Geneva City Pass, Geneva Transport Card, tpg tickets: which pass should you get for Geneva?

Three products compete for visitors' money in Geneva: the Geneva Transport Card, the Geneva City Pass and ordinary tpg tickets. They do not do the same thing, and the most useful of the three is free.

The rule fits in one sentence: first get the free card from your accommodation, then buy a City Pass only if the admissions you will actually pay for exceed its price. Here is how to do the maths, case by case.

Which one should you choose? The short answer

The Geneva Transport Card: the free pass people forget

Anyone staying in accommodation registered with Geneva Tourism is entitled to it. It is free, personal and non-transferable, and gives unlimited access to the unireso network for your whole stay: tpg buses, trams and trolleybuses, SBB trains within the area, and the Mouettes genevoises.

It is issued on your smartphone. Your accommodation normally sends a link or a form about three days before arrival, but the official pages also describe automatic sending on the day itself. If you need to take the train as soon as you land, that is a gap to close before you leave.

• Check that your accommodation has the right email address, and look in your spam folder.
• Ask for the link directly if nothing has arrived three days before.
• Download or screenshot the card before leaving the hotel Wi-Fi, and keep some battery.
• Keep your booking confirmation in case of an inspection.

What it does not do: it does not cover paid attractions, journeys outside zone 10 or French destinations. A private rental or unregistered accommodation does not entitle you to it. And lending it to someone can invalidate it.

The official pages do not say since which year it has existed, nor how it applies to very long stays or unusual accommodation. Beware of anyone trying to sell it to you: it is free.

The Geneva City Pass: when is it worth the price?

It is an activity pass, sold for 24, 48 or 72 hours, giving access to 60 free or discounted activities depending on the option: cruises depending on the offer, guided tours, attractions. The 2026 brochure shows two price columns for adults:

Our two sources do not read these columns the same way: one sees a price without and a price with public transport, the other says zone 10 transport is included. We set out both readings and advise you to check exactly what is included on geneve.com when you buy.

The honest calculation

Add up the price of only the admissions you would have paid for anyway, open on the chosen day and not impossible to book, then compare with the price of the pass. Do not count:

• transport, if you already have the Geneva Transport Card: it saves you nothing;
• the municipal museums, whose permanent collections are free all year round;
• an activity that is "included" but full, closed or with no slot to be found.

In practice, the City Pass becomes worthwhile if you pack a cruise, a guided tour and one or two paid attractions into 24 or 48 hours. It rarely is for a stay made up of quays, the Old Town and free museums. Our pick of activities, with their prices, is in things to do in Geneva.

Photo: Torbjorn Toby Jorgensen, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Three costed examples

A couple, two days, registered hotel. Transport: nothing, thanks to the card. On the programme: the harbour, the Old Town and the cathedral towers at 7 CHF, a free municipal museum, the Bains des Pâquis at 2 CHF. The pass does not pay for itself: do not buy it.

A visitor staying with friends, one busy day. Six tram journeys and a Mouette: the day pass at 10 CHF is enough, or 8 CHF if you set off after 9am.

A 48-hour stay focused on activities. A cruise on the lake, a guided tour, the Musée Ariana at 14 CHF: this is the case where the City Pass may be worth its price, to be checked activity by activity in the brochure list.

tpg tickets, for those without the card

First class exists, at 17 CHF a day, and is pointless in town. Reduced fares depend on a traveller category to which a visiting adult is generally not entitled. The lines and how to use them are detailed in getting around Geneva.

What about special cases?

• The Watches and Wonders ticket is valid as a transport ticket in zone 10, second class, on the date shown, from two hours before opening to two hours after closing (2026 conditions). See our guide to the fair.
• The Salève: the Geneva card does not cover the cable car, which is in France. The tpg sell a combined transport and cable car ticket at 21 CHF, detailed on our Salève page.
• CGN boats to Nyon, Yvoire or Lausanne are not Mouettes: the card does not cover them, and nothing proves the City Pass covers all of them. See boats on Lake Geneva.
• The Swiss Travel Pass may cover some lake journeys, though our sources do not publish the coverage segment by segment.
• The airport: the train to Cornavin is included in the card; the free ticket machine in the baggage hall, however, is reported as removed by one source. See from the airport to the city centre.

Traps to avoid

• Buying a transport pass when your hotel gives you the card.
• Travelling first class for no reason.
• Travelling outside zone 10 with a Geneva ticket, towards Annemasse or Gaillard for example.
• Relying on the app alone: a foreign phone number or a non-Swiss bank card can block the purchase, and a flat phone proves nothing to an inspector.
• Paying a middleman for a free card, or buying on an unofficial resale site.

The amount of the fine for travelling without a ticket is not published in our sources. We will not make it up: have a valid ticket before you board.

How much does transport cost for a typical stay?

In registered accommodation, nothing at all, airport included. Outside registered accommodation, allow 10 CHF per day of intensive travel, or 3 CHF per occasional journey. The City Pass only comes on top if you pack in paid activities, and the monthly season ticket only beats day passes after about seven days.

To organise two days without wasting time, follow our weekend itinerary for Geneva. To choose accommodation that will give you the card, see where to stay in Geneva, district by district.

Photo: flybyeigenheer, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Sources

Sources: Geneva Tourism (public transport, Geneva Transport Card for guests, special offers, 2026 Geneva City Pass brochure), Geneva Tourism pro (Geneva Transport Card), tpg (2026 fares and tickets, unireso Tout Genève season ticket, Salève combined ticket), Watches and Wonders Geneva (2026 conditions), CGN.

Our sources read the City Pass's two price columns differently: check exactly what is included when you buy. Research carried out on 22 October 2026.