What’s a Swiss Stopover
If you’re flying SWISS internationally from basically anywhere on their network, you’re pretty much guaranteed to be flying through either Switzerland en route to your final destination, that probably means a stop at SWISS’s hub in either Zurich or Geneva. It’s an awesome city and to encourage people to actually explore Switzerland, rather than just flying through it, the flag carrier has implemented a free stopover service.
This is not a new concept and variants of this concept exist within the industry, take Oman Air Airlines, Avianca or Finnair’s Stopover Program for instance.
What’s on Offer with Stopover Switzerland
Stopovers are the bane of any traveller’s existence – there’s nothing worse than being stuck in an airport for hours on end with nothing to do. In light of this, Switzerland’s flag carrier SWISS offers a relatively new stopover program which should be considered if you are aiming for an extra stop on your holiday itinerary.
SWISS launched its stopover program, aptly named “Stopover Switzerland”, back in 2018 which allows for a one to four nights stay in the country before continuing onward on your journey- with no additional cost to the ticket.
An oddity for SWISS is that it is one of a handful of airlines in Europe to offer a stopover program for two city hubs – Zurich and Geneva.
If you don’t want to make your own arrangements or going at it alone isn’t your cup of tea, in partnership with Switzerland’s tourism board, eight customisable single or multi-destination travel packages (that include hotels and rail transit passes) are on offer around the country. This program follows suit of other major legacy airlines who are trying to build out stopover programs which entice people to fly with them.
SWISS has a growing international route network, anyone travelling from East to West has a chance to experience Stopover Switzerland, the only major exception to the rule is that you are not able to start your journey in Europe (but it can end in Europe).
The Parts that Makeup Stopover Switzerland
While bookable independently of each other, to make full use of Stopover Switzerland, the flight and package may be the better option. It is not possible to book both the flight and the package as one itinerary and must be booked separately – the best way is through the Stopover Switzerland Website.
SWISS Air Flight
Stopovers can be booked in either the outbound or inbound legs but not on both directions.
Stopovers are bookable on SWISS so long as the originating departure destination is outside of Europe – the return arrival destination can be in Europe.
Multi-segment journeys are not permitted but Open Jaw flights are allowed.
SWISS Air Flight
A range of customisable single or multi-destination travel packages are on offer which all include:
– Accommodation in a 3, 4 or 5-star hotels;
– All packages also include a Swiss Travel Pass for 1st or 2nd class travel by train, bus and boat in all of Switzerland;
– Save up to 50% on Swiss mountain trains
