17 Transportation Tourist Mistakes To Avoid | Swiss Transportation & Switzerland Travel Tips

17 Transportation Tourist Mistakes To Avoid | Swiss Transportation & Switzerland Travel Tips

So you’re getting ready to ride Swiss 
transportation. Is it your first time? Ah, so you’re one of those Swiss transportation 
rookies. Be sure to watch out for these tourist mistakes so you don’t get fined, 
reprimanded, or look and feel like a total noob. The number one question travelers ask us 
about Switzerland is Swiss transportation. We know that you’re nervous and a bit 
unsure, but take a deep breath and when the train comes into the station, don’t team 
on the platform with your nose to the door and rush onboard. Always allow passengers 
to get off first before you get on. On trains and buses in pretty much every 
form of transportation, there’s always a staff person watching to make sure that everyone 
can get on and off safely. So if you’re already on the platform when the train or bus arrives, 
you should have plenty of time to allow other travelers to exit before you hop on board and 
find a seat. And if you’re already on board, it is acceptable and encouraged to wait by the doors 
so that you can efficiently get off at your stop. Hey, babe, did you buy tickets yet? 
From the airport to Interlaken? And what about to Zermatt? And Jungfraujoch? Glacier 
Paradise? Babe, our trips is in like six months. We have good news for you! In general, 
transportation tickets in Switzerland don’t sell out. And the prices are set so they 
won’t increase as your travel date gets closer. And this is true not just for tickets, but 
for train passes too. Standard point-to-point tickets allow you to travel your chosen route 
at any time of the day, and you can literally buy your ticket while you’re standing on 
the platform, which is what we usually do. And since a train from the airport would cost the 
same amount on the day you arrive as it would if you had bought it months in advance, there is zero 
reason to stress. Just buy a ticket on your day of travel to enjoy ultimate flexibility with your 
Swiss itinerary without sacrificing your budget. Okay. Our train should be here in 2 minutes. I 
booked seat reservations in carriage number ten, seats 52 and 54 on this first train. 
But then we have to change in Bern. And then we’re in carriage number two, 
seats 17 and 19. Got it? We got this! We’ve lived in Switzerland for over a year 
now and we’ve spent more than three cumulative years traveling in this country. And here’s 
how many seat reservations we’ve ever booked. (4!) Frankly, you hardly ever need them. 
But the rare times when you do need them are for the official scenic train routes like the Glacier 
Express, the Golden Pass, and the Bernina Express. For these, you’ll need to purchase both 
a seat reservation and a ticket. And it’s super important to book a seat reservation 
in advance, which can be done through each company’s website. But you don’t need 
to buy your ticket in advance. You can literally wait and buy these on the day 
of travel. They can be purchased through the scenic train company or through SBB, 
which is the Swiss national railway company. And we already know you’re going to ask us if you 
can make seat reservations on normal trains. Yes, you can. And they cost five francs per 
person. Now, we’ve never actually done this and we don’t generally think it’s 
necessary either. But if you’re traveling during peak season and really want to make 
sure that you reach your destination with plenty of time to spare, this could be 
some cheap insurance for peace of mind. There’s a saying: when one door closes, another 
one opens. And while that may be true of circumstances in life, it is not necessarily true 
of Swiss transportation. We had some friends come to visit a couple of years ago and they called 
us from the airport to say they had missed their train. They were standing on the right platform 
in front of the doors for a full minute before the train departed, but the doors were open and 
so they thought they were allowed to board. In their severe jet lagged state, they didn’t 
realize that all they had to do was push a button. We have a local friend who works for the 
railway and he sees this so often and he sometimes jokes with tourists by telling them they need a 
special door opening app on their phone. Obviously he’s silly, and that’s not necessary. So 
if you’re standing on the platform and find yourself in this same situation, just push the 
button next to the door and it’ll magically open. And sometimes when you’re on the inside, you’ll also have to push a button next to 
the door to make it open too. By the way, never, ever, ever push or pull this one 
at eye level. That’s the emergency brake. Dude in the office said we should get 
the train pass, but he doesn’t know what he’s talking about. …Pretty sure 
I heard that on YouTube too. …Whatever! Not buying a Swiss train pass is like throwing 
your money in the garbage. Let’s take the example of a typical one week trip to the 
Jungfrau Tegion. Buying the right Swiss train pass could save you as much as 200 francs per 
person compared to buying individual tickets. Not to mention it’s just super convenient 
that you don’t have to buy a ticket every single time that you hop on a train, bus, 
boat, cable, car, gondola, or funicular. But you could waste just as much money 
buying the wrong train pass because sometimes buying the wrong pass is more 
expensive than buying no pass at all. So what’s a traveler to do when buying the wrong 
train pass is worse than having no train pass, yet having no train pass is 
an expensive mistake too? We have helped more than 6000 travelers choose 
a train pass with confidence thanks to our super simple and free Swiss Train Pass Checklist. 
Just follow the questions and plug in your itinerary and it’ll tell you exactly which pass 
or passes you’ll need. We’ll drop a link to that in the description below so we can help make 
