Whether to Carry Passports all the time

  • Removed user
    Participant
    72625 posts
    31 March 2012 at 3:16:57 #805097

    We will be in Switzerland for 8 days and will not leave Switzerland border and re-enter in between these 8 days.

    My question is whether every day we will have to carry the Passports with us? Does Passports are to be shown along with the Swiss Pass every time?

    To carry the Passport all the time brings extra botheration and additional Risk. Can we carry the Photo copy of passport in lieu of original?

    Please help some one.

    Regards
    Atul Bhide

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    Wandermann
    Participant
    265 posts
    31 March 2012 at 8:09:01 #835500

    Hello Atul,

    Untill now we never had to show our passports along with our Swiss Passes.

    All travellers in Switzerland must be able to identify themselves. Follow this link for more information. Especially look at this text:
    “There is a legal requirement in Switzerland that a government-issued ID be carried by travellers at all times. Visitors from countries that do not provide an ID card (e.g., U.K. or USA) must carry their passport – or at the very least a copy of their passport”.

    I hope this helps.

    Removed user
    Participant
    72625 posts
    4 April 2012 at 20:58:03 #835501

    My only comment is that last month my husband and I visited some out of the way (i.e., not in the Rick Steves’ travel guide) villages across Switzerland, and on the train/bus/boat routes, a few conductors were not as familiar with the Swiss Pass and did indeed ask to see our passports. This didn’t happen every time, but it happened about half of the time. This is the first time this happened to us (visited in 2010 and 2011), but we were lucky we had our passports at hand. But your “mileage may vary”!

    Removed user
    Participant
    72625 posts
    4 April 2012 at 22:54:12 #835502

    Thanks Wandermann and KaraBoo both,

    The summary is – it is better to carry the passports than to spoil the holiday mood.

    Regards
    Atul Bhide

    Removed user
    Participant
    72625 posts
    7 April 2012 at 11:03:36 #835503

    always good to know this, was debating the same thing myself, or whether to just take our uk driving licenses with us during daytime travel

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