This guide answers one question: what does the Swiss Travel Pass actually cover for free?
Many blogs say “free with the pass” when they really mean “50% off”. This page lists only what is truly free — verified against the official price of every attraction — split into five categories you can tap or swipe through.
The fifth tab lists the famous things that travellers commonly assume are free but are not. Read it before you arrive.
Tap a tab or swipe left/right →
5 mountains where everything is free
These mountains’ cable cars, funiculars, and cogwheel trains are 100% covered by the Swiss Travel Pass. You pay nothing at the gate.
🏔️ Mount Rigi — Queen of the Mountains
- Cogwheel railway up from Vitznau (Europe’s first mountain train, since 1871) — free
- Cogwheel railway up from Arth-Goldau — free
- Lake Lucerne boats to / from Vitznau and Weggis — free
- Rigi Kaltbad cable car — free
- 360° summit view of 13 Swiss cantons, 19 lakes, the high Alps
- Saves about CHF 78 per adult at the gate
🏔️ Mount Stoos — World’s Steepest Funicular
- Stoosbahn funicular — 47.7° gradient, the steepest in the world. Rotating cabins keep you level as you climb. Free
- Klingenstock chairlift up — free
- Fronalpstock chairlift down — free
- Two Peaks Ridge Trail between Klingenstock and Fronalpstock — 2h 10min, one of central Switzerland’s most beautiful ridge walks
- Adventure playground, dwarf-goat petting zoo, and a 1.5 km panorama loop at Fronalpstock summit
- Saves about CHF 92 per adult
🏔️ Mount Stanserhorn — World’s Only Open-Top CabriO Cable Car
- Historic 1893 funicular up — free
- CabriO cable car — the only one in the world with an open-top second deck. The roof is open to the sky. Free
- 360° summit panorama: Pilatus, Rigi, the Bernese Alps, 10 lakes
- Marmot enclosure halfway up (since 1912)
- Rondorama revolving restaurant at the summit (43-minute rotation)
- Saves about CHF 88 per adult
🏔️ Klewenalp — Locals’ Quiet Favourite Above Lake Lucerne
- Boat from Lucerne to Beckenried — free
- 70-person aerial cable car up 1,150 m in 10 minutes — free
- Adventure playground, paragliding ridges, six self-catered BBQ firepits
- Much quieter than Stanserhorn — almost no tour groups
- Saves about CHF 84 per adult
🏔️ Brunni — Engelberg’s Family Cable Car + Heart Lake
- Train Lucerne → Engelberg — free
- Funicular to Ristis + cable car to Brunni — both free
- Härzlisee (Heart Lake) barefoot trail — a kilometre of stones, water, and mud designed to massage your feet
- Adventure playground at Ristis; Brunni stays open in winter when many other mountains close
- Saves about CHF 72 per adult
Free lake boats and scenic train routes
Your Swiss Travel Pass covers every public boat on every Swiss lake and every scenic train route. Only the optional “branded” seat reservations cost extra — the trains themselves are always free.
⛴️ Lake boats — 100% free
| Lake | Highlights |
|---|---|
| Lake Lucerne | Lucerne ⇄ Vitznau ⇄ Weggis ⇄ Beckenried — historic paddle-steamers in summer |
| Lake Brienz | Interlaken ⇄ Iseltwald ⇄ Giessbach Falls ⇄ Brienz — green-blue glacial water |
| Lake Geneva | Lausanne ⇄ Vevey ⇄ Montreux ⇄ Chillon ⇄ Geneva |
| Lake Zurich | 90-minute “Kleine Seerundfahrt” round-trip cruise from Bürkliplatz, every 30 minutes April–October |
| Lake Thun | Thun ⇄ Spiez ⇄ Interlaken West |
| Lake Constance | Romanshorn ⇄ Friedrichshafen (Germany) — international ferry, still free |
| Lake Maggiore | Locarno ⇄ Brissago Islands — Italian Switzerland |
🚆 Scenic trains — also free
The famous “branded” panoramic trains all have free identical regional alternatives on the same tracks.
| Famous branded train | Free regional alternative |
|---|---|
| Glacier Express (Zermatt → St. Moritz, CHF 49 reservation) | Regional trains on the same scenic tracks: Visp → Brig → Andermatt → Disentis → Chur. Free, no reservation. |
| Bernina Express (Chur → Tirano, CHF 40–44 reservation) | RhB regional trains: Chur → Pontresina → over the Bernina Pass → Tirano (Italy). Free, no reservation. |
| GoldenPass Express (Interlaken → Montreux, CHF 20 reservation) | Luzern–Interlaken Express (Lucerne → Interlaken) — free, no reservation, same GoldenPass scenic route |
| Centovalli Railway (Locarno → Domodossola) | Same route, no reservation needed — free |
| Voralpen-Express (Lucerne → St. Gallen) | Always free, no reservation, very scenic — overlooked classic |
Pro tip: the regional trains run more frequently than the branded ones and let you hop off at small villages along the route. Total cost: zero.
