14 Best Castles in Switzerland: 2026 Tickets and Hours

The best castle in Switzerland to visit first is Chillon, on the shore of Lake Geneva at Veytaux, because it opens every day of the year except 1 January and 25 December, costs CHF 15 (about €16, $18, £14) for an adult, and has a bus stop at its gate. This guide covers 14 Swiss castles you can actually walk into, with the 2026 adult ticket, the season, the closed day and the nearest station for each one. Two of the 14 can only be seen on a guided tour, one is free, and several shut completely for the winter, so the closed day matters more here than the ticket price.

What a Swiss castle costs in 2026

A Swiss castle costs between nothing and CHF 28 (about €30, $34, £26) to enter in 2026, and the median adult ticket across the 14 castles below is CHF 14 (about €15, $17, £13). The table lists each castle with its adult ticket, its season and the day it is shut.

Tickets are quoted in Swiss francs because Switzerland is not in the European Union and does not use the euro. Some castles accept euro notes and give change in francs, Gruyères among them, but the price on the board is always the franc price.

1. Chillon Castle

Chillon Castle is the most visited historic monument in Switzerland and the single castle to pick if you only see one. It stands on a rock in Lake Geneva at Veytaux, just south of Montreux in the canton of Vaud, and the walk through it runs from the lakeside dungeons up through the great halls to the keep. The Savoy family built most of what you see from the 12th century onwards, using the castle as a summer residence and a toll point on the road to the Alpine passes; Bernese bailiffs held it from 1536 to 1798, and the canton of Vaud has owned it since.

Entry in 2026 costs CHF 15 (about €16, $18, £14) for an adult and CHF 7 (about €7, $9, £6) for a child. The castle opens 09:00 to 19:00 from April to September, 09:30 to 18:00 in March and October, and 10:00 to 17:00 from November to February, with last entry an hour before closing. It shuts on 1 January and 25 December and on no other day of the year. Self-guided visits use a free printed notice available in 17 languages, so you do not need to book a guide to follow the route. Allow 1 to 2 hours.

Bus 201 runs from Vevey, Montreux and Villeneuve to the Chillon stop directly in front of the castle every 10 to 20 minutes, which is the easiest arrival. Regional trains from Montreux reach Veytaux-Chillon station in a few minutes, and CGN boats call at the castle’s own landing stage in season. Walking takes about 45 minutes from Montreux along the lake path and about 30 minutes from Villeneuve. Montreux holds the nearest concentration of hotels, and you can compare Montreux room rates on Trip.com before fixing the date.

The castle’s best-known prisoner is real. François Bonivard, a Genevan prior, was chained in the underground vaults from 1530 until the Bernese freed him in 1536, and Lord Byron turned that captivity into “The Prisoner of Chillon” in 1816. Bonivard is one of the people in Switzerland whose life is easier to grasp standing in the room where it happened.

2. Gruyères Castle

Gruyères Castle is the one Swiss castle that never closes, not even on Christmas Day or New Year’s Day. It sits on a hill above the Saane valley in the canton of Fribourg, at the top of a car-free medieval street, and its rooms cover roughly eight centuries of art and legend. The Counts of Gruyère lived here until Count Michel went bankrupt in 1554, after which Fribourg-appointed bailiffs ran the region from the castle until 1798; the Bovy family from Geneva bought it in the 19th century and restored the interior, and the canton of Fribourg bought it back in 1938.

Adult entry costs CHF 13 (about €14, $16, £12), children aged 6 to 15 pay CHF 5 (about €5, $6, £5), and a family of two adults with up to three children pays CHF 29 (about €31, $36, £26). Opening is 09:00 to 18:00 from April to October and 10:00 to 17:00 from November to March, with last entry 45 minutes before closing. The garden is open from Easter to September and closes at 17:30. There is no café and no picnicking inside the walls, and pushchairs and baby carriers are not allowed in the castle rooms.

Reaching it takes a walk either way. Gruyères town is closed to traffic, so allow 10 to 20 minutes on foot from the car parks below, about 20 minutes from Gruyères railway station, or 5 to 10 minutes from the Gruyères-Ville bus stop at the town gate. Combined tickets bought on the spot pair the castle with the town’s other three paying attractions, which is covered in full on the Gruyères guide.

3. Oberhofen Castle

Oberhofen Castle stands with its feet in Lake Thun and closes on Mondays, which catches out visitors who plan a lake day around it. The keep dates from about 1200, and the romantic silhouette on the water is 19th-century work paid for by Count Albert Alexander de Pourtalès, who used the place as a summer house. Its last private owner, the American lawyer William Maul Measey, turned it into the foundation that runs it today, and a museum has occupied part of the building since 1954.

