Swiss Guest Cards | Aplins in the Alps

Swiss Guest Cards... How do you get one? What do they offer? And are they really that helpful? Today we’re going to explain all the details that you need to know about Guest Cards in Switzerland! If we haven’t met, we’re Jana and Brett, Aplins in the Alps, and we help you travel Switzerland with confidence. And part of traveling with confidence includes understanding these often misunderstood Guest Cards, so let’s jump right in. First things first, what are they? Want to Watch instead of Read? What are Guest Cards (in Switzerland)? Guest Cards are also called Visitors Cards or Tourist Tickets or something similar, but they all typically mean the same thing. When you stay overnight in a variety of Swiss destinations, you’re given a local Guest Card. This usually provides 2 main benefits: free local transportation and discounted attractions. Cool, right? But you still probably have a ton of questions, starting with “How do I get one?” How to Get a Swiss Guest Card To get a Guest Card, you just have to stay overnight in a destination that offers one. Usually, but not always, this means at least one night somewhere like a hotel, Airbnb, holiday apartment, or campground. There are some exceptions where you need to stay longer than one night, but those are pretty rare. And in some cases, Airbnb guests aren’t eligible no matter how long they stay. Either your hotel or host will email this to you a day or two before your arrival, or they will give it to you during check-in. If you’re not sure that you’re entitled to a Guest Card, you can always reach out to your lodging before your trip to ask. How much does a Swiss Visitor Card cost? Here’s some good news: Guest Cards are free! Well, sort of... Technically you’re only entitled to a Guest Card because you’re paying the tourist tax, which is required of everyone staying overnight in Switzerland. That’s also why Guest Cards are only given to overnight visitors. But it kinda depends on your perspective. On one hand, they could charge you tourist tax and not give you anything in return. On the other hand, you’re only getting one because you paid your tourist tax. I feel like you’re technically paying for one, while Brett thinks it’s free, but that’s just because he likes fun surprises. So let us know in the comments which one it sounds like to you! By the way, there are actually a few “Guest Cards” that you do have to pay for, such as the Zurich Card. But that’s a totally different thing. In this blog, we’re just going to focus on the free ones without getting into whether it’s worth buying one that costs money. (But for context, we never have.) Swiss Cities with Guest Cards Okay, enough with the general overview. You’re probably wondering which Swiss destinations offer Guest Cards? Sometimes you have to stay overnight in a specific village to get one, and sometimes you can stay anywhere in an entire canton and be eligible for a Guest Card. Sometimes there are Summer and Winter specific Guest Cards, and sometimes there’s just one card for the whole year. So it’s nearly impossible to provide a comprehensive list of every single village and municipality in Switzerland that provides one, but here’s a brief list of the most popular tourist spots that do: Basel Bern Davos Geneva Lucerne Grindelwald Gstaad Interlaken Lausanne Montreux St. Moritz Ticino By the way, we’ve included 32 Swiss destinations with Guest Cards in our Ultimate Guide to Swiss Transportation and some notes about what each one covers. So you can check that out after you finish reading this blog. You might notice a few popular Swiss destinations missing from this list. For example, we already mentioned that Zurich only has Guest Cards available for purchase. And Zermatt doesn’t have one at all. Although it is worth noting that the Zermatt village e-buses are always free to use! If you’re planning your Swiss vacation and not sure if your destination or specific place of lodging includes a Guest Card, the best way to find out is to directly contact your lodging. Swiss Guest Card Benefit #1 | Free Local Transportation Okay, so you’re going to visit one or more of the destinations in Switzerland that offer a Guest Card. So, how will they help you? Like we mentioned earlier, there are 2 main benefits: free local transportation and discounted attractions. Let’s start with transportation. Now you might be thinking, “Awesome, free transport! Now I don’t need to buy a train pass!” Unfortunately, a Guest Card is not a replacement for a train pass, and here’s why. First, it’s super important to note that local usually means exactly what it says: hyper local! We’re talking city buses and trams, or very short train segments, centered in a very small area. Sometimes they offer wider coverage, but that’s not usually the case, especially in the most popular areas. And another important point is that mountain transportation is rarely included in the free transportation. While Guest