen	Murren	11.20	Cable car
Murren	Lauterbrunnen	11.20	Cable car
Lauterbrunnen	Grindelwald via Zweilütschinen	9.00	Train
Grindelwald via Zweilütschinen	Interlaken OST	11.20	Train
Interlaken OST	Sigriswil	9.20	Bus
Sigriswil	Interlaken OST	9.20	Bus
Interlaken West	Vevey	61.00	Train
Vevey	Geneve	28.00	Train
Geneve	Lausanne	22.80	Train
Lausanne	Interlaken West	56.00	Train
Interlaken West	Frutigen	17.40	Train
Frutigen	Interlaken West	17.40	Train
Interlaken West	Zermatt	81.00	Train
Zermatt	St Moritz	152.00	Glacier Express
St Moritz	Zurich HB	76.00	Train
Zurich HB	Sargans	33.00	Train
Sargans	Vaduz	8.00	Bus
Vaduz	Sargans	8.00	Bus
Sargans	Ziegelbrücke	14.40	Train
Ziegelbrücke	Kilchberg ZH	23.20	Train
Kilchberg ZH	Zurich HB	6.80	Train
Zürich Hardbrücke	Zurich Flughafen	6.80	Train
Mount Titlis		48.00	50%
	CHF	1,109.20

Can you imagine how much we saved by using Swiss Travel Pass - a total of CHF680.20 for 1 pax (approx to RM3,156) when we bought the Consecutive 15 Days Swiss Travel Pass for CHF429 per adult. That's absolutely one huge sum of money we managed to save from this pass. Swiss Travel Pass is really super worth to buy if you are always on the move from one spot to another, travelling on a long distances and taking premium panoramic trains like Glacier Express from Zermatt to St. Moritz. Another thing I like about this pass is the flexibility to board on any of the public transportation without the hassle to queue at the counter station or kiosk. Like I mentioned earlier, just hop on and off at any place and anytime as you like. Definitely one stress-free pass for those who want to fully rely on the public transportation around Switzerland. Oh yeah! You can even use Swiss Travel Pass to the neighbouring country of Liechtenstein, the sixth smallest country in the world.  

Last but not least, don't forget to download SBB Mobile Apps for you to check the timetable and fares for your desired route. 

To know more about the validity of Swiss Travel Pass, you can refer here. 

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