Where to purchase Swiss Museum Pass in Switzerland
Marggy is thrilled to finally begin their 5-week trip in Switzerland after postponing it in 2020, but they've hit a snag trying to purchase a Swiss Museum Pass in Basel. They’ve visited various places including the train station and tourist office, only to find that the pass is difficult to obtain without a Swiss address, and they're looking for alternative ways to buy it before moving on to Neuchatel.
- You can often use a Swiss Travel Pass as a Swiss Museum Pass, providing easy access to museum entries.
- If you don’t have a Swiss Travel Pass, check if your hotel offers a Visitor Card which can provide discounts or free entries to local museums.
- You can order the Swiss Museum Pass online and use the order confirmation for a limited period until the pass arrives.
- Always confirm with the pass provider if there are options for purchasing directly or if you need a local address.
AI-generated summary-
After having to postpone our Switzerland trip in 2020, we were very excited to arrive in Basel late yesterday. We will spend the next 5 weeks touring in Switzerland. I thought I was organised but have hit a problem today with purchasing the Swiss Museum Pass.
We headed off to the train station to buy our Half Fare Cards and Swiss Museum Passes. Whilst we purchased the Half Fare Cards, we were told the stations no longer sell the museum pass. We headed off to the tourist information office but no they don’t sell the Swiss Museum Passes either and told us to go to the post office. The post office said they could order them but were unsure of when we would get them. This wouldn’t really work because we are travelling around and want to start using them straight away.
We then tried the Kunstmuseum only to be told they need to be ordered and to order them, we need a Swiss residential address.
Does anyone know of anywhere we can purchase the museum passes? We are moving on to Neuchatel tomorrow.
Thank you.
-
Hi Marggy,
If you have a Swiss Travel Pass, you can use it as Swiss Museum Pass. You can find the details here: http://www.myswissalps.com/swisstravelpass/details
Let us know if you need more information.
Regards,
Anna
Thanks Anna. I don’t have a Swiss Travel Pass. I have the half fare card so wanted to purchase the Swiss Museum Pass.
Hi again,
The Museum Pass is available separately from the Swiss Travel Pass as an annual pass. I’m not sure this would be practical for you.
As an alternative, you might want to check if your hotel provides a Visitor Card. This usually includes some discounts or free entrance to local museums and tourist attractions.
Regards,
Anna
Hi Anna, some of the hotels do provide a card that gives us discounts. Before leaving home I did a comprehensive spreadsheet that showed it was worth it for us to buy the Swiss Museum Pass. However, I have been unable to purchase it. Do you know where I can get it?
Thank you
Hi again,
You can order the Swiss Museum Pass online here: http://www.museumspass.ch/en/
Also, you can contact them directly and enquire if it’s possible to purchase the pass directly.
Regards,
Anna
Hi Marggy,
Sorry to hear about your problems getting a Swiss Museum Pass. Apparently it’s not easy for travelers from abroad to get one, unless they’re having a Swiss Travel Pass (Flex). The Swiss Musem Pass website isn’t clear about this either. I think Anna’s advice to contact the organization directly is your best bet. I hope you get this sorted and that the rest of your long stay in Switzerland is everything you hoped for after several years of waiting :-)!
Sorry for the delayed response. My only excuse is that we have been putting in long days enjoying the Swiss scenery. We have had such great weather and our trips up Schilthorn and Jungfrajoch were just amazing. We did contact the Swiss Museum Pass directly and these are the options they gave us.
1.Come into their Zurich office and purchase the pass directly. (This won’t work for us because Zurich is about half way through our trip).
2. Order the pass online or over the phone with them and they send it out the next day.
3. Order it at a post office or a major museum and it would be about a week or so before it was sent out.
With options 2 and 3, they said we could use the order for 2 weeks whilst we waited on the pass to arrive.
We have decided to just forget about purchasing it. We would have to put a hotel address and we think the risk of the pass not turning up at the hotel when we are there is not worth taking. Hopefully the information will help someone else.
On a positive note, there are discounts that we were not aware of so did not include in my spreadsheet, e.g. yesterday we visited Hallwyl Castle we received a 2 for 1 voucher for a range of other castles.
Thanks again for your help.
Hi Marggy,
Thanks for sharing this information although none of the options worked out for you. Glad you found some alternative options though.
Glad you’re enjoying your trip and I hope the weather continues to be great.
Regards,
Anna
- The thread ‘Where to purchase Swiss Museum Pass in Switzerland’ is closed to new replies.
