Availability of Swiss passes

Hello!

Could you please help me?

This July I’m going to travel around Switzerland with a Swiss pass. Couldyou please tell me whether Swiss passes are always available at all Swissrailway stations? Can I arrive in Switzerland(at Zurichairport), buy a Swiss pass just on the spot at the nearest railway station andstart using it immediately? Will it not take much time? (I’ll need a Swiss passto go to another city this very day). Or is there any necessity to buy itonline in advance?
Thank you very much.

Hi Olena,

You can best go to the Swiss Pass page, select your country and preferred pass and review all purchase options. Click to the details of the various resellers to see what option fits best for you.

In general: you can purchase a Swiss Pass at most staffed Swiss railway stations during opening hours. All traveler passports need to be present if buying there. Another thing to take into account is that you need to pay in Swiss francs. The actual amount you'd pay thus depends on the exchange rate of the day and fees your bank may charge. Local purchase is a good option if you don't know what pass you'll use until the last minute, and if your itinerary allows you to go to a staffed rail station before you start traveling. Purchasing in advance saves you time on arrival (some resellers allow you to validate your pass yourself so you can board your first train straight away). In many cases you can pay in your own currency to avoid banking fees, and there are extra services like an optional pass insurance and a help desk to call if necessary. Options and prices vary per country of residence and reseller, so you best look into that yourself on the Swiss Pass page.

Swiss Passes don't sell out. They're always available both online and offline.

I hope this helps!

Hi Arno,
Thank youvery much, you’ve really helped me a lot!
So, as faras I can see, if I nevertheless decide to buy a Swiss pass in Switzerland, I’ll be able to do it at therailway station of Zurichairport? Could you please also tell me what is meant by “all traveler passports”?Is this just a passport I am travelling with?
Thank you.

Hi Olena,

Yes you can, and by "all traveler passports" I mean that you need to present the passport of each traveler who will be using the pass. You indeed need to travel with both the pass and the passport.

Hi Arno,
thank you very much!

Arno, just picking up on this thread, I have a couple of questions. We will be based at Luzern, arriving July 6 at Zurich airport, travelling to Como in Italy on July 13.

We want to use Swiss Pass for our travels, starting with the train from Zurich, and including as much as possible of our travel to Como. We are both over 65, and plan to travel First Class. We will get an 8-day pass, and I know about Swiss Saver, but is there an extra discount for seniors?

We wanted to book our travel in advance: is this advisable for July?

Do we need to have our Swiss Pass in order to make those bookings in advance?

cheers

peter

Hi Peter, welcome to MySwissAlps,

There is no extra discount for seniors. It can be convenient to book your pass in advance as explained to Olena. Domestic Swiss trains do mostly not require reservations, and I would not advice to book such trains in advance to be flexible. You don't need a pass to purchase reservations. More information is here.