Zermatt Peak Pass with the Swiss Half Fare Card
A traveler named Caro69 is planning a five-day trip to Zermatt in February and needs advice on whether to buy the Peak Pass or stick with the Half-Fare Card for accessing the Glacier Paradise and Gornergrat Railway. They realized that the Half-Fare Card only gives a 25% discount instead of 50%, leading to their question about the most cost-effective choice for enjoying the lifts and mountains in the area.
- Consider purchasing the Peak Pass for unlimited access to most lifts and railways in Zermatt if you plan on doing several excursions.
- The Swiss Half Fare Card is useful but offers less than a 50% discount on some tickets; check specific prices at the sales points.
- To get better deals, consider buying tickets online in advance, particularly for the Peak Pass and Glacier Paradise.
AI-generated summary-
So having purchased by Saver Day Pass and Half-Fare Card I now see there is a Peak Pass ticket for Zermatt.
I certainly want to visit the Glacier Paradise and go on the Gonergrat Railway and use the other lifts as much as possible in the five days I am there in February. I was assuming the half-fare card gave a 50% discount but now I see it is only 25%. My plan is to catch the lift/cars to the high peaks, come back down and then walk on the lower levels.
Any opinions on whether I’m better to get the Peak Pass or just stick with the Half-Fare reduction? Or any advice on how I can work this out which is going to be most cost effective.
Many thanks.
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Hi Caro69,
The Peak Pass is certainly ideal if you plan to explore the mountains in Zermatt as it offers unlimited access on most of the lifts and railways in the area. These include, besides the mountain railway to Gornergrat and the gondola lifts to Klein Matterhorn, the following:
- Zermatt – Furi – Schwarzsee
- Zermatt – Sunnegga – Blauherd
- Furi – Riffelberg
- Randa – Täsch – Zermatt
A return ticket to Gornergrat with the Swiss Half Fare Card is CHF40 for adult, to Klein Matterhorn CHF87. A Peak Pass cost CHF109 with the Swiss Half Fare Card, plus you have unlimited access to the other lifts. So I think it is a good deal.
Hope that helps.
Be sure to check these out:
- Gornergrat: http://www.myswissalps.com/gornergrat
- Glacier Paradise: http://www.myswissalps.com/kleinmatterhorn
- Zermatt: http://www.myswissalps.com/zermatt
Regards,
Anna
Hi Anna
Thank you very much for your reply. I’m finding it very difficult to find prices – so many sites with different prices. If I go to STC Swiss Travel Centre they quote 43.50CHF for the Klein Matterhorn with a half-fare card not 87. There must be something I’m overlooking. Are the prices more expensive if you buy them on the day and is there somewhere where I can find these prices?
I was thinking of buying a five day Peak Pass to cover our full five days which seems to be showing at 173 CHF.
Hi Caro69,
Have you tried these links?
http://www.myswissalps.com/gornergrat/tickets
http://www.myswissalps.com/kleinmatterhorn/tickets
Yes, it’s quite overwhelming if you buy the tickets separately. The price quoted on the STC website is probably the price of a single journey, not return.
For the Peak Pass, you can purchase your tickets online from the official Klein Matterhorn or Gornegrat webshops.
http://www.matterhornparadise.ch/en/Book/Online-tickets
http://www.zermatt.ch/en/zermatt/offer/?reset=1&lang=en
Regards,
Anna
Hi anna,
I will be visiting Switzerland from June 10 to 17 wherein I will plan to stay in lucerne and wengen. From lucerne I want to go for the zermatt one day for which I am advised for the peak to peak pass by this forum only. I checked the online link just now shared by you. Tickets are given till April and 5 per cent early bird discount also. However if we buy Swiss travel pass in advance we will get 50 per cent discount. Is that correct and in that case whether it is possible in online purchase also. Please advise how to go about it. Swiss travel pass and zermatt peak to peak and whether advance purchase is recommended.
Hi everyone,
Just to be clear on the discounts: the Swiss Half Fare Card offers a 50% discount everywhere, including Gornergrat and Klein Matterhorn (Glacier Paradise). In some exceptional cases the discount could be less than 50%, like urban transport in Zurich, or if you get a discount on a pass rather than a ticket.
The first two pages that Anna linked to in her last post offer the links to the official price lists and links to buy online. The prices are:
- Gornergrat: CHF 80 for a return ticket, so CHF 40 if you have a Swiss Half Fare Card.
- Glacier Paradise: CHF 87 for a return ticket, so CHF 43.50 if you have a Swiss Half Fare Card.
The Zermatt Peak Pass costs CHF 231 for 5 days, or CHF 173 for Swiss Half Fare Card holders. So, it’s worth it if you expect to spend more than CHF 89.50 on other trips in addition to the two above.
Have fun!
Hi Tukaikol,
I too notice the 5% early bird promotion on the Matterhorn Paradise website. But it also mentioned that discounts for Swiss Travel Pass/Swiss Half Fare Card holders are calculated at the sales point. As I understand it, this means you may need to present your railpass in person to qualify for the discounts.
Regards,
Anna
Thank you Arno for clarifying the prices for me.
It is of course one of those how long is a piece of string questions really I suppose. We do like full days and love travelling to the top of mountains in cable cars, making a partial decent and walking the rest of the way. I’ve seen excursions to Sunnegga , Rothorn and Trockner Steg mentioned. I’m guessing these could easily add up to more than 89.50 CHF?
We really want to make the most of our stay and don’t want to miss a thing!
You’re welcome! Well, it (again) depends. Trockener Steg is en route to Klein Matterhorn, so if you just want to see the place it’s easily combined on the same day without extra costs. Otherwise a separate return ticket is CHF 28.75 for Swiss Half Fare Card holders.
Sunnegga and Rothorn are on the same route so these can be combined as well. A return ticket is CHF 29.25 for Swiss Half Fare Card holders.
Personally I think just the Swiss Half Fare Card would be sufficient. The downside is that it doesn’t include “unlimited rides” if that’s what you prefer. Here’s what’s included (see the map): http://www.myswissalps.com/swisshalffarecard/validity.
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