Swiss Card

Hi Alvin, and welcome here! What pass is best for you, depends on your exact plans. Could you let me know how long you'll be staying in Switzerland and what trips you plan to make, other than an inbound and outbound trip and a visit to the Jungfraujoch? If these are the only journeys you have in mind, you would profit from a Swiss Card, which provides a free inbound and outbound trip and a 50% reduction on other trips during your stay (such as the Jungfraujoch). But if you have other plans, another type of pass could be the better option.

If you consider the Swiss Pass for your trip from Paris to Switzerland and from Switzerland to Italy, the pass will be valid for the Swiss parts of your journey. The validity starts and ends at Swiss border stations. This goes for most of the other Swiss rail passes as well. On each detail page, for example the Swiss Pass page, you'll find a link to a map showing the area of validity. From Paris, you'll travel through either Basel or Geneva, which are border stations, so a Swiss Pass would be valid from Basel or Geneva onwards. Your trip to Italy will most probably be through either Domodossola or Chiasso, so the validity of your Swiss Pass would end there. For the Swiss parts of your trip you wouldn't have to buy a regular ticket, as the Swiss Pass would cover these. A ticket would only be necessary for the French and Italian parts of your journey. Please note that seat reservation for these trips can be recommended or even is obligatory.

The most common base for a trip to the Jungfraujoch is Interlaken. From there you can choose from two routes: through Wengen or Grindelwald. You can plan your trip using the online timetable and the Jungfraubahnen website.

Hi Alvin, if you will be exploring Switzerland for 4 days (including your inbound and outbound trip) and intend to do quite some traveling, a 4 day Swiss Saver Pass may be convenient for you. With the Swiss Pass, most regular trains, buses and boats are for free, so you can board many of them without buying a ticket first. Mountain railways and cable cars do require you to purchase a (discounted) ticket before boarding. You could review the map on the Swiss Pass page I mentioned before: this shows exactly which parts are for free and which parts are discounted with a Swiss Pass. With the Swiss Card, you should indeed buy half fare tickets for all train, bus, boat and mountain transportation trips (except for your inbound and outbound journey, as these are for free). Once you have in mind what trips you will be making, you can calculate which pass is most economical following the instructions in our r ail FAQ. Prices of regular train and bus trips can be found in the online timetable.

If you'll be staying in Switzerland for 4 days, I'd recommend to choose two resorts at the most. You could spend a few nights in the Interlaken region for your trip to the Jungfraujoch and a few nights elsewhere, although the Interlaken region offers more than enough for a 4 day stay as well. You could visit the Jungfraujoch in one day and consider other interesting trips on the other days. Should you consider to spend some nights elsewhere, Lucerne and its surroundings would be a good choice. Lucerne is situated along the shores of an impressive lake and is close to famous viewing points such as Pilatus, Rigi and Titlis.

The Swiss Pass and Swiss Card aren't for sale in London or Paris. You can purchase the Swiss Pass and Swiss Card online in advance and have it delivered to your home address. Just get to the page of the pass and select your country of residence in the order options list. An advantage of an online purchase is that you'll already have your Swiss Pass/Swiss Card at hand during your inbound trip. You can start using it rightaway for the Swiss part of this trip, without having to get off the train to buy your pass. Swiss rail passes are also for sale at larger, manned railway stations in Switzerland.