My journey through Switzerland was a *dream* come true! From tasting wines and viewing vineyards surrounding Lake Geneva to exploring the mountainous region of the Swiss Alps, I was able to easily get around all thanks to the Swiss Travel Pass. I saw and explored so many areas of what makes this country beautiful.
Switzerland is known to be one of the most expensive countries in Europe, but it would have been a shame to have missed it on my trip through Europe this year! It was the final country on my tour and I’m SO glad I went. The views of the Swiss Alps are absolutely breathtaking; my jaw was pretty much dropped the entire trip! A lot of people ask me, “How did you manage to travel Switzerland for two weeks!? Isn’t it expensive?” My answer….when there’s a will, there’s a way 😉
Traveling Switzerland on a budget isn’t impossible. There are budget hostels you can spend most of your time in and you can take day trips to the more expensive cities like Bern and Zurich. The trains are so easy to use and are also very fast that you can organize an itinerary where most of your nights are spent in the areas that are more affordable. I know what you’re thinking “affordable” in Switzerland!? It’s still a country you need to properly budget for but I can tell you that Interlaken and Lugano both have nice budget hostels that I spent a chunk of time in to save money on accommodations! I also went grocery shopping often to avoid the costs of eating out, though I made sure I fit in one fancy cheese fondue experience, because that’s just a must for a cheesy girl from Wisconsin! Since I wanted to fit in quite a bit of travel into my trip, I researched what options I had for getting around. The Swiss Travel Pass is a great deal, especially if you want to travel the whole of the country. You can get second class adult tickets for as low as $220 USD. You should know that traveling Switzerland by train is truly a treat too since they are simply some of the best run trains in the world!
Fortunately, with how the train routes are set up, you can start just about anywhere in Switzerland and make a solid itinerary. Most flights will put you in either Zurich or Geneva so you can start to plan your trip from the North or West. Given time constraints, I missed Zermatt and St.Moritz, but I know I’ll be back one day to visit both and will be taking the scenic trains to do so! It is really hard to narrow down my favorite parts of Switzerland. In two weeks I covered a ton of cities and towns with my pass including Geneva, Lausanne, Montreaux, Interlaken, Bern, Lugano, Locarno, Lucerne and ended my trip in Zurich.
If I had to pick, I’d say my favorite towns to explore were Bern and Lugano, but what really makes Switzerland special is the journey from A to B. If you have plans to go, you should definitely invest in a Swiss Travel Pass – it allows you to travel via train, bus, boat AND city transport! You can also opt for some of the scenic panoramic routes. I went on the Wilhelm Tell Express and the GoldenPass Line panoramic train from Montreaux to Interlaken (it also continues up to Lucerne) and I couldn’t recommend them more. The regional trains don’t require any seat reservations, you simply show up and hop on board! The scenic routes require a bit more planning as you need to reserve a seat in advance, you can book those at a local train station and they will do it for you. The scenic routes are extra special since the trains have panoramic windows stretching all the way to the top so you can see the tip top of the mountains! Some of them even include meals and boat excursions.
If you have ANY questions about traveling through Switzerland, comment below and I’m happy to help answer! I had such a blast exploring the French, Italian and German sides of Switzerland and it was so easy to get around. Check out this video here to learn more about the basics of what the Swiss Travel Pass offers and includes, directly from RailEurope.
Fabulous, as usual.
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Thank you!
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Super idea to take the trains from town to town. The scenery is beautiful, and I can imagine how pretty the view is from the train. Plus, you can actually enjoy it since you are not driving, and staring at a map.
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I’m going to Switzerland early Jan, and I cannot wait!
love your post!
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Thanks, Claire! You’ll have so much fun, if you need any tips lmk 🙂
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So cool! Defs gonna look into this when I visit Switzerland. Seems like Switzerland and Iceland are quite popular destinations this year eh.
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Too bad I didnt know about this when we visited Switzerland this past August! We ended up renting a car which was very expensive.. and plus some hotels charge you nightly parking -.- Like you, we didnt get to visit Zermatt or St.Mortiz but you saw wayyyyy more than we did. Oh how I love this country!
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So glad you saw Switzerland! I thought it was the most beautiful place in the world!
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Switzerland high on our list but we’ve been putting it off because it sounds so darn expensive! Good to know there are budget options out there. I really want to take the Bernina Express up to St Mortiz one day- that journey looks stunning!
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Lovely post and captures the essence of switzerland in it. We were there this past summer and loved it. Travelled some of the routes you mentioned and have written a little on it on the blog so have a look. Beautiful photos too.
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Thank you!! I’ll take a look 🙂
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Inspiring [!] Thank you for writing this.
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Beautiful photos! I highly recommend the Swiss Travel Pass too.
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Hi Monica, a very nice share. Swiss rail pass is a boom in case you are traveling to Switzerland want to explore Switzerland easily. This pass allows you to travel on any train, bus, or ferry service.
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