The museum season runs from 10 May to 1 November 2026, Tuesday to Sunday, 10:00 to 17:00, with last entry at 16:15. Adults pay CHF 15 (about €16, $18, £14), children aged 6 to 16 pay CHF 6 (about €6, $7, £5), and a Swiss Travel Pass covers entry outright. The castle park is free and open far longer than the museum, from late March to mid-December, so the lakeside walk is available even when the interior is shut. Dogs may not go into the castle or the park, though they are welcome in the castle restaurant.

Public transport reaches the gate. From Thun station, bus 21 or bus 25 runs to Oberhofen Dorf, and the Lake Thun boats tie up at a landing stage next to the castle.

4. Rapperswil Castle

Rapperswil Castle closes on Mondays and is the cheapest big-city castle on this list to combine with a lake day. It occupies a rocky spur above the old town on Lake Zurich, in the canton of St. Gallen, and its three towers and hall block are the town’s emblem. The Counts of Rapperswil built it in the 13th century, Zurich took control in 1464, and the castle later served as a Polish national treasury, a strand the current exhibition explains room by room.

Adults pay CHF 14 (about €15, $17, £13), students and pensioners CHF 9 (about €10, $11, £8), children aged 6 to 16 CHF 6 (about €6, $7, £5), and under-6s go free. A family of one adult with up to two children pays CHF 20 (about €21, $25, £18). The castle opens Tuesday to Sunday, 10:00 to 17:00, with last entry at 16:00. Climbing the Gügeler tower is the part people remember, because the view takes in the lake, the wooden footbridge and the town roofs.

Rapperswil station is about 27 km (16.8 mi) from Zurich main station on a direct S-Bahn, and the castle is a short climb up from the old town beside the church.

5. Aigle Castle

Aigle Castle is a wine museum inside a moated fortress, and it closes on Mondays for ten months of the year. It rises out of the vineyards at Aigle in the canton of Vaud, below the Vaud Alps, and the Lords of Aigle began it at the end of the 12th century. Bern took the town in the 15th century and rebuilt the castle into the square, round-towered stronghold you see now; the state of Vaud took it in 1798, and the commune of Aigle has owned it since 1804. The Musée de la Vigne, du Vin et de l’Étiquette fills the rooms, and the Pinte du Paradis serves food on a terrace over the vines.

Entry costs CHF 13 (about €14, $16, £12) for an adult, CHF 9 (about €10, $11, £8) for students, pensioners and visitors with a disability, and CHF 5 (about €5, $6, £5) for children aged 6 to 16. Opening runs 10:00 to 18:00 from April to October and 10:00 to 17:00 from November to March, and Monday is a closed day everywhere except in July and August, when the castle opens seven days. It also shuts on 1 January and 25 December.

Aigle railway station is a 15-minute walk away, which makes this one of the easiest castles in French-speaking Switzerland to reach without a car. Dogs are not allowed inside, and the stairs and cobbles rule the site out for wheelchair users.

6. Tourbillon Castle

Tourbillon Castle is free to enter, which is the most useful fact about it and the opposite of what most guides claim. The ruined fortress crowns one of the two rock spurs above Sion in the canton of Valais, facing the church-topped hill of Valère across the old town, and the Prince-Bishops of Sion built it at the end of the 13th century to make a point to the local nobility. Fire gutted it in 1788 and it was never rebuilt, so what you climb to is a shell with a chapel, curtain walls and a long view down the Rhône valley.

There is no ticket office and no admission charge. The site opens 11:00 to 17:00 from 15 March to 30 April, 10:00 to 18:00 from 1 May to 30 September, and 11:00 to 17:00 from 1 October to 15 November. It closes completely from 16 November to 14 March. Free guided commentary runs at set times through the season, at 11:00, 12:00 and 15:30 in spring and autumn and with an extra 16:30 slot in summer; the meeting point is the marked board to the right of the castle entrance.

Getting up there is a steep walk from Sion’s old town on the Rue des Châteaux, and there is no lift, funicular or road to the gate. Wear shoes with grip, because the last stretch is loose stone.

7. Grandson Castle

Grandson Castle reopened in 2026 after a full restoration and is now closed on Tuesdays rather than in winter. The fortress stands on the shore of Lake Neuchâtel in the canton of Vaud, and its round towers and covered walkways are among the most complete medieval survivals in the country. The Battle of Grandson in 1476, when the Swiss Confederates broke Charles the Bold, happened at its walls, and 2026 marks 550 years since that campaign. A new permanent exhibition runs through 15 rooms on four floors, from the first medieval tower to the question of what a castle is for today.