one part of your trip planning process just a little bit easier. And if you want to learn 
more about Swiss train passes in general, there’s also a video at that link that 
you can watch after you finish this one. I am so glad we bought a train pass because 
now we can go anywhere in the country for free, including Jungfraujoch, Matterhorn 
Glacier Paradise, and even Pilatus. Look at you, you confident traveler. You’ve 
got your Swiss train pass in your hand or on your phone, but your job isn’t quite 
finished yet. Your next responsibility is to know which routes your pass does 
or doesn’t cover. I mean, who wants to pay for a route that should technically be 
free with your pass? And in the same way, you’d probably rather not get fined because you 
should have bought a ticket, but you didn’t. For example, all of the regional passes 
only work in a specific area of the country, thus the name regional, and you need to know 
where that coverage ends. The Swiss Travel Pass doesn’t cover you all the way up to most 
mountain destinations, so you’ll usually have to buy a ticket, although it does often give 
you a discount. And the Eurail and Interrail passes don’t cover buses in Switzerland or 
any of the transportation lines in Zermatt. So your homework is to master those validity maps. And if you have our Ultimate Guide to Swiss 
Transportation or any of our itineraries, there’s a handy spreadsheet showing you 
which routes are covered, not covered, or discounted. In other words, if you really 
want things to be easy, that’s the place to go. We’ve had so many Swiss people ask us what’s up 
with Americans putting their feet up on things? We’re Americans and we’re not really sure, but 
I guess it’s comfy and we like to be comfy? But here’s one thing we have experienced: putting your 
feet up on the seat is a big no no. We’ve seen so many staff people and even old ladies swat people 
until they put their feet back on the ground. So even though you’re tempted, just don’t put 
your feet up. And before you even ask, it doesn’t matter whether you have shoes on or your socks, 
it’s better to just keep your feet on the ground. Hey, Siri, navigate driving directions to Harder Kulm. I’m sorry, but 
you cannot drive too Harder Kulm. We have a friend from our church in Interlaken 
who’s a police officer, and he told us a few stories of people who tried to drive their cars 
up to Harder Kulm or Grindelwald First and got stuck because you can’t drive up there. And there 
was literally even one person who tried to drive their car down the steps and under the platform at 
the train station because their GPS told them to. Don’t be fooled. You can not drive to 
most mountains in Switzerland. In fact, you can’t even drive to many of the tourist 
villages such as Zermatt, Mürren, Wengen, or Gimmelwald. No matter how your GPS tries to 
navigate, you always read the signs or go to the local tourism office to ask for directions. 
And you should probably assume if there’s a gondola or a cable car, that you should 
take it and leave your car at the bottom. But if you do plan to make one of these 
mistakes, at least let us know in advance so we can come and capture it on video 
for our next round of tourist mistakes. Houston, we have a problem. The last 
cable car of the night just left. We’ve heard stories about so many travelers who 
didn’t realize that the cable cars and gondolas stopped running for the day by dinnertime. So 
then they’re either stuck and have to sleep in the mountain hotel or hike all the way down the 
mountain in the dark. Not to mention that a lot of trains and buses also stop running by 10 or 
11 pm, although they do run later in the cities. So our best piece of advice is to get 
in the habit of checking the timetables when you arrive somewhere so you 
have an idea of what time you’ll need to leave. The opposite can also be 
true for morning travel. For example, if you have a flight that leaves at 7 or 8 am, but 
you’re staying a few hours away from the airport, you may not be able to catch a train 
early enough to actually make your flight. Now, that’s a really cool way to snag 
an extra free day in Switzerland, but we probably don’t recommend that. Hang on, we’re going to Wilderswil, but this says Lauterbrunnen. I 
think we’re on the wrong platform! Swiss trains, trams, and buses are 
identified by a number and a direction, and that direction is the end destination. But 
that end destination often will not be the same as your destination. So make sure you know which 
direction you need to go to get to where you want to go. Sometimes the departure board at the train 
station will miss some major stops along the way, but that’s not always the case and many 
smaller villages won’t be listed at all. However, there’s usually a screen on board that 
displays the next few upcoming stops. So once you’re actually riding the transportation, it’s 
pretty easy to know when you reach your stop. The train leaves in 3 minutes. Do 
we have time to go to the office and buy a ticket? And still catch the train? Buying tickets from the station isn’t a 
mistake. And you can totally do this if it helps give you peace of mind that 
you’re buying the right ticket. But waiting in those really unpredictably 
long lines can be just as stressful. So what if there was a way that 
you could travel around this entire beautiful country without ever stepping 
foot in a real office? Well, you can, with the SBB mobile app! Nearly every ticket in 
the entire country can be purchased on the SBB mobile app. It tells you which platform 
you’re departing from and arriving at, which amenities are on board each train, and 
even if there are delays along your route The SBB app can literally prevent you from 
making the last three mistakes that we mentioned: not knowing when train stations stop running, not 
knowing which train to board, and having to buy all your ticket in the station. If you have 
our Ultimate Guide To Swiss Transportation, don’t forget that part to include step-by-step 