Cards do often provide discounts on nearby mountain trains and cable cars, those discounts are usually quite a bit less than what you’d receive with a Swiss Half Fare Card. But we’ll talk about mountain transportation later when we discuss discounted attractions. Let’s look at some examples of the free local transport coverage: The Interlaken Guest Card is given to overnight visitors staying in Interlaken, Wilderswil, and a few smaller places nearby. It provides free transport in town via train and bus, and can get you to places like Iseltwald, the St. Beatus-Höhlen Caves, and Beatenbucht — which is the valley station for the Niederhorn. But Harder Kulm? Not covered. Schynige Platte? Not included either. In fact, if you’re looking to ride to Lauterbrunnen, Grindelwald, or on a nearby lake, none of those are free with this Guest Card. The Grindelwald Guest Card offers free rides on the local Grindelwald bus lines 121, 122, and 123. These buses will take you to the Grindelwald First and Pfingstegg valley stations, to the Grindelwald Terminal and Grindelwald Grund train stations, and up to the lovely Cafe 3692. But trains, cable cars, and gondola rides are not included. The Lucerne Visitor Card covers buses, trains, and trams in Zone 10 of the city network, and will get you to the famous Lion monument, the Swiss Museum of Transport, the Pilatus valley station in Kriens, and lots of other cool spots within the city. But once again, no boats, no mountain transport, and nowhere outside of this local zone. If you’re staying in or near Montreux, the Montreux Guest Card provides free transport from there to Vevey and Villeneuve. This is really helpful because these other two villages often have much cheaper lodging options than Montreux, and you can travel between either destination and Montreux by train in 5-10 minutes. And since these villages are mostly built up from the lake, it’s nice to be able to ride buses uphill for free. By the way, you can often use the free transportation benefit of the Guest Card when you’re arriving — even before you check in and get your Guest Card! In this case, you just show your lodging confirmation if asked to show your transport ticket. But not every destination allows this, so be sure to check for yourself. Will a Guest Card replace my need for a Swiss train pass? After seeing that info, it’s much easier to understand why a Guest Card is not a replacement for a train pass. In fact, we can go a step further and say that, for some of you, the free transportation won’t even be a benefit to you at all. If you’re traveling with a Swiss Travel Pass, none of the 4 Guest Cards we just highlighted will provide you with any free transportation not already covered by your train pass. If you’re staying in Interlaken or Grindelwald, the Berner Oberland Pass will cover everything and more than their Guest Cards would cover. And if you're in Lucerne with a Tell-Pass, all that local transport is already covered, too. But as you probably already know from seeing our Ultimate Guide to Swiss Train Passes, we rarely find the Swiss Travel Pass to be the best buy. And outside of the Jungfrau Region and the areas surrounding Lucerne, there’s not always a great regional train pass option. Who will benefit most from the free local transport? Which brings us to the question of: who will most benefit from the free local transport offered by a Guest Card? And the answer is pretty simple: anyone traveling to one of these areas without a train pass or only with a Swiss Half Fare Card. Quick shameless plug for the Half Fare Card. If you just want to spend the least amount of money possible on transportation during your trip to Switzerland, 7 times out of 10, you’ll find that buying only a Half Fare Card and no other pass will accomplish this goal. Yes, you’ll have to buy tickets anytime you want to ride transportation, but then you’ll really find these Guest Cards to be helpful. Every route covered by your Guest Card is a ticket that you don’t have to buy — and even if it’s just a few bucks of savings each time, that can really add up over the course of your trip! Buy your Half Fare Card here! Guest Card Transportation Exceptions It’s worth mentioning that some of the Guest Cards in less touristy areas of the country offer free transportation that covers a much larger area. For example, guests in Ticino and Neuchâtel gain access to free local transportation throughout those entire cantons! So that’s a bit of an incentive to visit some places that maybe aren’t so well-known. There are also plenty of places where the Guest Card provides discounted attractions but no free local transportation. A few notable spots like this are: Lauterbrunnen, Mürren, Wengen, Brienz, Leukerbad, and the Aletsch Arena. FAQ about Swiss Guest Card Transportation Benefits That’s a pretty good overview of the local transport benefits, but before we talk about the discounted attractions, let’s answer a few FAQs related to transportation. (But