Not sure if the Geneva Pass is worth the money? Then you’re in the right place because this detailed guide will help you figure out if it makes sense for you to buy the Geneva Pass!
The Geneva Pass is just like any other city pass that gets you special discounts and free tickets to the city’s top attractions. It doesn’t make sense for everyone, but if you know which museums you want to visit and they’re included with the pass, you can save a lot of money with the Geneva city pass. So, read on to see what the pass includes and decide whether it’s worth it for you.
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Geneva Pass Overview
Geneva Pass is a city pass that offers free entrance to certain city attractions, discounts for others, and free public transport during the pass’ validity period. It’s generally a good way to save some money in Switzerland’s lakeside city, especially if you plan on visiting multiple tourist attractions in a short period.
One thing I will tell you right now is that this pass is a much better deal than I was expecting, especially compared to some other city passes I’ve looked into previously. They’re usually a bit of a tourist trap and make it quite difficult to get your money’s worth, but that is not the case with the Geneva Pass!
What Does The Geneva Pass Include?
The Geneva Pass includes free public transportation, free entry to select museums, and discounts on certain tourist attractions and shops.
The following is a list of all tourist attractions that have free entry with the Geneva Pass, with regular ticket prices listed on the right:
- Center for Contemporary Art (5 CHF)
- Museum of Natural History (10 CHF)
- Baur Foundation – Museum of Far Eastern Art (15 CHF)
- Swiss National Museum – Château de Prangins (10 CHF)
- Archaeological Site of St Peter’s Cathedral (8 CHF)
- Towers of St Peter’s Cathedral (7 CHF)
- Barbier-Mueller Museum (8 CHF)
- Fondation Martin Bodmer (15 CHF)
- Maison Rousseau et Littérature (MRL) (7 CHF)
- Exhibition at the Musée Rath (10 CHF)
- La Maison du Salève (7.2 CHF)
- Château de Voltaire (8 CHF)
- MAMCO – Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (15 CHF)
- International Red Cross and Red Crescent Museum (15 CHF)
- Ethnography Museum Geneva – MEG (12 CHF)
- Patek Philippe Museum (10 CHF)
- Lake Geneva Beach (7 CHF)
That’s 170 CHF of tickets you can get for free.
The city pass also includes a free guided walking tour, train tours, a boat cruise, unlimited free public transport, sport and leisure activities, and entrance to a few other museums that are free for everyone. As you can see, you can already get your money’s worth if you just visit MAMCO and the Patek Philippe Museum in one day!
My advice is to check out all these museums and see just how many you would like to visit. Then calculate how much the tickets for each museum would cost, and add 10 CHF per day for a public transport pass. I’m pretty sure that you’ll see that the city pass is more than worth the money, especially if you’re interested in more than just a couple of museums.
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Also, don’t forget that the Geneva City Pass will get you additional discounts for other museums and shops. You can get 10 CHF off any motor boat rentals, a 20% discount for various TukTuk and Velo Taxi tours, and even a 10% discount if you decide to visit Glacier 3000 at Montreux. Click here to see a comprehensive list of all the different attractions that are discounted (or free) with the Geneva City Pass.
How Much Does A Geneva Pass Cost?
When booking Geneva City Pass, you can choose from three periods of validity – 24, 48, or 72 hours. Each of these passes is priced differently, and obviously the longer the validity period, the more expensive the pass.
The 24-hour Geneva Pass regularly costs 30 CHF, the 48-hour pass is 40 CHF, and the 72-hour pass is 50 CHF.
One thing to note is that there’s a 20% discount on the Geneva Pass during the winter season, between 23 November to 28 February. The prices during this period for the 24, 48, and 72-hour passes are 24 CHF, 32 CHF, and 40 CHF respectively.
Where Can You Buy A Geneva Pass?
You can buy the Geneva pass online at this link or at the airport terminal once you land in the city. I would recommend buying the pass online because it’s usually cheaper, although I’m not sure what the prices are if you’re buying it on the spot.
Additionally, I must point out that you can also buy the pass from various other resellers, but those tend to be a bit more expensive than Geneve.com. There are also many scams out there, and you can avoid any risk if you just stick to the official retailer of the Geneva City Pass.
What Are the Benefits of Using A Geneva Pass?
The main benefit of using the Geneva Pass is that you can save a lot of money if you actually plan on visiting the museums and going on city tours. The free access to public transport is also super beneficial, especially because it includes access to all the trains that run in the unireso zone 10.
You can travel to the French border for free with the city pass, as well as to the airport. If you plan on visiting the areas that are outside the city center, or if you simply don’t want to walk everywhere in Geneva, the city pass is absolutely worth it.
Is Geneva Pass Worth It?
I’m of the opinion that it’s definitely worth the money, especially if you want to visit multiple museums in the city. Save money on museum tickets, and public transport tickets, and get a free city tour of Geneva – that’s absolute gold!
Also, it helps that most tourist attractions in Geneva are pretty expensive, so it’s super easy to get your money’s worth out of the pass. It’s enough to visit the MAMCO and the Red Cross museum to get your money’s worth of the 24-hour pass, and that’s if you just forget about the free public transport and if you don’t take advantage of any of the free tours the pass includes.
Even the 72-hour pass is great value for money despite the expensive cost. Yes, 50 francs is a lot of money, but that’s just tickets to the MAMCO, St. Peter’s Cathedral (towers and archeological site), Patek Philippe Museum, and the Museum of Natural History, plus free transport and everything else.
