Swiss travel pass best place to purchase

When you do purchase, see if you can alert your credit card company ahead of time about the charge. STP purchases are notorious for setting off security protocols on American credit cards. Also have a backup card at the ready until it gets sorted out. Not sure why it is so touchy -- something in how the purchase is coded I'm sure -- but it has happened to us twice.

The only money-saving trick I know is to check the official site that sells the pass in US dollars versus the one that quotes the price in Swiss francs, and compare those prices with the current exchange rate for the two currencies.

For example, this one (a subsidiary of SBB) quotes $499 for an 8-day Swiss Travel Pass:

https://swisstravelpass.com/

https://switzerlandtravelcentre.com/en/che/ticket/swiss-travel-pass

But SBB quotes 419 CHF for the same pass.

https://www.sbb.ch/en/tickets-offers/tickets/guests-abroad/swiss-travel-pass.html

I see the exchange rate today is saying 419 CHF converts to $477 in US dollars. So right now, one is better off buying directly from SBB.ch (assuming your credit card does not change a huge foreign transaction fee).

I do recall a time, maybe 10 years ago or more, when there was a big shift in the value of the US dollar (it went up in relation to the European currencies), but the official Swiss site for tourists (the Swiss Travel Centre one above) did not adjust their prices accordingly. So it was actually cheaper to buy the Swiss Pass from Rail Europe, because they valued the US dollar correctly (or one could have bought directly from SBB upon arrival in Switzerland to get the same advantage).

This is not a trick, it just a case of paying attention to published prices... A 15 day pass cost only a few Francs more than a month long normal pass 419 versus 440 so if you were on planning to stay longer then a standard Swiss pass is the option.

"a month long normal pass 419 versus 440"

@Jim, what "month long" pass is available? I know the 8-day STP is the one for 419 Swiss Francs, but I couldn't find anything that was 440 Francs or anything that went for an entire month. I'd love to learn more...

Thanks for your help.

I do not know of any “monthlong pass” available to tourists, apart from the Half Fare Card which is good for 30 days. But perhaps Jim meant to refer to the 15-day Swiss Pass as being little more than the 8-day one. But the current price for the 15-day pass is 459 CHF, not 440.

So I hope Jim clarifies.

So far, it doesnt look like a sale will happen this year, as we have seen in previous years since Covid. There's no advantage to buying it now, just wait and see. But there is an advantage to buying the pass on line, as then you have an electronic copy that loads into your Apple wallet. As far as I know, there's no backup to a paper pass purchased in person in Switzerland , unless something has changed.
Safe travels.

Here is what Jim is talking about. Anyone can purchase the one month GA (yes, I even asked them at the train station to be sure, tourists can purchase as well).

https://www.sbb.ch/en/tickets-offers/travelcards/ga-travelcard/ga-1-month.html

Edited to add: there are not really restrictions on what tourists can purchase, it is just a matter of what is of good value for someone here on a holiday. Residents of Switzerland, on the other hand, are not allowed to purchase a Swiss Travel Pass.

@Maureen. It's not clear if this is open to US citizens. The SBB help page indicates "When buying online, you can enter details for the following types of ID: passports and ID cards issued in Switzerland, Germany, Austria, France, Italy or Liechtenstein." There is also a reference to buying a GA Travel card if one already has a SwissPass or does not yet have a SwissPass.

I'm trying to decide if it might be worth buying this 1-month pass versus a 15-day Swiss Travel Pass. We (a couple) will be in Switzerland for 20 days in August but will spend the first 4 days in Basel visiting relatives. Beginning on the 11th we have 15 days during which we will likely use public transportation to visit a variety of sites. We will only being staying in 3 different places (Luzern, Chur, & Sierre) but taking day trips. I expect some travel on each day but perhaps we will take a break for a day. If I purchase a 15-day consecutive STP beginning use on 11 August, the last valid day of travel will be on 25 August. On 26 August, we will be traveling by train from Sierre to Zurich, probably with at least one stop in between. Since our STP will no longer be valid, we will need to buy 2 point-to-point tickets to travel from Sierre to Zurich on the 26th. I like the convenience of the STP but it might be more economic to buy a one-month GA Travel card if it offers the same benefits (hop on and off any train, bus...) but is valid for more days (is it valid for a specific month (e.g. August) or for 30 days?). The down side is that I would have to purchase it upon arrival as it looks like US citizens cannot buy it online.