🚌 Plus: every city tram, bus, and metro
The pass covers public transport in 90+ Swiss towns — Zurich, Bern, Geneva, Lausanne, Basel, Lucerne, Lugano, St. Gallen, and dozens more. Free trams, free city buses, free Lausanne M2 metro (the lakefront connector). No individual tickets to buy at any point.
Free city walks, viewpoints, and old towns
Switzerland’s old towns are walkable, safe, and free to explore. Below is the best free route in each major city.
🇨🇭 Lucerne
- Chapel Bridge + Water Tower — Europe’s oldest covered wooden bridge (1333)
- Lion Monument — Mark Twain called it “the most mournful piece of stone in the world”
- Musegg Wall + 4 climbable towers — 800 m of preserved 14th-century city wall, open April–November. Free even without a pass. The best free view in Lucerne is from the open rooftop of the Männliturm.
- Jesuit Church — Switzerland’s first Baroque interior, free entry
- Old Town squares — Hirschenplatz, Weinmarkt, Kornmarkt: painted-facade houses
🇨🇭 Bern (UNESCO World Heritage Old Town)
- 6 km of covered arcaded streets (Lauben) — shop, browse, get out of the rain
- Zytglogge (Clock Tower, 1405) — mechanical figures parade at the top of each hour
- Bear Park (BärenPark) — Bern’s namesake bears in a riverside enclosure, always free
- Rosengarten — climb up for the postcard panorama of the Old Town
- Aare River swimming (June–September) — locals float downstream from Lorrainebad on Wickelfisch waterproof bags. Free, surreal, very Bern.
- Bern Rollt — free bike rentals in the Old Town with a CHF 20 refundable deposit (May–October)
🇨🇭 Lausanne
- Cathédrale Notre-Dame — Switzerland’s most beautiful Gothic cathedral, free entry
- Sauvabelin Tower — 35 m wooden spiral lookout above a forest park, free
- Ouchy lakefront promenade — Lake Geneva sunsets
- Esplanade de Montbenon — half-kilometre lakeside park, picnic spot
- Lausanne M2 metro — free with the pass; takes you from the upper Old Town to Ouchy in 5 minutes
🇨🇭 Zurich
- Bahnhofstrasse — one of the world’s most expensive shopping streets, free to window-shop
- Lindenhof — elevated viewpoint over the Limmat river and Old Town
- Grossmünster — twin-towered Reformation church, free entry
- Niederdorf — pedestrian lanes full of bars, bookshops, ice cream stands
- Free public swimming at Tiefenbrunnen and Strandbad Mythenquai (June–September)
- Uetliberg mountain — free hike from Uetliberg station; the S10 train to the top is free with your pass
🇨🇭 Geneva (worth a day trip if you have time)
- Jet d’Eau — 140 m water fountain, the city’s icon, free to view from the lakefront
- Old Town — Cathédrale Saint-Pierre, free entry to the cathedral, paid for the tower
- Île Rousseau — tiny island in the Rhône with the Rousseau statue, free walk-on, picnic with swans
- Quai du Mont-Blanc — promenade along Lake Geneva with the Alps in the distance
500+ museums and famous castles — all free
Your Swiss Travel Pass automatically bundles the Swiss Museum Pass, which gives free entry to over 500 museums and castles across Switzerland. The most worth-your-time ones, by city:
🎨 Lucerne
- Bourbaki Panorama — 112×10 m circular painting of the 1871 Bourbaki army retreat, origin story of the Red Cross. 30-minute visit, immersive. Saves CHF 12.
- Glacier Garden (Gletschergarten) — Ice-Age glacial potholes, a mirror labyrinth, a panoramic Lucerne viewing tower. 60–90 minutes. Saves CHF 22.
