Is the Swiss Travel Pass worth it? An honest review

Summary: Is the Swiss Travel Pass worth it?

If you’re just looking for a quick answer to the question ‘is a Swiss Travel Pass worth it?’, the annoying answer is: it really depends.

Based on my personal experience and the calculations at the end of this blog post, the Swiss Travel Pass (I’ll refer to it as STP in this blog post) is pretty much always better than buying point-to-point, full fare tickets, but the Swiss Half Fare Card can often end up being even better value.

P.S. If you book your Swiss Travel Pass or Swiss Half Fare Card through these links, you can save 10% using the promocode FINDINGALEXXKLOOK.

To know for sure whether a STP is worth it, you need to write down all the transport you’re going to use during your Switzerland trip and calculate the point-to-point tickets vs. what it would cost with a Swiss Travel Pass vs. the Swiss Half Fare Card.

I can’t tell you whether the STP will be worth it for you just based on the cities/towns you’re visiting or the number of days you’re in Switzerland. It will totally depend on what mountain excursions you want to do, if you’re taking any panoramic trains, and if you know your itinerary well in advance or if you’ll be booking things last minute.

However, there are some scenarios in which a Swiss Travel Pass is *generally* either worth it or not worth it.

The Swiss Travel Pass is probably worth it when…

• Your itinerary includes the Glacier Express and another one or two panoramic trains
• You’re planning on using the public transport system to get between cities every couple of days at least
• You hate the idea of planning and just want to be able to stay flexible and jump on trains when you feel like it
• You’re visiting multiple cities but don’t plan on using any or many of the mountain railways or cable cars
• You’re happy to keep your mountain excursions to Rigi and Stanserhorn (the two that are free with the STP)
• You’re wanting to book most of your trip pretty last minute, within a few days of travel
• You’re doing the Grand Train Tour (all five panoramic trains)

The Swiss Travel Pass probably isn’t worth it when…

• You know your itinerary two or three months in advance and can pre-book tickets without needing them to be refundable
• You’re in Switzerland for three days or less
• You’re just visiting one or two cities or sticking to a specific region
• You plan on taking 3-4 or more mountain railways and cable cars (the Half Fare Card will probably be better)
• You want to go to Jungfraujoch (Jungfrau’s regional travel pass offers the best Jungfrau deal)

What is the Swiss Travel Pass?

The Swiss Travel Pass is your all-in-one ticket to travel freedom across Switzerland’s extensive public transportation network.

It’s designed for tourists and allows you to hop on and off trains, buses, and boats at your leisure, for a set number of days (either consecutive or flexible).

(P.S. Don’t forget the promocode FINDINGALEXXKLOOK for 10% off)

Swiss Travel Pass vs. Swiss Travel Pass Flex

The Swiss Travel Pass lets you choose from 3, 4, 6, 8 or 15 consecutive days of travel. You choose a start date for your pass and you’ll have unlimited access to public transport for the length of time your pass is valid for. Ideal for those who will be utilising the transport network each day of their trip.

The Swiss Travel Pass Flex offers all the same benefits but with the flexibility to choose the days you want to travel within one month. Choose a 3, 4, 6, 8 or 15 day Flex Pass and ‘switch on’ a travel day when you know that day is going to be worth it. This is ideal for longer trips and if you’ll have days that you won’t be using transport enough to make it worth using a ‘travel day’.

What does the Swiss Travel Pass include?

• Unlimited travel on buses, boats and trains across the Swiss Travel System network
• Free travel on panoramic trains like the Gotthard Panorama Express, Glacier Express and Bernina Express
• A couple of free mountain excursions (Stanserhorn and Rigi)
• 50% off most other mountain railways and cable cars
• Free public transport in 90 cities
• Free entry to more than 500 museums

What does the Swiss Travel Pass not include?

• Seat reservations on panoramic trains (most trains in Switzerland don’t require reservations but the Glacier Express, Bernina Express and a couple of others have either mandatory or recommended reservations)
• The mountain excursion to Jungfraujoch (but you do get a 25% discount)
• Mountain railways and cable cars like Gornergratbahn, Matterhorn Glacier Paradise, Titlis and Pilatus (but you do get a 50% discount on most of them)
• Private lake cruises

Swiss Travel Pass prices

Here are the prices for adult passes in 2nd class. 1st class passes are about 60% more expensive than the prices you see below.

Prices valid as of 1 August 2024, they typically put prices up annually at the most so these should be valid for the remainder of 2024.

Can you get a discount on a Swiss Travel Pass?

If you’re between 16 and 25 you’re eligible for the Swiss Travel Pass Youth, this gives you a 30% discount on the pass prices above.

Kids aged between 6 and 16 (until their 16th birthday) accompanies by at least one parent (holding a Swiss Travel System ticket) travel free of charge across the network with a complimentary Swiss Family Card.