Adults pay CHF 16 (about €17, $20, £15), children and young people CHF 8 (about €8, $10, £7), a family CHF 38 (about €40, $47, £35), and the reduced rate is CHF 14 (about €15, $17, £13). Opening is 10:00 to 18:00, every day except Tuesday, from spring to autumn, and 11:00 to 17:00 in the winter months, again closed Tuesdays.

Grandson railway station is a 7-minute walk from the gate, and bus lines 625, 630 and 635 stop at Grandson, place du Château. Parking at the castle is limited, so the train is the sensible option.

8. Tarasp Castle

Tarasp Castle can only be seen on a booked guided tour, and independent visits are not possible. The white fortress above the Inn valley in Graubünden is the landmark of the Lower Engadine, first raised in the 11th century to watch the trade route, and the Swiss artist Not Vital bought it in 2016. His foundation now runs it, mixing the historic rooms with contemporary art, which is why the visit is led rather than free-roaming.

Tours run from 2 June to 1 November 2026, Tuesday to Sunday. Adults pay CHF 15 (about €16, $18, £14), or CHF 13 (about €14, $16, £12) with a regional guest card, and children aged 7 to 15 pay CHF 8 (about €8, $10, £7). The meeting point is the ticket office in the castle courtyard, and registration goes through the Fundaziun Not Vital rather than a ticket window on the day.

Scuol-Tarasp is the railhead, at the end of the Rhaetian Railway line down the Engadine, with a post bus on to Tarasp village. Budget most of a day if you are coming from Zurich or Chur, because this is the most remote castle in the list.

9. Neuchâtel Castle

Neuchâtel Castle costs CHF 5 (about €5, $6, £5) and is only open on guided tours, because the building is still the working seat of the cantonal government and parliament. It looks over the old town and Lake Neuchâtel beside the collegiate church, and it began as the residence of the princes of Neuchâtel. Guides take about 45 minutes over the medieval fabric, the political history and the view across the lake to the Alps.

Public tours leave at 14:00, 15:00, 16:00 and 17:00, in French, English and German. From 1 April to 31 May they run at weekends, plus daily through the Easter holidays and on public holidays. From 1 June to 30 September they run Tuesday to Sunday including public holidays. No booking is needed for a public tour; turn up at the castle entrance five minutes before the departure. The CHF 5 charge applies from age 16, and cash, card and TWINT are accepted. Private group tours of up to 25 people cost CHF 70 (about €74, $86, £64).

10. Hallwyl Castle

Hallwyl Castle is a moated castle built on islands in the Aabach, near the northern end of Lake Hallwil in the canton of Aargau, and it closes on Mondays. The von Hallwyl family held it from the 13th century into the early 20th, and the museum inside covers the building history alongside the everyday life of both the family and their servants, with audio-visual rooms, an audio guide and chests you are meant to open.

The 2026 season runs from 1 April to 1 November, Tuesday to Sunday, 10:00 to 17:00. Adults pay CHF 14 (about €15, $17, £13), students CHF 10 (about €11, $12, £9), and children aged 6 to 16 CHF 8 (about €8, $10, £7). The grounds and the nature reserve around them are pleasant in their own right, and the site is one of the Museum Aargau castles, so a combined ticket with a second Aargau castle is worth asking about at the desk.

This is one of the castles where a car genuinely helps, because Seengen sits away from the main rail lines.

11. Castles of Bellinzona

The three castles of Bellinzona are a single UNESCO World Heritage Site and share one combined ticket. Castelgrande, Montebello and Sasso Corbaro rise in a chain above the Ticino valley, linked by the Murata, the fortified wall that once sealed the route to the Alpine passes. Fortifications have stood on the Castelgrande rock since Roman times, and the Dukes of Milan built most of the present defences before the Swiss Confederates took the valley in 1503. UNESCO listed the ensemble in 2000.

The Fortezza Pass covers all three and costs CHF 28 (about €30, $34, £26) for an adult, CHF 18 (about €19, $22, £16) reduced, CHF 70 (about €74, $86, £64) for two adults with up to three children, and CHF 54 (about €57, $66, £49) for one adult with up to three children. Single castles cost CHF 15, CHF 10 and CHF 15 respectively. All three open 10:00 to 18:00 from 28 March to 8 November 2026, with last entry at 17:30. From 9 November to 18 March 2027 only Castelgrande opens, 10:30 to 16:00, though the courtyards of Montebello and Sasso Corbaro stay accessible.

