How luggage transfer on Swiss trains actually works
Here's the basic idea: you hand your bag over at one station, get on your train unencumbered, and pick the bag up at the other end. You're not carrying it up the stairs at Bern, you're not wedging it into an overhead rack on a busy InterCity, and you're not dragging it through a change at Zürich HB with four minutes to spare.
The catch, and it's the one that matters most, is that every single item you ship needs a valid ticket covering the whole route it's travelling. Not your route. The bag's route. If your bag goes from Geneva to St. Moritz, you need to hold a ticket that covers Geneva to St. Moritz. A pass covering the whole country handles this without you having to think about it, which is really the point.
What luggage transfer costs in Switzerland
The headline number is refreshingly simple, and then there are a few surcharges that can stack on top if your situation is unusual.
| Service | Price |
|---|---|
| Station to station, per item | CHF 12 |
| Bikes | CHF 20–30 |
| Car-free location surcharge | CHF 30 |
| Express surcharge | CHF 50 |
| Chosen delivery time window | CHF 15 |
| Storage at the receiving station | Free for four days, then CHF 5 a day |
| Door to door flat rate | Check when you order |
We're not quoting a door-to-door price, because we couldn't verify one. Check it when you order rather than budgeting off a guess. The station-to-station CHF 12 is the number you can plan around.
Worth noting the car-free surcharge if you're heading somewhere like Zermatt, Wengen or Mürren. CHF 30 on top of CHF 12 makes a single bag CHF 42, which changes the maths a bit.
Station to station vs door to door: which one suits your trip
These are two genuinely different services with different timings and different amounts of faff, so it's worth a side-by-side.
| Station to station | Door to door | |
|---|---|---|
| Booking | None needed, just turn up | Order by noon the day before |
| Drop-off | Staffed counter at the station | Collected from your accommodation |
| Timing | Drop off one day, collect the day after next | Collected day one, delivered day three |
| Price | CHF 12 per item | Check when you order |
| Best for | Anyone comfortable with a short walk at each end | Hotel-to-hotel moves, heavy bags, no station legwork |
Both of them take the same amount of calendar time in practice, roughly two nights between handing the bag over and getting it back. Neither is an overnight service at the standard rate.
Why the timing catches people out
"The day after next" means if you drop off on Monday, you collect on Wednesday. Your bag isn't on your train. It's on its own schedule, and that schedule involves a night or two in a depot. If you're doing one-night stops, luggage transfer will run behind you the whole trip and you'll spend a week wearing the same shirt. It shines when you've got a base for three or four nights, or when you're moving between two longer stays.
How to send your bags ahead, step by step
- Check your ticket or pass covers the full route your bag is travelling, not just the bit you're riding today.
- Weigh your bag, or at least heft it. The limit is 23kg per item.
- For door services, place the order by noon the day before collection. For station to station, skip this, no booking needed.
- Take the bag to the luggage counter at the departure station and hand it over with your ticket.
- Collect from the counter at the arrival station the day after next, or wait for delivery on day three if you've gone door to door.
If you're new to how the pass itself works at the counter and on board, the how-to-use page covers the mechanics.
Weight limits, liability and the rules worth knowing
- 23kg per item. Over that and it's not going. Split it into two items and pay CHF 12 twice if you need to.
- Liability is CHF 2,000 per item. Fine for clothes and boots. Not fine for camera bodies, laptops or anything you'd cry about. Carry those with you.
- Four days free storage at the receiving station, then CHF 5 a day. So there's a bit of slack if your plans shift, but not unlimited slack.
- Every item needs its own valid ticket coverage. Three bags, three items, all needing the route covered.
Does the Swiss Travel Pass give you a luggage discount?
No discount is recorded on luggage registration with the pass. You'll pay the same CHF 12 per item as anyone else.
What the pass does do is satisfy the requirement that makes the service available to you in the first place. Since it covers the network for the days it's valid, it automatically covers whatever route your bag is taking, so you don't have to buy a separate point-to-point ticket just to send a suitcase somewhere you're not going that day. That's the whole benefit here, and it's a real one, but it's a qualification benefit rather than a price cut. For a fuller picture of where the pass stops short, see what's not included.
Crossing the border with your luggage
The rule that every item needs a ticket covering its whole route is the one to think hardest about here, because your pass covers the Swiss leg of a cross-border journey and not the rest of it. If your itinerary runs into Italy, Germany, France or Austria, read the border crossings guide before you assume your bag can follow you.
Shipping bikes and travelling with dogs
Bikes go through the same system at CHF 20 to 30 an item, which is a genuinely good deal compared to wrestling one onto a regional train at rush hour. Dogs, obviously, don't get shipped, but they do have their own fare rules that trip people up. Both are covered on the bikes and dogs page.