I'm heading to Switzerland for 4 days in October. Everything I'm reading says to buy the Swiss Travel Pass which is 281CHF for 4 days. When I look up the train journeys I will take individual trips are max 24CHF so I'm confused why the travel pass is recommended. Am I missing something?! Curious to hear thoughts from anyone who's used this pass. Thank you!

I never read anywhere to buy a Swiss Travel Pass. We just paid for the train on line.

Was there recently and didn’t buy a pass. Travelled from Zurich to the country and back.

It’s good if you plan to go on cable cars as you get a discount and that will help make the pass worth it. 24 CHF seems cheap for trains - I assume it’s only a short distance?

Oliver Geneva - Thun. I realized that 24 CHF was with the system assuming I had a half fair card. Without one it's 71CHF that's much closer to what I was expecting!

We just bought tickets the day of.

There is a few Switzerland website you can follow. Lots of people say to buy them yes. We leave soon and I’ve choose not to buy them as we decided to rent a car. If we need a train or cable car we will pay the day of. I found it very expensive to buy for the amount we could use them. Good luck.

Sherie if you plan to go up any summits, it usually balances out. Parking is not widely available, gas was 2.60 chf ($3.97 cad) a litre in lauterbrunnen as of 2 weeks ago, and it costs a mint to go up any summits. But it really does depend on usage. It cost us $150 cad PP for a return ascension to Mt Titlis last month but was free with my pass.

What area are you visiting? The Swiss Pass only makes sense for certain types of journeys.....long ones. If you are staying near Lucerne, get the Tell Pass if you plan to go up the local mountains. Tell Pass covers all Lucerne local trains, Mountains and Lucerne Ferry trips 100%. If only taking a few short train trips in other areas without summits, get the Half Off Fare Card, but you will have to see if even that makes sense. If only doing short trips, it might be best to just buy point of sale

same w any rail pass, including JR pass for japan. really dep on where one goes/does

thanks for the tip – I'll mostly be in the Interlaken area, do you know if there's something similar there?

Chesley If you are sticking to Jungfrau area: https://holidaystoswitzerland.com/jungfrau-travel-pass/
HOLIDAYSTOSWITZERLAND.COM
The Ultimate Guide to the Jungfrau Travel Pass [2022]

Chesley Interlaken is very inexpensive to travel by train. Everything is pretty close together.

Not sure if it’s still the case but sometimes, when you buy a ticket to a Swiss train, it does not guarantee you a seat. So you can book a seat for an extra fee and no one can seat in your seat. Otherwise, it’s first come first serve depending on how busy that train is.

Check out this - the man in Seat61 explains about Swiss tickets and passes. https://www.seat61.com/train-travel-in-switzerland.htm
SEAT61.COM
Train travel in Switzerland | Swiss Travel Passes explained

Do not buy the travel pass, or half fare card, unless you do the math and need it for specific trips. I didn't, and did not spend extra while in Switzerland this past summer for two weeks.

Also, there are supersaver fares available when you buy in advance (even two days in advance). However, be sure you look up whether your bank requires a secondary verification. RBC Avion totally screwed me by making me receive a text with a code on my mobile phone, which was not functional in Switzerland - they are not part of the cell phone networks in Europe - so be sure you can buy with credit card through the SBB app, to take advantage of the Supersaver fares. These are worth the trouble - sometimes saving you up to 60%, even very close to your travel date.
Feel free to DM if you need more advice, I took trains and cable cars for all my hiking needs. I was based in Zurich and travelled to Schynige Platt (one of the most expensive tram rides, other than Jungfrau, the top of Europe glacier experience), Oeschinensee and Ebenalp in the Appenzall region.

Vanessa thank you!! such a helpful note about the text code too. did you ever find supersaver tickets for trips that included cable cars or did you pay full price for those?

Chesley no they don't go 'on sale', sadly. We can chat about which hikes I loved, though! Everything there is going to be beautiful. You should check the most expensive cable cars and go from there - note that some are not included in the half fare card!!

Vanessa if people can ‘live year round’ at the end of a cable car route, they’ll be included in the pass. If the routes are purely tourist based, even Swiss people have to pay for their use…

Do the math on all the cable cars/gondolas/funiculars/boats you want to go on and see if the Swiss travel pass covers it. We stayed in the jungfrau area and opted for the Berber Oberland pass cuz it made more sense for us. Look at the coverage map for all the passes and see which one covers most of the things you want to do

If you are going to museums, they’re included. Also wifi on the trains is included, if you don’t have an e-sim card.
Regardless of whether you buy the Swiss Pass, download and familiarize yourself with the SBB app it’s invaluable!

Beware of how far ahead of your traveling when you calculate the train cost at home. The fare on SBB app is based on the cheapest fare after half fare card discounts. We have made a mistake of not thinking when we calculated the fare. It was 3 months before travelling & was shock when we had purchased our first tickets when we were there. The tickets cost so much more compared to when we have calculated. Swiss train tickets price is time sensity, the earlier you buy, the cheaper!
In general, Swiss train pass is only worth it if you spend at least 1 week there & have time to take the scenic trains like Glacier Express... mostly depends on where & what you want to do

Beware that half fare in Switzerland means kids or seniors. We were in Zurich in June and made that mistake. The ticket collector was kind and only charged us the difference. The fine is huge if they don’t wave the mistake.
From Zurich to Basel for a first class ticket was 60CHF one way. If you’re using it often, it’s worth the pass.