- Museum of Art Lucerne (Kunstmuseum Luzern) — Swiss 19th–20th century art
- Richard Wagner Museum — the composer’s Lucerne villa, where he wrote Tristan and Isolde
🎨 Bern
- Einstein Museum + Bern Historical Museum (same building) — Einstein’s actual Bern apartment recreated, animated films on the Theory of Relativity. Saves CHF 24.
- Zentrum Paul Klee — Renzo Piano’s wave-shaped building; the world’s largest Paul Klee collection. Saves CHF 20.
- Museum of Communication — Switzerland’s tech-history museum, very kid-friendly
- Alpine Museum — Swiss alpinism, mountain photography, climbing history
🎨 Lausanne
- Olympic Museum — 1,500+ Olympic artefacts and an 8,000 m² lakefront sculpture park. Saves CHF 20.
- Musée Cantonal des Beaux-Arts (MCBA) — modern fine arts museum
🎨 Zurich
- Swiss National Museum (Landesmuseum) — Switzerland’s largest cultural-history museum, behind the main station. 60–90 minute essential
- Kunsthaus Zürich — Switzerland’s largest art museum (Munch, Giacometti, Hodler)
- Pavillon Le Corbusier — the architect’s last building, on Lake Zurich
- Rietberg Museum — non-European art collection in a beautiful villa park
🎨 Geneva
- Patek Philippe Museum — watch-making across 5 centuries, world-class
- Musée d’Art et d’Histoire (MAH) — Geneva’s main art and archaeology museum
- International Red Cross and Red Crescent Museum — modern, moving
🏰 Castles — also free
- Château de Chillon (Lake Geneva) — Switzerland’s most visited monument. The medieval castle Lord Byron wrote The Prisoner of Chillon about. 90-minute visit. Saves CHF 16.
- Château de Gruyères (cheese country) — fairytale medieval castle perched above the cheese-making village
- 3 Castles of Bellinzona (Ticino) — UNESCO World Heritage, three connected medieval fortresses
- Aigle Castle — wine museum inside a 12th-century castle on Lake Geneva
- Vufflens Castle (Vaud wine country) — picture-postcard exterior view (interior not always open)
What’s NOT actually free (and what you’d pay)
The biggest reason travellers feel ripped off in Switzerland is reading a guide that calls something “free with the pass” when it’s actually 50% off. Here’s the honest list.
❌ Only 50% off — you still pay
| Attraction | Out-of-pocket with the pass |
|---|---|
| Mount Pilatus (cable car + cogwheel) | ~CHF 36 |
| Mount Titlis + Rotair | ~CHF 47 |
| Schilthorn (James Bond peak) | ~CHF 50 |
| Jungfraujoch (“Top of Europe”) | ~CHF 100+ (only ~25% off here) |
| Gornergrat (Matterhorn views) | ~CHF 65 |
| Schynige Platte | ~CHF 32 |
| Harder Kulm (Interlaken funicular) | ~CHF 20 |
| Niederhorn (Beatenberg funicular) | ~CHF 33 |
| Swiss Museum of Transport, Lucerne | ~CHF 23 (this is the most-misquoted attraction in every Switzerland blog) |
❌ Not covered at all (private operators)
| Attraction | Cost |
|---|---|
| Trümmelbach Falls (Lauterbrunnen, 10 glacial waterfalls inside a mountain) | CHF 16 |
| Rhine Falls boat rides (Schaffhausen) | CHF 10–17 |
| Schloss Laufen castle at Rhine Falls | CHF 5 |
| Rosengart Collection, Lucerne (Picasso + Klee) | CHF 18 |
| Mineral baths (Rigi Kaltbad, Bad Ragaz, Leukerbad, Yverdon-les-Bains) | CHF 30+ |
| Lindt Home of Chocolate, Kilchberg (near Zurich) | CHF 19 |
| Stoos Sled Track (Schlittelbahn) | small per-ride fee |
❌ Premium-train seat reservations (the train itself is free)
| Branded train | Reservation cost |
|---|---|
| Glacier Express | CHF 49 |
| Bernina Express | CHF 40–44 |
| GoldenPass Express | CHF 20 (optional) |
| Centovalli Express | CHF 16 (optional) |
The fix: take the regional trains on the same tracks. Same view, free, no reservation. See the Lakes & Trains tab.
