Which gives better value: the Gstaad Guest Card or the Saastal Card?
A traveler is planning a week from August 31 to September 9, trying to decide between staying in Gstaad or Saas Fee. They want to know which guest card is better for mountain transportation and are also looking for Airbnb options that include guest cards.
- The Saastal Card provides unlimited free travel on many cable cars and mountain transport in the Saas Valley region.
- The Gstaad guest card is primarily for local bus and train services and does not include mountain transportation, so consider investing in a Berner Oberland Pass for better access.
- If you choose Gstaad, be prepared for potentially higher accommodation costs as it's an upscale resort.
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Hello, we have a week from August 31-September 9 at one of these two places but cannot decide, the Gstaad area or the Saas Fee area? Gstaad guest card vs Saastal card, which card is better? Which card includes more cable cars and mountain transportations? It wasn’t easy to find places that offer guest cards with a reasonable price, but I found them!
we will also spend a month close to the interlaken area, but the interlaken guest card does NOT come with mountain transportations nor any boat rides. We should cancel the BO area and go to both SaasFee and Gstaad area? Can you guys also recommend some good Airbnb that offers guest cards that includes mountain transportations? Thanks all.
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Hello Stars
Welcome to MySwissAlps.
Guest Cards
It is wonderful that you are planning to spend at least a month in beautiful Switzerland. I wish I could afford to do that!
However, you have misunderstood the ‘guest cards’ issued by most (if not all) Swiss resorts. I will have to generalise.
As a general rule Swiss guest cards are like those issued in Interlaken. The ‘guest card does NOT come with mountain transportations nor any boat rides.’ As a general rule guest cards give free travel on local bus tram/streetcar and local train services, but not on mountain lines.
There MAY be other exceptions to this general rule, but I know of only two big exceptions. One is the Upper Engadin – St Moritz and the surrounding villages. (But accommodation in St Moritz is very expensive!)
The other exception is the Saastal card. Its website says ‘Saas-Fee hotel guests receive the complimentary Saastal Card offering unlimited FREE travel on a large number of cable cars and mountain transport to beautiful alpine locations in the Saas Valley region.’ (But note that on the highest line is the Saas Fee area, Felskinn to Mittelallalin, you only get a discount.)
The guest card for Gstaad, by contrast, is confined to local bus and train services, admittedly in a quite large area extending to Zweisimmen and Lenk.
Gstaad and the Berner Oberland
Note firstly that Gstaad is in the Berner Oberland. If you say in Gstaad, Interlaken or anywhere else in this (extensive) region, you should consider INVESTING in a Berner Oberland Pass. The BOP does give you free travel on many (but not all) of the mountain lines in the Berner Oberland, including several in the Gstaad/Zweisimmen/Lenk area.
If you stay in Interlaken, or in resorts to the south of Interlaken – Grindelwald, Wengen, Lauterbrunnen and Wilderswil – you should also consider INVESTING in a Jungfrau Travel Pass. This gives you free rides on a lot of the lines in the ‘Jungfrau Region’. However to expensive Jungfraujoch, you only get a (big) discount on the very high fare.
Details of both the BOP and the JTP are in the ‘Passes’ section of the MySwissAlps website:
- https://www.myswissalps.com/travel-ticket/berner-oberland-pass/
- https://www.myswissalps.com/travel-ticket/jungfrau-travel-pass/
Best wishes for your detailed planning.
Roger
Hello again
Further to my previous reply, I have now discovered the Davos-Klosters ‘Premium Card’Basically if you pay the guest tax in Davos or Klosters you get a Premium Card which gives you CHEAP travel on cable cars and funiculars in the Davos-Klosters area.
Provided you visit in summer outside the peak five weeks of 20 July 20 to August 23rd a trip up and down one mountain will cost 13 CHF, an all day pass (multiple mountains) costs just 20 CHF. The latter is an incredibly good bargain.
In the peak five weeks the prices are 20 CHF for one mountain, and 30 CHF for the all day pass.
The mountains covered are Jakobshorn, Rinerhorn, Parsenn Davos, Parsenn Klosters (count as two mountains) and Madrisa.
Kind regards
Roger
Hi Stars,
Two of the more extensive guest cards in Switzerland are the Ticino Ticket and the Montreux Riviera Card:
Hi Roger, thanks so much for your reply and your thoughts. Actually if you look into it more, the Gstaad guest card offers lots of cable cars also.
but personally though, do you think there’s more to see and hike in the Gstaad area or the Saas Fee area?
thanks again.
Hi Stars,
I think both guest cards offer good values. The Saastal Card provides free travelling on the postal buses and selected cable cars within the region. Do take note in the Saas Fee region (Saastal), the main mode of public transport is postal buses.
The Gstaad Guest Card provide free use of public transportation too within the validity area. This include the GoldenPass trains (https://www.myswissalps.com/activity/goldenpass/) between Gstaad and Zweisimmen, and services between Rougemont and Lenk.
Gstaad has rolling hills, charming villages, lakes and forest with plenty of gentle hikes. Saas Fee offers more high-alpine trails, glaciers and suspension bridges.
Gstaad: https://www.myswissalps.com/town/gstaad/
Saas Fee: https://www.myswissalps.com/town/saas-fee/
Regards,
Anna
Hello again
Gstaad Card Validity
Sorry to disagree with you on an important point, but I have just looked at https://www.gstaad.ch/en/winter/plan-book/guest-card/gstaad-card-information
That website lists as free all year round the following lines.
- Train between Lenk – Zweisimmen – Gstaad – Rougemont (MOB)
- Bus between Lenk and Simmenfälle (AFA)
- Bus between Lenk and Bühlberg (AFA)
- Bus between Lenk – REKA – Boden – Lenk (AFA)
- Bus between Lenk and Iffigenalp (summer) / Alpenrösli (winter) (AFA)
- Bus between Gstaad and Saanenmöser (PostBus)
- Bus between Gstaad and Lauenensee (summer) / Lauenen (winter) (PostBus)
- Bus between Gstaad – Turbach – Bissen – Gstaad (PostBus)
- Bus between Gstaad and Col du Pillon/Glacier 3000 (PostBus)
- Bus between Zweisimmen – Mannried – Grubenwald (PostBus)
THERE IS NO MENTION OF CABLE CARS. The map which accompanies this list does not show any cable car lines.
From what source did you get the idea that cable cars around Gstaad are free with the guest card?
Saas Fee v Gstaad
I would agree with Anna’s comment ‘Gstaad has rolling hills, charming villages, lakes and forest with plenty of gentle hikes. Saas Fee offers more high-alpine trails, glaciers and suspension bridges.’
I personally would prefer Saas Fee. The scenery is spectacular, and the view from the concrete panorama bridge across which you walk to get form the bus station to some of the cable cards is truly magnificent.
By contrast I would call the scenery around Gstaad ‘lovely’ and ‘varied’. There is certainly a lot of hiking in the Gstaad area, and the various bus services mentioned above (and shown in an orange colour on the map) will take you around for free with the guest card.
The bus route to Col de Pillon will take you free to the bottom station of the Glacier 3000 cable car. On the cable car to Glacier 3000 you will have to pay. (It is not even included in the Berner Oberland Pass.)
I think you should also note that Gstaad is very much an ‘up market’ resort, so accommodation is likely to be expensive.
Kind regards
Roger
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