Kids under 6 travel free of charge across the network, no Swiss Family Card needed.

There are no senior discounts for the STP unfortunately.

How to use a Swiss Travel Pass

Where to buy a Swiss Travel Pass

You can easily buy a Swiss Travel Pass online (save 10% with promocode FINDINGALEXXKLOOK) from the comfort of your home or while you’re already in Switzerland.

Just keep in mind that you must have a valid STP if you’re taking advantage of the benefits, i.e. if you jump on a train with the plan to buy your STP once you’re on it, and you get asked for your ticket before you have a chance to buy it, you’ll get fined.

Is there a Swiss Travel Pass app?

There’s no Swiss Travel Pass app, but you can manage your pass online.

Once you purchase your STP you’ll be emailed a receipt with details on how to activate your pass.

If you’ve got a Swiss Travel Pass (with consecutive days), you simply need to show the QR code (on your phone or printed if you prefer) to the people checking train tickets.

If you have a Swiss Travel Pass Flex, you need to activate a travel day for each day you want to use the pass. You can do that at https://activateyourpass.com. Bookmark that URL on your phone or laptop for easy access.

Do you need to make seat reservations with the Swiss Travel Pass?

Most trains, boats and buses in Switzerland are reservation-free, meaning you can hop on and off with your pass without paying any additional supplements.

But there are some instances where seat reservations are mandatory, like:

• The Glacier Express
• The Bernina Express
• GoldenPass Express Prestige Class
• Gotthard Panorama Express

How to book mountain railways with the Swiss Travel Pass

If you want to take advantage of one of the mountain railway or cable car discounts with the STP, you can book these online and select ‘Swiss Travel Pass’ in the ‘discount’ dropdown. Just remember to activate a travel day for that day.

You can also purchase tickets at the relevant mountain railway/cable car station and show your pass to get a ticket at the discounted price.

How to calculate if the Swiss Travel Pass is worth it for your trip

I get loads of messages from people sharing their rough itinerary and asking me if a rail pass is worth it, but unfortunately it’s a bit trickier than just looking at the cities you’re going to over six days and then knowing whether it’ll be good value or not.

Here are some deeper dives into how to truly figure out if the STP is worth it for your trip.

If you know your itinerary

If you know your itinerary, including what activities you want to do, you can easily figure out if a Swiss Travel Pass is worth it for you.

1. Write each trip into a spreadsheet, e.g. Zurich to Lucerne or Jungfrau day trip from Grindelwald
2. Create three columns in the spreadsheet, for the full fare price, the Swiss Half Fare Card price and the STP price
3. Go to SBB.ch and search each train/bus/boat route you’re taking on the public network. If your trip is within six months then put in the actual date if you can, if it’s outside of six months just pop in a date 5-6 months from now.
4. Note down the price for each trip for the Half Fare Card and for the full fare. The SBB system automatically shows you the half fare price first as the ‘from’ price, you’ll need to select ‘full price’ under travel options to see the actual price without a Half Fare Card.
5. For ‘normal’ trips on the public transport network (i.e. not panorama trains or mountain railways/cable cars), put ‘0’ in the STP column as all of these are covered
6. If you’re taking any panoramic scenic trains, check the prices on their website because you’ll need to add in mandatory seat reservations and ensure you’re noting down the correct seasonal prices. They should specify full fare prices, half fare prices and mandatory seat reservations for STP holders.
7. For mountain railways like Rigi Kulm or Jungfrau, or for cable cars like Titlis or Matterhorn Glacier Paradise, check their websites to take note of the full fare and half fare prices. These websites should also show you a STP price but sometimes you’ll need to do a ticket search and select ‘Swiss Travel Pass’ as the discount to see the price.
8. Add in a final row with the pass price, 120CHF for the Half Fare Card and the relevant price for the STP you need based on your trip length
9. Total up the columns!

Your spreadsheet should look something like this:

From here, you should be able to clearly see whether the Swiss Travel Pass, Half Fare Card or full fare tickets would offer the best value.

Important: Switzerland’s public transport system uses dynamic pricing based on demand, which means that the train from Zurich to Lucerne will get more expensive as more people book it. If you see that your trip is cheaper with full fare tickets or a Half Fare Card, lock these in in advance to make sure you get the best price before demand gets higher and the ticket price rises.

If you have no idea about your itinerary

If you don’t know your itinerary yet, and want to just go with the flow while you’re in Switzerland, it’s a little trickier to determine whether the Swiss Travel Pass is worth it.

The best way to do this is to consider the value of the pass per day, and make sure that you’re likely to save at least that cost if you used the pass. In the most basic of calculations, if the Swiss Travel Pass is going to save you more than the below prices on average per day across your trip, then it’s worth it.

