How to Get Around Switzerland

Trains are the answer to almost every question here. The network is dense, punctual and integrated, with connections timed to meet across the whole country, and it reaches places no road does.

Passes. The Swiss Travel Pass covers trains, buses, boats and most city transport, plus museum entry and discounts on mountain railways. The Half Fare Card halves every ticket for a month and usually works out cheaper for longer or slower trips. Work out which suits your itinerary before buying — the difference can be several hundred francs.

Mountain transport. Cog railways, funiculars, cable cars and gondolas are treated as public transport and appear in the timetable. They are also the single biggest cost: the Jungfraujoch alone runs well over CHF 200 return.

Postbuses in yellow reach the villages the trains do not, with a three-note horn used on blind mountain corners.

Driving. Roads are excellent but a motorway vignette sticker is compulsory and checked. Several resorts — Zermatt, Wengen, Mürren, Saas-Fee — are car-free and reached by train. Winter tyres are effectively required in the mountains.