remember that these are general answers, and you need to know the specifics about each Guest Card you use! Find more helpful details in the Guest Card section of our Ultimate Guide to Swiss Transportation.) Q: Do I need to have a ticket when I ride with my Guest Card? A: No. For any route fully covered by your Guest Card, the Guest Card is your ticket. You simply hop on the transportation and show your Guest Card if asked for your ticket. It’s worth mentioning that some Guest Cards are given to you in a physical form, which you’ll need to take with you since pictures of them will not be accepted. Others are sent to you by email as a PDF, which you can show digitally on your phone. And a few places even have a local app that you can use to display your Guest Card too. Q: Do I need to validate my guest card? A: Guest Cards are automatically valid for the dates written on your card, which should be equal to the dates you’re visiting the area, including your arrival and departure days. If you have a Guest Card properly filled out with your name and travel dates, that’s all you need — no additional validation necessary when you travel! Q: Will we get one Guest Card per family or per person? A: Each person will receive their own Guest Card, and each person needs to have it with them to be entitled to the benefits, including free transportation. But Guest Cards will usually not be given to kids under age 6 since they’re free on transport anyway. Swiss Guest Card Benefit #2 | Discounted Attractions As we alluded to above, nearly all Guest Cards in Switzerland offer discounts to nearby attractions, like museums, activities, sights, and mountain transportation. But the actual activities and discounts vary greatly between locations. The Interlaken Guest Card provides discounts to destinations like Harder Kulm, Schynige Platte, and boats on Lake Brienz. The Grindelwald Guest Card offers discounts to nearby mountain attractions such as Grindelwald First and Pfingstegg. The Lucerne Visitor Card has a PDF with 5 pages of discounts for nearby destinations, including the Swiss Museum of Transport and mountain transport to Stoos, Rigi, and Pilatus. The Montreux Guest Card provides discounts up to 50% off nearby attractions, including Chillon Castle, the Food Museum, and the Swiss Game Museum. You’ll also find that lots of these Guest Cards give you free or discounted access to swimming pools, plus kayak, stand-up paddleboard, and bike rentals. Swiss Guest Card discounts on Mountain Attractions But let’s talk about mountain attractions. The discounts on these mountain trains, cable cars, funicular, and gondola rides fall in the range of somewhere between 10-30%, and they can almost never be combined with other discounts from another train pass or the Half Fare Card. So for the most part these Guest Card discounts will only benefit you if you’re traveling without any kind of train pass at all. As always, there are a few exceptions, such as the Saas Fee SaastalCard which does actually include nearby cable cars. But like we mentioned before, double check what your specific Guest Card will and will not cover! And keep in mind that the Swiss Travel Pass and regional passes like the Berner Oberland Pass or the Tell-Pass also have a pretty long list of discount partners. So before using your Guest Card to snag a discount on sightseeing, see if your train pass offers an even bigger discount! Our Favorite Swiss Guest Cards Alright, we’ve spent years traveling to almost every single Swiss canton, which means we’ve had plenty of these cards in our wallet over the years. But there’s one that stands out as our absolute favorite: It’s the Appenzell Holiday Card, and it gives you free travel in 15 zones of public transport throughout the canton of Appenzell Innerrhoden. But more importantly, you can ride the cable car to Ebenalp and the Aescher Guesthouse for free. As well as cable cars to Hoher Kasten and Kronberg! Plus, you get a free ride on the Jakobsbad summer toboggan run. A free bike rental. A free tour of a cheese dairy. And use of the PubliCar Appenzell — which is basically a door-to-door taxi service covering the entire canton — for nothing but a 5 CHF surcharge per person. Plus, a whole lot more! Unfortunately, you have to spend three or more consecutive nights in the same accommodation to be eligible for this card, but trust us when we say that Appenzell is 100% worth this amount of time if you choose to go there. All of our visits to Appenzell came before we started publishing videos on YouTube, but something tells me we’ll be heading back there to make content for you before long! More Swiss Transportation Tips Obviously, we’re just touching the tip of the iceberg when it comes to transportation and attractions in Switzerland. Read this next to learn all you need to know about Swiss Train Passes. Or find even more details about Swiss Guest Cards in our Ultimate Guide to Swiss Transportation. And we’ll see you in Switzerland!