The good thing about travelling ‘off-season’ is not only that popular destinations are less crowded but also, in some cases at least, getting there and back is likely to be cheaper.

Let’s look at air travel first

While SWISS has no new flights in September and most of October,  it will add new routes into the winter schedule, which starts on October 27th and ends on March 29th, 2025.

During these five months, the national airline will serve a total of 93 destinations from Zurich and Geneva: 65 European and 23 intercontinental points from Zurich, as well as 22 short-haul ones, and one to the US from Geneva. This link provides more information about these new destinations. 

EasyJet will also add new routes, but only in November: from the 4th, there will be four weekly flights between Zurich and Manchester.

On November 7th, two weekly flights will begin between Zurich and Bordeaux, as well as between Basel and London Luton, four times a week.

But if you want to travel already now, currently and for the next few months, SWISS has various ‘travel deals’, for both long and short haul flights.

For instance, you can fly from Zurich to San Francisco from 542 francs round trip, to and from Seoul for 642 francs, and to and from Geneva to New York for 447 francs.

There are also plenty of autumn offers to European destinations, such as Nice and Brussels for 80 francs, Palma de Mallorca for 93 francs, and Catania for 94 — all from Geneva.

From Zurich you can fly to London and Manchester for 108 francs, and to Barcelona for 111 francs.

You can see dozens of other cut-price offers here. 

You can also keep abreast of all the upcoming deals by signing up for the airline’s ‘Best Price Alert’. 

Edelweiss

SWISS’ sister airline flies to many far and near vacation destinations.

If you fancy warm weather when it is getting cooler in Switzerland, you can fly from the airline’s hub in Zurich to Tampa, Florida, for as little as (depending on days you choose) 343 francs.

A round-trip ticket to another North American all-year destination, Las Vegas, will cost only slightly more, from 480 francs.

There are other flights to exotic places as well: Cancun in Mexico starting at 447 francs, and Cape Town, South Africa, from 830 francs.

On medium and short-haul routes, Edelweiss flies to Antalya in Turkey, for tariffs starting at 118 francs on certain days, Cagliari in Sardinia from 129 francs, and Faro in Portugal from 135 francs.

You can see all Edelweiss destinations this fall here.

Train travel

Within Switzerland, the train timetable changes from December 15th, 2024.

While no new routes are planned, some structural changes will go into effect from this date, which will affect mostly the frequency on certain lines rather than destinations as such.

READ ALSO: Swiss train timetable set for ‘biggest change in 20 years’ 

Internationally, this summer has not been the best time to travel by train, mostly because of various disruptions, many of which will continue for the next few months.

For instance, the construction work under way north of the French city of Dijon means that from August 13th to December 14th, fewer TGV trains are running from Monday to Friday from Zurich and Lausanne to Paris, and back.

Detours via Strasbourg are possible on the line linking Zurich to Paris.

Those wishing to travel by train Germany are also in for a bumpy ride.

Due to construction, trains from Basel to Hamburg are canceled from July 15th to December 14th.

There is, however, good news: Gotthard tunnel is reopened to rail traffic from September 2nd.

The route was mostly closed after a train derailment on August 10th, 2023 damaged significant portions of the tunnel.

Now, however, this strategic north-south axis is fully reopened for all InterCity and EuroCity trains, as well as all freight trains between German-speaking Switzerland and Ticino.

Passengers will once again be able to travel from the north to the south of Switzerland with a journey time reduced by one hour, and for the first time, every half hour throughout the day.

What if you want to save money while visiting Switzerland?

This may sound like an oxymoron, but autumn is actually a good time for less expensive travel.

Switzerland will never be ‘cheap’ but a number of resorts which are busy during summer and winter months lower their prices in the off-season.

If you look at websites of individual resorts, you can find good deals.

You can find also discounted offers throughout the country on the website of Switzerland Tourism.

They concern various tourist activities, such as discounted all-inclusive autumn bike tours, wine tasting in Ticino and Vaud, tour of an Alpine gorge, and other activities.