It is particularly popular with tourists from North America: the Swiss Travel Pass. At first glance an (expensive) Interrail alternative, the pass offers much more than just train travel because holders of the pass can also use local transport in numerous Swiss cities, ships on all major lakes and selected mountain railways at no extra charge. It also includes access to numerous museums in Switzerland.
We have not yet written about the Swiss Travel Pass on Travel-Dealz. This is primarily due to the fact that there are often better offers for readers from neighbouring countries, e.g. the special day ticket from Coop.
However, there is currently a 30% discount on the pass that is valid for four days, with which the Swiss Travel Pass can also be worthwhile. Now the Swiss Travel Pass 2nd class costs CHF 199 (~€205) instead of the regular CHF 281 (~€289). In 1st class CHF 315 (~€324) are charged.
The offer is still valid until October 31, 2022 for trips up to April 2023. Unfortunately, you have to specify the travel dates directly during the purchase and, possibly, get stuck with rainy days. It should also be noted that the pass is not valid for people residing in Switzerland.
You should set the currency to CHF when purchasing (top right) to benefit from the best exchange rate.
What’s Included
The overall Swiss Travel Pass package consists of two included services: The most important thing is of course the free use of almost all means of transport in Switzerland, plus the museum pass:
- Four days of free use of public transport in Switzerland on all GA area routes
- Almost all trains in Switzerland including SBB, Zentralbahn, RhB, …
- (Almost?) all postbuses, trams and many other local transport companies
- Boat trip on Lake Geneva, Lake Thun, Lake Lucerne, and much more.
- Some mountain railways (e.g. Stoosbahn, Rigi-Bahnen, Rochers-de-Naye)
- Four days of free entry to over 500 museums in Switzerland
- Glacier Garden Lucerne (otherwise CHF 22 (~€23))
- St. Gallen Abbey Library (otherwise CHF 18 (~€19))
- Swiss National Museum Zurich (otherwise CHF 10 (~€10))
- Thun Castle (otherwise CHF 10 (~€10))
- and many more (complete list)
Conditions
The main conditions of the offer:
- Booking period: until October 31, 2022
- Travel period: Until April 30, 2023
- The travel dates must be specified at the time of purchase
- The discount is only available on the Swiss Travel Pass, which is valid for four days
- The Swiss Travel Pass Flex with flexible travel dates is not discounted
- Does not apply to people residing in Switzerland
GA Validity Area
As mentioned, you can use all means of transport in the GA area of validity with the Swiss Travel Pass. These are all trains, buses, cable cars, etc., in which the Swiss GA travelcard is also valid.