Bellinzona railway station is a few minutes from Castelgrande, reached on foot up the Salita Castelgrande or by the public lift at Piazzetta della Valle. Bus line 4 climbs to Montebello and Sasso Corbaro. The Trenino Artù tourist train links all three in about an hour for CHF 13 (about €14, $16, £12), though that fare does not include castle entry.

12. Spiez Castle

Spiez Castle opens only from 1 May to 31 October and shuts entirely for the winter. It sits above its own harbour on Lake Thun in the Bernese Oberland, with a Romanesque church beside it and vineyards on the slope below, and the view over the water to the Bernese Alps is the reason most people climb up. The keep dates from the 12th century, the site is older, and the castle passed through a long line of Bernese families before the Spiez Castle Foundation took it on.

The museum, including the castle tower, costs CHF 12 (about €13, $15, £11) for an adult, CHF 10 (about €11, $12, £9) at the reduced rate, and CHF 5 (about €5, $6, £5) for children aged 6 to 16, with under-6s free. Opening hours are 14:00 to 17:00 on Mondays and 10:00 to 17:00 Tuesday to Sunday, extended to 18:00 in July and August. From 1 November 2026 to 30 April 2027 the castle is closed.

Spiez station sits above the harbour, and Lake Thun boats call at the Spiez landing stage, so the castle pairs naturally with a boat trip from Thun or Interlaken.

13. Burgdorf Castle

Burgdorf Castle is the only castle here where you can book a bed for the night. The 12th-century Zähringen fortress above Burgdorf in the canton of Bern now holds a museum, a restaurant and a youth hostel in the same walls, and guests of the hostel get museum entry with their room. Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi ran a school here in the early 19th century, which is a large part of why the building matters to Swiss education history.

Museum entry costs CHF 14 (about €15, $17, £13) for an adult, CHF 10 (about €11, $12, £9) for visitors in education or with a disability, and CHF 6 (about €6, $7, £5) for children aged 6 to 16. The museum opens 10:00 to 18:00 daily from April to October, and Wednesday to Sunday from November to March. A public tour in German usually starts at 13:30 on Sundays for CHF 5 (about €5, $6, £5) on top of the entrance fee. Entry is free with a Swiss Museum Pass.

Burgdorf sits on the direct regional line out of Bern, which makes the castle an easy half-day from the capital.

14. Thun Castle

Thun Castle is the cheapest castle on this list at CHF 10 (about €11, $12, £9) and the only one open on winter Sundays. Four corner turrets and a high keep stand over the town at the head of Lake Thun, the foundation calls it one of the oldest castle complexes in Europe, and the Knights’ Hall and the tower rooms hold a collection of more than 17,000 objects. A non-profit foundation has run it as a museum since 1888.

Adults pay CHF 10 (about €11, $12, £9) for the museum castle, CHF 15 (about €16, $18, £14) for a combined ticket with the temporary exhibition, and children aged 6 to 16 pay CHF 3 (about €3, $4, £3). A family card for two adults and two children costs CHF 20 (about €21, $25, £18). Entry is free with a Swiss Museum Pass, a Raiffeisen Member card or a Swiss Travel Pass. Opening hours change five times a year: 13:00 to 16:00 in February and March, 10:00 to 17:00 from April to June, 09:30 to 17:30 in July and August, 10:00 to 17:00 in September and October, and Sundays only from 13:00 to 16:00 from November to January. Last entry is 30 minutes before closing.

Thun station is a 10-minute walk away, and the step-free route runs through the old town to the City Ost car park, where a lift climbs to the Schlossberg. The energetic alternative is the Kirchtreppe, the covered church stairway. What else fills a day in the town is set out in the Thun guide.

Which Swiss castles are free and which are guided-tour only

Only one castle in this list is free to enter, and two can be seen on a guided tour alone. The three cases are listed below.

1. Tourbillon, Sion: free. No ticket office, no charge, and free commentary at set times between 15 March and 15 November.
2. Tarasp, Graubünden: guided tour only. Tours run Tuesday to Sunday from 2 June to 1 November 2026 and must be registered through the Fundaziun Not Vital.
3. Neuchâtel: guided tour only. Public tours leave at 14:00, 15:00, 16:00 and 17:00 for CHF 5 (about €5, $6, £5), and the building is a working seat of government the rest of the time.

Castle grounds are a separate question from castle interiors. The park at Oberhofen, the courtyards at Bellinzona in winter, the esplanade at Gruyères and the outer courts at Grandson are all open when the paying rooms are not, so a closed day does not always mean a wasted trip.

