Switzerland's public transport system is known to be one of the finest in the world. A dense network of railroad, bus and tramway lines and a systematic timetable allow to reach almost any point in the country once per hour. In most cases one ticket is enough for one journey even if numerous railway, bus and ship operators are involved. The punctuality of Switzerland's public transport system is supervised and the goals of 95% arrivals with less than 5 minutes delay and 75% with less than 1 minute delay are regularly achieved in the monthly statistics.
Major Swiss cities Zurich, Basel, Bern, Geneva, Lausanne, Neuchâtel and Zug do have extended S-Bahn networks [fast metropolitan area trains with frequent stops running at short intervals from 10 to 30 minutes] and/or tramways networks. In these regions, all providers unite in a so-called "Verkehrsverbund" [transport association], and the same tickets are valid on trains, tramways, buses and even ships. Use this interactive map to get around Switzerland on the public transport system.
Basel, Bern, Biel/Bienne, La Chaux-de-Fonds, Fribourg, Geneva, Lausanne, Lugano, Lucerne, Neuchâtel, Schaffhausen, St. Gallen, Vevey and Winterthur operate trolley-bus networks and additional diesel bus networks to suburbs. Many smaller towns operate a local bus network. Almost any village in Switzerland can be reached by a regional bus line several times a day, most of them even once per hour. Swiss post operates many of these bus lines with their famous yellow post buses. Schedules and tickets of all cross-country buses are integrated into Switzerland's unique system of integrated public transports, so you may plan your journey at one portal website www.sbb.ch, get all necessary information where to change and even print out a through-fare ticket online.
Switzerland also has three international airports: Zurich-Kloten (ZRH), Geneva (GVA) and Basel-Mulhouse (BSL). The airports of Zurich and Geneva do have their own railway stations providing fast and frequent transfer into the very heart of downtown Zurich and Geneva and to all other major Swiss cities. The Euro-Airport Basel-Mulhouse is shared with the French city of Mulhouse and actually on French territory, but passengers may reach Basel on a short extraterritorial highway without formally entering France. Public Buses connect the airport with the central railway station / tramway hub. Two more airports, Bern-Belpmoos (BRN) and Lugano-Agno (LUG) do offer a relevant number of scheduled passenger flights to European destinations, but they are too small for aircraft used for intercontinental flights. Downtown Bern is reached from Zurich Airport in just 1¼ hours by 2 Intercity trains per hour. Another 61 airports and airfields, among them St. Moritz and Gstaad, may be used by smaller aircraft.