The Swiss Travel Pass is usually sold as covering “almost everything”. On ordinary trains, buses and lake boats it genuinely does. On the famous mountain railways — the ones most UK visitors buy it for — it often does not. Pass Check tells you, route by route, before you get to the ticket barrier.
Every route, best value first
| Route | Journey | Pass Check | You pay extra |
|---|---|---|---|
| GoldenPass LineLucerne → Montreux | About 5 hours 15 minutes | Free with the Swiss Travel Pass | Nothing |
| Rigi RailwaysVitznau → Rigi Kulm | About 30 minutes | Free with the Swiss Travel Pass | Nothing |
| Bernina ExpressChur → Tirano | About 4 hours | Pass covers it, seat fee payable | Compulsory seat reservation |
| Glacier ExpressZermatt → St Moritz | About 8 hours | Pass covers it, seat fee payable | Compulsory seat reservation |
| Gornergrat BahnZermatt → Gornergrat | About 33 minutes | Pass gives a discount, not free | A reduced fare |
| Jungfraujoch RailwayKleine Scheidegg → Jungfraujoch | About 35 minutes | Pass gives a discount, not free | A reduced fare |
| Pilatus RailwayAlpnachstad → Pilatus Kulm | About 30 minutes | Pass gives a discount, not free | A reduced fare |
What the four verdicts mean
- Free with the Swiss Travel Pass
- Show your pass and travel. No supplement for a standard seat, and usually no reservation needed.
- Pass covers it, seat fee payable
- The pass pays for the journey, but the train only runs with reserved seats — and the reservation is a separate, compulsory charge. This is how the Glacier and Bernina Express work.
- Pass gives a discount, not free
- Many mountain railways are privately run and only reduce the fare for pass holders. The size of the discount varies by route, and the remaining fare can still be substantial.
- Not covered by the Swiss Travel Pass
- You pay the full fare. None of the routes currently on this site fall into this group, but some cable cars and excursions do.
So is the pass worth it?
It depends on the shape of your trip, not on how scenic it is. The pass earns its keep on days with long journeys between cities and regions, and on the routes marked free above — the Rigi and the GoldenPass line among them. If most of your days are spent riding mountain railways from a single base, you will be paying supplements on top of the pass anyway.
For that kind of trip, look at the Swiss Half Fare Card instead: it halves the price of most tickets, including many mountain railways, for a much lower up-front cost. Work out your likely journeys first, then compare the two.
How Pass Check is kept honest
Every verdict is recorded against the route itself, so the table above, the badges on each route page and the route cards across the site all read from the same place and cannot disagree. A route’s verdict never depends on which partner, if any, we link to for it.
Pass conditions do change. Treat Pass Check as a planning guide and confirm current coverage with the operator or the official Swiss Travel System before you buy.