instructions which screenshots to teach you how to download the app, how to buy tickets, 
and even how to follow your route. Hi, I’d like to buy four tickets please. For 
me, my husband, and our two kids. “How old are the kinder?” Johnny is eight and Billy, 
he’s almost four. They’re growing up so fast! In case you haven’t heard, kids under 
six are free on public transportation throughout the entire country of Switzerland, 
and kids ages 6 to 15 are normally half price. But this small country is awfully 
friendly to little ones because kids under 16 could theoretically travel with 
you for free throughout your entire Swiss vacation. Here’s how. If you have a Swiss Family 
Card, your kids can travel with you for free. And you can also buy the Junior 
Card or Children’s Co-Travel Card if you’re traveling with kids who 
are not your own, such as grandkids, nieces or nephews. And on the unusual chance 
that you won’t be able to use one of those, many regional passes also offer a super cheap 
children’s version of their pass as well. Oh my gosh, I really have to pee. I’m 
going to go find the bathroom. Okay. I still really have to pee, but they 
cost money. Do you have any coins? Free toilets should be a basic human right, in my 
opinion. But we often find that you have to pay to pee at the larger stations. In general, the 
SBB stations, which are most of the major ones, have paid toilets, while the smaller 
stations often have free toilets. But either way there is no need to pay 
because all of the trains and boats have free toilets on board. Now obviously there 
are no toilets on board the gondolas and the cable cars and the funiculars. But 
we’ve observed that pretty much every mountain station we’ve been to does 
have free bathrooms in the station. Hey, do we need to buy a ticket to this right 
now? Nah, we’ve got the Interlaken Guest Card. Did you know that many Swiss cities offer a free 
Visitor’s Card to overnight guests? These usually cover citywide transportation and provide 
discounts to some local attractions. Guest Cards are awesome if you’re only sticking 
to the cities or you’re traveling with nothing but a Half Fare Card because you will 
definitely benefit from the free local travel. But when we say local, we mean a 
really hyper local. For example, the Interlaken Guest Card can get you to 
Interlaken Ost, Interlaken West, and Wilderswil, but it will not take you to Harder Kulm, Schynige 
Platter, Grindelwald, Lauterbrunnen, or any of the mountain peaks. And while the Lucerne Visitor 
Card will take you to sites such as the Lion Monument or the Swiss Transportation Museum, 
it won’t get you up to any mountains either. The bottom line is that you shouldn’t ignore 
these Guest Cards entirely. Take advantage of the free local transport and the discounts on 
activities and museums. But most of the time, having a Visitor Card doesn’t mean that 
you will not also need a train pass too. Hey, you mind if I sit there? Sorry, it’s full. If there are hardly any people on board with you, 
it is totally fine to keep your bag next to your seat. But if transportation is full, please 
don’t take up a seat with your suitcase or block the aisle with your stuff. Instead, put 
your bags on the luggage rack. So on trains, there are luggage racks right when you 
enter by the doors, they’re above the seat, and they’re often between or below 
the seat as well. And then on buses, there’s a big open area in the middle of 
the bus where you can stand with your bags. By the way, a lot of people ask if they can bring 
a giant suitcase or two suitcases per person. And technically, there’s no limit. As long as 
you can carry it and put it on and off on the luggage rack, it’s okay. Now we personally 
like to travel with just a carry-on suitcase and a small backpack. If you’re curious 
what you need to bring to Switzerland, we have a free packing list for all four 
seasons that will link in the description below. Do you think we should give up her 
seat for her? No, we were here first. If you’re nervous about public transportation, 
you’ll probably want to snag the first seat you can find. But just a heads up that the seats right 
next to the doors are often marked with this sign, meaning they’re reserved for the elderly, 
handicapped, or parents with small children. Once again, if there are not a lot of people 
on board, it is totally fine to sit there. But if someone comes along who does need that 
seat, be respectful and give it to them. In fact, any time your ride is really full, it’s 
kind to offer your seat to the elderly, handicapped, or parents with small 
children. Even if you’re not sitting in a reserved section, a little 
kindness often goes a long way. Oh my gosh. It didn’t stop at our stop. 
Why didn’t it stop? What do we do now? Most trains will stop at every station along 
the route, but sometimes you’ll need to request a stop at the smaller stations. Be on the 
lookout for the phrase “Halt auf Verlangen”, or “Stop on Request” next to 
your stop on the onboard screens. This literally means the train will not stop 
unless someone requests it. But it’s really easy to request a stop. You simply push the open 
door button on the train and don’t worry, it won’t literally open the door until the train arrives 
in the station. And you’ll pretty much always need to request the stop on the bus. And to do so, 
you just hit one of the buttons that says Stop. By the way, mountain transportation like cable 
cars and funiculars pretty much always stop at every station along the way. And gondolas, 
even though they’re continuously moving, slow down when they enter the station so that 
you have plenty of time to hop on and off. Now, there’s so much more we can still 
say. So watch this next to learn how to ride public transportation like a pro before you 
ever step foot in Switzerland. And then check out Part 3 of our Ultimate Guide to Swiss 
Transportation for answers to even more of your questions. And we’ll see 
you on the trains to Switzerland!

