Zurich Transport

Kctong

We are visiting Switzerland in October and had bought a 6-days Swiss Travel Pass for our time in Switzerland. However, with our itinerary, we will most likely have 1 extra day to spend in Zurich that is not covered within the 6-days period intended to be covered by Swiss Travel Pass.

Is there a 1-day pass that we could purchase to cover our time in Zurich? We are planning to visit the city (museum hopefully!), Rhine falls and Stein Am Rhein, so ideally the pass should cover these places. Or would we be better off purchasing individual tickets separately?

RolandP

Hello Kctong

In Switzerland, for regional travel, we do have zone-based tickets. Although you purchase a point-to-point ticket, it is converted into a ticket containing zones. And, a return ticket converts into a zone-based day pass.

Zone-based tickets allow unlimited travel within the ticket’s validity, and zones indicated on your ticket. And this, no matter on which service: train, tram, bus, boat. A ticket to Stein am Rhein will also include zone 110, which stands for the city of Zurich. Consequently, you can also use it in the city of Zurich before or after visiting Rhine Falls or Stein am Rhein.

The cost of a so called Z-Pass Ostwind-ZVV Day Pass is CHF 58, full fare.

Enter: Zürich HB - Stein am Rhein via Schaffhausen, return, 1/1 tarif.

Now, alternatively, you could purchase a Saver Day Pass, if available from CHF 52. You could purchase the Saver Day Pass that is valid for the entire country. The downside of the Saver Day Pass, the cost is raising the nearer the travel date; thus you have to purchase it early, and it can’t be cancelled.

https://www.sbb.ch/en/tickets-offers/tickets/day-passes/saver-day-pass.html?

The Z-Pass Ostwind-ZVV Day Pass you can purchase on the day of departure, the cost is always the same. The latter leaves you the flexibility on the decision if you would like to take the excursion or not.

With the Z-Pass Ostwind-ZVV Day Pass, you can travel in all these zones:

https://www.zpass.ch/dam/zpass/Zonenpl%c3%a4ne/2023/2728_ZPass_322x282_OSTWIND_23_low.pdf

Please let us know if you have got more questions.

Kind regards,
Roland

Kctong

RolandP That is very helpful. Do both the passes cover museums in Zurich like the Swiss Travel Pass?

RolandP

Hello Kctong

No, these are pure transport passes. If you want a pass that grants some reductions or free admission, you would need the Swiss Travel Pass or the Zurich CARD.

https://www.zuerich.com/en/zurichcard

Kind regards,
Roland

RedBaron

Kctong
Some additional local knowledge in addition to what Roland already wrote:

Check out the ZVV Zone map: At the very top of that map, the tiny “Schloss Laufen am Rheinfall” station is located right below the Castle of Laufen, which can be seen on the right of the falls on every photo taken from below the falls. The Rhine River is basically equivalent to the ZVV area border at the top of that map (= border of the Canton/State of Zurich)

So if you manage to travel by train from the Zurich area via Winterthur to that Schloss Laufen station, not to continue beyond across the Rhine River, and not travelling via Rafz - Schaffhausen (the latter not shown on that map, but located just across the Rhine River), then the following much cheaper “ZVV only” ticket options instead of the Z-Pass for 58.00 will also do the trick:

ZVV All Zones 24h ticket for 35.60 (valid in the entire area of above map e.g. from 11:00 am to 11:00am next day)
ZVV 9′o clock day pass (All Zones) for 27:00 (same zones, valid from 09:00 am to 05:00 next day on weekdays and from 05:00am to 05:00am next day on Saturdays/Sundays)

How to get such a ticket? You could also get them directly on the zvv.ch website.
However with the SBB Mobile app or the SBB website, simply buy a return ticket for a dummy itinerary including 8 or more zones, as any trip with more than 7 zones will get you an All Zones pass. As the zones 110 and 120 count as double, e.g. a Winterthur - Rapperswil SG itinerary would already work. On weekdays, select a connection departing before 9am to get the 24h pass or one leaving after 9am for the 9 o’clock pass. On weekends, you’ll get the cheaper 9 o’clock pass for any departure time.

Kctong

RedBaron Thank you RedBaron for the detailed planning information!

RedBaron

Kctong
One thing I forgot: You can easily get to the other, northern side of the river for views of the falls from below (common photo spots from a distance) by walking over the railway bridge which also features footpaths. The access to that bridge starts next to the castle main entrance/gate.
The viewpoints closest to the falls though are located just below the castle (small entrance fee).

Right now the falls are unusually spectacular because of massive amounts of water due to current flooding of Lake Constance which is located above the falls.