❌ Other costs the pass never covers
- Hotel — typical couple budget CHF 120–150 per night
- Food at restaurants — basic meal CHF 18–25; eat from Coop and Migros to save 50%+
- Flights to and from Switzerland
- Luggage lockers at train stations (CHF 5–9 per day)
- Mobile data roaming — use an eSIM
- Hotel city tax — most cities CHF 2–5 per person per night
How much does the Swiss Travel Pass cost?
All prices below are per person (1 adult, 2nd class) — double them if you are travelling as a couple.
| Duration | Price per person | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| 3 days consecutive | ~CHF 244 | Quick add-on to a Europe trip, mostly cities |
| 4 days consecutive | ~CHF 295 | Cities + 1–2 mountains |
| 6 days consecutive | ~CHF 359 | Full Switzerland trip with mountains and cities |
| 8 days consecutive | ~CHF 514 | Best per-day value, full week+ |
| 15 days consecutive | ~CHF 624 | Slow travel / multiple regions |
Buy on Klook — same pass as the official site, often cheaper with in-app coupons, QR voucher arrives by email instantly.
Affiliate link — if you book through this, I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you.
How to plan your days around what’s free
This page is the reference. For a fully-planned, day-by-day itinerary that uses only the free items above, see:
- 7-Day Switzerland Itinerary — includes Pilatus and Titlis even at 50% off if you want the famous peaks
- How to Claim Your Free Pilatus Cap — the Grand Train Tour app coupon walkthrough
- Must-Have Travel Apps for Europe — Klook for the Swiss Travel Pass, Omio for cross-border buses, Grand Train Tour for free Swiss gifts
Watch the Switzerland Series
▶ Watch full Switzerland playlist on YouTube →
Frequently Asked Questions
What does the Swiss Travel Pass actually cover 100% for free?
Every public train, bus, boat, and tram in Switzerland. Five mountain railways completely free (Rigi, Stoos, Stanserhorn, Klewenalp, Brunni). Over 500 museums via the bundled Swiss Museum Pass. The Olympic Museum, Bourbaki Panorama, Glacier Garden, Einstein Museum, Paul Klee Centre, Swiss National Museum, and Château de Chillon are all 100% free. The famous peaks — Pilatus, Titlis, Jungfraujoch — are only 50% off, not free.
Is the Swiss Museum of Transport (Verkehrshaus) free with the pass?
No. This is the most common misconception. The pass gives 50% off (you still pay about CHF 23). For free Lucerne museums, visit the Bourbaki Panorama and Glacier Garden — both 100% included in the Swiss Museum Pass bundled with the Swiss Travel Pass.
How much does the Swiss Travel Pass cost?
Prices below are **per person (1 adult, 2nd class)** — multiply by 2 if you are travelling as a couple. Roughly CHF 244 for a 3-day pass, CHF 295 for 4-day, CHF 359 for 6-day, CHF 514 for the 8-day. Buy it on Klook for in-app coupon discounts and an instant QR voucher by email.
Are the Bernina Express and Glacier Express free with the pass?
The trains themselves are 100% free, but the branded versions require a paid seat reservation (CHF 40–49). Take the regional trains on the exact same scenic tracks — completely free, no reservation needed, run more frequently. See the Lakes & Trains tab.
How many days of Swiss Travel Pass do I really need?
For a full Switzerland trip with mountains and three or four cities, the 8-day pass is best value (works out cheapest per day). For a quick 3–4 day add-on to a European trip, the 4-day pass is enough. The 3-day pass only makes sense if you are very city-focused and skipping mountains.
Are there mountains besides Rigi, Stoos, and Stanserhorn that are 100% free?
Yes — Klewenalp (cable car from Beckenried, above Lake Lucerne) and Brunni (cable car from Engelberg, with the Härzlisee heart-shaped lake barefoot trail). Both completely free with the pass, both quieter than the famous peaks. See the Mountains tab.
Can I get free lake boat cruises with the pass?
Yes. Every public boat on Lake Lucerne, Lake Brienz, Lake Zurich, Lake Geneva, Lake Constance, Lake Maggiore, and most other Swiss lakes is 100% free with the pass. That includes the 90-minute Kleine Seerundfahrt cruise on Lake Zurich and the historic paddle-steamers on Lake Lucerne.
Have a question about this trip?
Got a question I haven't covered in the guide above? Drop it below — I personally read every one and often add the best questions into the FAQ section of this guide.