Switzerland

Plan the money before the itinerary. Tap water is excellent and free — Zurich alone has over a thousand public fountains, so carry a bottle — and tipping isn’t expected, service is in the bill. But the mountain excursions below are where a budget disappears, so it pays to pick a couple rather than treat them as a checklist.

The Swiss Travel System is one integrated ticket across trains, most buses, lake boats and town transit. The Swiss Travel Pass (consecutive-day, from around CHF 254 for 3 days up to CHF 499 for 15 in 2026) adds 500-plus museums free and steep cable-car discounts; the Half Fare Card at CHF 150 halves everything for a month. As a rule the pass wins if you move daily and ride boats and museums; if you’re based in one valley doing a couple of big excursions, the Half Fare Card plus point-to-point tickets usually beats it.

The trap that catches pass-holders: the scenic trains need a paid seat reservation on top. The Glacier Express (Zermatt–St Moritz, about 8 hours) charges around CHF 54 to reserve; the Bernina Express around CHF 40 each way and you cannot board without it. The pass covers the fare — never the seat.

The headline rides run CHF 100–235 return, before any discount. Jungfraujoch, the “Top of Europe,” is around CHF 235 from Interlaken (less from Grindelwald, where the new Eiger Express gondola starts), 25% off with the Swiss Travel Pass, and a CHF 10 seat reservation is compulsory in summer. Zermatt — a car-free village reached by train — has the Gornergrat cog railway to a classic Matterhorn viewpoint (half-price with a pass) and the Glacier Paradise cable car to 3,883 m. The Schilthorn’s Piz Gloria is about CHF 108, roughly CHF 46 with a pass; Pilatus and Rigi from Lucerne round out the set — and Rigi is one of the few mountains a Swiss Travel Pass rides free.

The single most common regret here is paying CHF 200-plus for a summit and getting fog — the ticket buys the ride, not the view, and the high peaks make their own weather. Check the summit webcams the morning of, favour the discounted early “Good Morning” departures, and keep the big-ticket day flexible.

Summer (June–September) opens every lift and railway and is the safe window for the big excursions; winter is the ski season, and the scenic trains still run. The trap is late April–May and November, when many mountain railways and cable cars close for annual maintenance — the Eiger Express, the Lauterbrunnen and Wengen lines and Pilatus all take spring or autumn closures, precisely the cheap shoulder weeks bargain-hunters pick. Verify each operator’s dates before booking a shoulder-season trip.

Four of the marquee resorts — Zermatt, Wengen, Mürren and Saas-Fee — are car-free and reached by train only: you park at the valley station (Täsch for Zermatt, Lauterbrunnen for Wengen) and ride up.

Switzerland is in Schengen but not the EU, and uses the Swiss franc, not the euro — euros are sometimes taken in tourist spots but at a deliberately poor rate with change in francs, so pay in CHF (cards are accepted everywhere). Most non-EU visitors get 90 days visa-free within any 180; the EU’s ETIAS pre-authorisation is due to phase in during 2026, worth a check at booking. Shops close on Sundays by law — station and airport shops and petrol kiosks are the exceptions — so buy groceries on Saturday. And if you drive, the motorway vignette is a flat CHF 40 for the year; without it, a CHF 200 fine and you still buy the sticker.