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10 Tips for Hiking Switzerland on a Budget

Hiking in the Swiss alps can be expensive but it doesn't have to be. If you need to stretch your hiking budget, here are 7 ways you can save money while traveling in Switzerland with your family.

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Hiking in the Swiss alps can be expensive but it doesn’t have to be. If you need to stretch your hiking budget, here are 10 ways you can save money while traveling in Switzerland with your family.

1. Travel Passes

The Swiss Travel Pass covers transportation on trains, buses, and boats for a predetermined number of days. It also gives a discount on mountain transport at many locations. This is the most flexible pass and is best if you are traveling long distances and don’t have a set itinerary.

Buy Swiss Travel Pass

In addition, there are a variety of regional Swiss travel passes for tourists that cover trains, buses, boats, and some mountain transport (or discounts for them) in one region for a certain number of days. You’ll have to do the math, but generally, these are only worth it if you don’t have a car and you will be using expensive mountain transport every day.

MySwissAlps has a good explanation of all Swiss travel passes.

2. Combo Discounts with Public Transport

SBB Railaway (part of the Swiss public transport system) offers lots of combo discounts, with a small discount the travel and activity if purchased together, usually about 10% but can be up to 50%.

For example, in June 2018, SBB is offering 20% off the Mt. Rigi mountain transport if you purchase it with your train transportation to the base of Rigi. 

See SBB Railway Offers here.

3. Half-fare card for Swiss Public Transport

Locals should definitely buy the SBB Half-fare card, which gives you a 50% discount on most mountain transport and public transportation. In 2018, this costs CHF 185 for one year.

For short-term travel, locals and visitors can buy a 1 month Half-fare card for CHF 120 (in 2017). It could pay for itself rather quickly if you go up a lot of expensive mountains.

More info about the SBB Half-fare card.

4. Kids ride free with the SBB Junior card

The first thing anyone with a child aged 6 to 16 should do is to buy the SBB Junior card. It costs CHF 30 per year and entitles the child to travel free on public transportation and most mountain transport when traveling with a parent. This is available for both locals and tourists. You can only buy this in person at a train station that has a ticket office. You need to bring IDs for your children proving their age. 

Remember, children under 6 are usually free on everything.

More info about SBB Junior Cards

5. Travel shorter distances

One of the biggest costs is simply getting to the mountains. Public transport, rental cars, gas and parking are expensive here. If you stick to mountains near your home base instead of traveling far and wide across Switzerland, you can save a lot on your travel.

See our Swiss Regional Guides to help you stay in one area

For example, if you are staying in Luzern, visit the many mountains in Central Switzerland like Rigi, Stoos, Engelberg, etc. Don’t waste a bunch of time and money doing day trips to the Berner Oberland or Zermatt. As an example, here are some sample full fare return train trips to some local destinations vs farther afield (not including mountain transport).

Near Luzern Far from Luzern
  • Pilatus CHF 8.20
  • Rigi CHF 26
  • Engelberg CHF 36.80
  • Stoos CHF 39.20
  • Lauterbrunnen CHF 81.20
  • Zermatt CHF 234
  • Davos CHF 126
  • St. Moritz CHF 168

6. Hotel guest cards

Many tourism regions offer guest cards that cover or discount mountain transport, public transportation and a variety of leisure activities if you stay in a participating hotel, holiday apartment or even campsite. This can significantly reduce your costs.

You should receive this automatically visitor card when you check in and often the benefits begin as soon as you arrive. Plan your activities around what’s free and heavily discounted.

For suggested areas, see 12 Regional offers to save BIG on your Swiss summer

7. Choose hikes without mountain transport

We love the convenient and plentiful Swiss mountain railways that make mountains accessible for people of all abilities. It’s important to understand that unlike other countries, Switzerland generally does not charge an entrance fee to access nature parks and mountain areas. So the the fees for mountain transport (and your support of mountain restaurants and hotels) helps pay for the cost of trail maintenance and other services that make your visit comfortable and safe.

That said, this mountain transport can be expensive in some places, especially if you are paying for the whole family.

So you may want to choose some hikes without mountain transport to reduce your costs. In the link below, I list ten of our favorite hikes without mountain railways. But there are hundreds of free hikes all over in the Swiss countryside, along lakes and rivers, through valleys. And of course, you can simply hike up and down a mountain if you don’t mind a workout. 

See Best Swiss Hikes without a Gondola

8. Ride up, hike down

Another way to minimize costs is to ride the mountain transport one way and hike the other way (up or down). This will cut your costs in half. For example, this hike at Fürenalp only costs CHF 13/adult to get these amazing views plus a great hike to a waterfall before hiking back down to the valley.

9. Choose lesser known mountains

The more popular areas are naturally more expensive because demand is high. But those areas don’t have a monopoly on pretty. There are amazing hikes all over this country with inexpensive mountain transport, a fraction of the cost of the Zermat and Jungfrau region.    

See our list of best budget mountain hikes

10. Take a picnic

We love eating at mountain restaurants and huts and you can see some of our favorites here. But Swiss food prices are high and this can quickly double your budget for the day. 

Here’s a sample menu with prices very typical of most mountain restaurants we’ve been to. You can expect to pay about CHF 25-35 per person for lunch with a drink. 

Taking a picnic is an easy and fun way to keep the costs down. If you haven’t planned ahead, most train stations and villages near the mountains have a small grocery where you can pick up supplies.

See also our Swiss Guide to Hiking Food and What to Grill on the Trail.

How to travel Switzerland more cheaply with free guest cards, travel passes, affordable destinations, train travel, hiking, and food.

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4 Responses

  1. We’re just moved to Zürich and decided to splurge on GA passes for the family. Do you know if most funiculars and cable cars accept the GA? In our first outing, we found that some do (Rigi) and others don’t (Pilatus). Do you know which is more common and how to tell in advance? (After the enormous cost of the GA, we’re not too keep to spend yet more on the last mile, so to speak…) . Amazing website; Thanks!

    1. I found a link to the map of validity for “Half-price travel with Half-Fare travelcard or free travel with the GA travelcard * and seven25 travelcard **” It has a list of Bergbahns which are mountain transport. I hope this helps.
      https://www.sbb.ch/content/dam/sbb/de/pdf/abos-billette/abonnemente/ga/karte-geltungsbereich-ga-halbtax_en_barrierefrei.pdf.sbbdownload.pdf

  2. Hello,

    I am heading to Switzerland for a few days and your blog posts have been a great resource to keep costs down! Now this might be a silly question, but do you have to pay to just simply hike on trails if you don’t use a train, cable car, etc.? If so, are you aware of a comprehensive resource that lists all of the pricing?

    Thanks so much! 🙂

    1. It’s not a silly question. In Switzerland, the vast majority of trails are free to hike on. There is no entry fee into the hiking area or hiking permits required, like you might have at a U.S. National Park. The only optional cost is the mountain transport. Some people simply hike up from the valley, which avoids this cost. But for many mountain trails, it’s much more practical and efficient to first take the mountain transport, then do your hike even higher up. I’m not aware of a comprehensive price list. I spent hours compiling the info in this post from many different websites. Some regions have lists of mountain areas in their region but those lists are usually hard to find. I hope this helps in your trip planning.

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Hi! I’m Tanya and our family has been living & hiking in Switzerland since 2005, collecting dozens of fun hikes and activities for all ages and abilities. More about us…

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