Don’t make these mistakes on Swiss transportation! Ride like a pro with 17 tips about Swiss train tickets, rail passes, stations, platforms, boarding, and more!

➡️ Shop our Ultimate Guide to Swiss Transportation

Ultimate Guide to Swiss Transportation

➡️ Snag our free Switzerland Packing List + FREE download

Ultimate Switzerland Packing Guide | Pack With Confidence for All 4 Seasons in Switzerland

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// ABOUT THIS VIDEO //

We’ve all been beginners (ahem, have you noticed our acting skills?!), so there’s no need to raise your hand if you’ve made one of these mistakes. (We’re looking at you, mistakes no. 7 and no. 15!)

Press play with a bit of grace to learn the dos and don’ts of the Swiss transportation system!

SWISS TRAIN TICKETS
Learn how to not accidentally pay for a route that’s technically free with your Swiss train pass, and also learn how to avoid getting fined because you didn’t buy a ticket when you should have.

SWISS RAIL PASSES
Not buying a Swiss train pass is like throwing your money in the garbage… But you can also waste money buying the WRONG pass. Watch this video for tips to defeat this conundrum!

SWISS TRAIN STATIONS
How to find your platform, board the train (or bus, boat, cable car, etc.), and follow your route. Swiss public transportation sounds simple, right?! It should be — if you avoid these few mistakes!

RIDING TRAINS IN SWITZERLAND
Whether you need to request a stop on a bus or grab the last gondola down from the mountain before dinnertime or find a seat on board a train, we have a few insider Swiss travel tips you haven’t heard elsewhere.

AND MORE!
There’s clearly A LOT more we could say about Swiss transportation mistakes!
1 | Watch this video to see us make these 17 mistakes and explain what to do instead.
2 | Then watch this next to ride Swiss public transportation like a pro before you ever step foot in Switzerland.

3 | Read part 3 of our Ultimate Guide to Swiss Transportation to find answers to even more of your transportation questions.

Ultimate Guide to Swiss Transportation

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// WATCH NEXT //

15 Tourist Mistakes to Avoid in Interlaken
▶️ https://youtu.be/Ad24acMQMkQ

50+ Things To Know Before You Visit Switzerland
▶️ https://youtu.be/sLvXmRcMD4c?si=5Okw3RjyEzfbEcMQ

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