How to reach Swiss castles without a car

Nine of the 14 castles have a railway station or a signed bus stop within a 20-minute walk, so the train is the default way to do this. Chillon, Aigle, Grandson, Rapperswil, Spiez, Burgdorf, Thun, Gruyères and Bellinzona are all straightforward on public transport, and Oberhofen is reached by bus or by lake boat from Thun. Point-to-point rail and coach tickets across Switzerland and its neighbours are worth pricing on Omio before you commit to a pass.

Three of them argue for a car. Hallwyl sits away from the main lines at Seengen, Tarasp is a post-bus ride beyond the end of the Engadine railway, and stringing two or three Vaud castles together in one day is far quicker on the motorway than by changing trains. Hire prices in Switzerland are high by European standards, so it is worth checking rates across suppliers on DiscoverCars rather than booking the first quote.

Does a Swiss Travel Pass cover castle entry?

A Swiss Travel Pass includes the Swiss Museum Pass, which covers free admission to more than 500 museums, and several castles on this list are among them. Chillon, Thun and Oberhofen all admit Swiss Travel Pass holders free, and Burgdorf admits Swiss Museum Pass holders free. The pass costs CHF 254 (about €269, $313, £231) for three consecutive days in second class and CHF 309 (about €328, $381, £281) for four days at the 2026 adult rate, and those prices hold until 31 December 2026. The Swiss Half Fare Card, which halves ticket prices for a month, went up to CHF 150 (about €159, $185, £137) for 2026.

Whether the pass pays for itself depends on how much you move. Three castles plus the trains between them will not cover CHF 254 on their own; a week of long rail days with castles attached usually will.

Frequently asked questions

What is the most famous castle in Switzerland?

Chillon Castle on Lake Geneva is the most famous and the most visited historic monument in the country. Byron’s 1816 poem about its prisoner, François Bonivard, made it a fixture on the European tour, and it still draws more visitors than any other Swiss castle.

Which Swiss castle is a UNESCO World Heritage Site?

The three castles of Bellinzona, Castelgrande, Montebello and Sasso Corbaro, together with the Murata wall, have been on the UNESCO World Heritage list since 2000. They are the only Swiss castles with that status.

Can you stay overnight in a Swiss castle?

Burgdorf Castle in the canton of Bern runs a youth hostel inside the castle walls, with private rooms as well as dormitories, and hostel guests get museum entry included. It is the only castle in this list offering accommodation on site.

Are Swiss castles open in winter?

Chillon, Gruyères, Rapperswil, Aigle, Grandson, Burgdorf and Thun stay open through the winter, though several cut their hours and Thun drops to Sundays only from November to January. Oberhofen, Spiez, Hallwyl, Tarasp, Neuchâtel and Tourbillon close for the season.

What food should I try between castle visits?

Cheese fondue, rösti and älplermagronen turn up on castle-town menus all over the country, and the Bernese Oberland and Fribourg castles sit in the regions those dishes come from. The full list of typical food to eat in Switzerland covers what is worth ordering where.

WonderfulWanderings Pro Tips

The five tips below come from checking each castle’s own 2026 calendar and ticket page, and each one fixes a mistake that is easy to make.

1. Check the closed day before the price. Oberhofen, Rapperswil, Aigle, Hallwyl and Tarasp all close on Mondays, and Grandson closes on Tuesdays, so a castle-heavy day trip on the wrong weekday can find every gate shut.
2. Do not pay for Tourbillon. Entry to the ruin above Sion is free, the guided commentary is free, and any source quoting a ticket price for it is wrong.
3. Book Tarasp and Neuchâtel as tours, not as visits. Neither can be walked round independently: Tarasp needs registration through the Fundaziun Not Vital, and Neuchâtel runs fixed 45-minute departures at 14:00, 15:00, 16:00 and 17:00.
4. Park below Gruyères and count on the walk. The medieval town is closed to traffic, so the last 10 to 20 minutes to the castle gate are on foot from the car parks, uphill on cobbles.
5. Carry your Swiss Travel Pass to the ticket desk. It covers entry to Chillon, Thun and Oberhofen outright through the Swiss Museum Pass, which is worth CHF 40 (about €42, $49, £36) across those three alone.

About the author. This guide is written and maintained by the Wonderful Wanderings editorial team. Wonderful Wanderings was founded in 2012 by Sofie Couwenbergh, and the team covers Switzerland for independent travellers, from the castles of Vaud and the Bernese Oberland to the UNESCO fortress at Bellinzona, including the tours, hotels and rail passes worth booking. We check each castle’s own opening calendar and ticket page and update this guide when prices, seasons and closed days change.