Here’s the cost per day of the prices (as of 1 Aug 2024):

Swiss Travel Pass vs. Half Fare Card if you don’t know your itinerary

This is the biggest question people what to know when they’re considering if the Swiss Travel Pass or the Half Fare Card are better, but if you don’t have your itinerary you need to either need to come back to this stage later in your trip planning, or take a good, hard look at your priorities and pull a rough itinerary together.

At the minimum, you need to:

• Figure out the cities you’re likely going to get between
• Choose the mountain excursions you definitely want to do (keeping in mind Rigi and Stanserhorn are free with the STP)
• Determine whether a Glacier Express trip is a must-do for you (probably Switzerland’s best trains)
• Determine whether Jungfrau is a must-do for you (iconic Top of Europe)
• Figure out how long in advance you think you’ll know your plans

From here you’ll have a rough idea like this:

• 2 x intercity trips
• 2 x Glacier Express trip
• 2 x mountain excursions (the free ones on the STP)
• Not keen for Jungfrau
• Wants to confirm plans a before travel, to keep the trip very flexible

With this in mind you can out together the spreadsheet just using rough searches and dates for your routes. It’s not going to give you exact pricing relevant to your route, but it will at least give you a good idea on if the STP or the Half Fare Card will likely come out on top.

Pros of a Swiss Travel Pass

• No need to buy tickets for trips on the trains/buses/boats on the public network, just jump on and show your pass to the driver, ticket staff or train controllers
• Free entry to 500 museums
• Free public transport in most cities/towns
• Free access to Rigi and Stanserhorn mountains
• Discounted access to many other mountains (usually 50% but 25% for Jungfrau)
• Covers the whole ticket cost of the expensive panorama trains, which saves you a whopping 159CHF on a Glacier Express 2nd class ticket or 272CHF on 1st class. You still need to pay the 44-49CHF seat reservation, but a Half Fare Card would still require you to pay 79.50CHF for the 2nd class ticket on top of the reservation.

Cons of a Swiss Travel Pass

• Expensive up-front price
• Only for a set number of days which is annoying if you need a pass for the number of days in between, e.g. 5, 7, 10 or 12
• A maximum of 15 days on the pass, compared to the Half Fare Card which is valid for one month
• Only 25% discount at Jungfrau (compared to 50% on the Half Fare Card)
• You might pay for days you don’t end up using to their full potential (e.g. if you don’t travel on one of the days of the pass, or if you end up doing a short trip which would have been cheap without the pass anyway)

Is a Swiss Travel Pass worth it? Four example itineraries

I want to share four example itineraries to show you the value of the Swiss Travel Pass vs. point-to-point tickets, and I’ve included the Half Fare Card in there too.

Each of these example itineraries is using prices for tickets booked one month in advance. Keep in mind that if you book any later than one month in advance, chances are the prices will be higher.

Five days in Switzerland: Swiss Travel Pass budget breakdown

For this one I’m using my five day Switzerland itinerary, which includes:

• Zurich to Interlaken
• Interlaken to Schiltorn day trip
• Interlaken to Jungfrau day trip
• Interlaken to Zermatt
• Zermatt to St Moritz (Glacier Express)

Here’s a spreadsheet showing the breakdown:

The Half Fare Card ends up being 30% cheaper than buying full fare tickets, and 17.4% cheaper than doing the same trip with a Swiss Travel Pass.

Ten days in Switzerland: Swiss Travel Pass budget breakdown

My ten day Switzerland itinerary is longer and includes five mountain excursions + two epic panorama train trips. I’ve calculated the below based on an eight-day Swiss Travel Pass Flex, leaving two days for shorter trips or local travel that doesn’t require a pass day.

Here’s the breakdown:

As you can see, the Swiss Half Fare Card comes out on top again! It’s 35.5% cheaper than buying point-to-point tickets, and 10.9% cheaper than using a Swiss Travel Pass Flex.

Free mountain railways only

Let’s throw a spanner in the works and say you’re taking my ten day Switzerland itinerary but removing the mountain excursions that aren’t free with the Swiss Travel Pass, just focusing on city trips, free excursions and hikes that don’t require cogwheel trains or cable cars.

Here’s the breakdown:

Much closer this time, the Swiss Half Fare card saves 6CHF compared to getting the 6-day Swiss Travel Pass Flex. Both options are still loads cheaper than the full fare.

Short trip with free mountain railways only

I’m determined to find a way where the Swiss Travel Pass comes out on top, and I think I’ve found one.

Let’s cut down the itinerary length but include longer train trips, a panorama train journey, free mountain excursions and book everything last minute, only a few days before travel. Here’s the breakdown:

We got there in the end! This trip utilises a four day Swiss Travel Pass Flex and there’s only one additional supplement to pay on top of the travel pass, the Glacier Express seat reservation. In this instance the Swiss Travel Pass ends up being 42% cheaper than the point-to-point full fare tickets, and 14.6% cheaper than the Swiss Half Fare Card.