Leaving aside discounted tickets, special promotional offers or courier flights, the cheapest way to go is with an APEX (Advance Purchase Excursion) ticket, although these carry certain restrictions: you generally have to book – and pay – up to 21 days before departure, spend at least seven days abroad (maximum stay of three months), and you tend to get penalized if you change your schedule. Some airlines also issue Special APEX tickets to youth/student travellers, often with fewer restrictions on the period of stay. There are also winter Super APEX tickets, sometimes known as “Eurosavers”, which are slightly cheaper than an ordinary APEX, but limit your stay to between 7 and 21 days.

However, discount outlets can often do better than an APEX fare. They come in several forms. Consolidators buy up large blocks of tickets that airlines don’t think they’ll be able to sell at their published fares, and sell them at a discount. Besides being cheap, consolidators normally don’t impose advance purchase requirements (although in busy times you’ll want to book ahead just to be sure of getting a ticket), but they do often charge very stiff fees for date changes. Also, these companies’ margins are pretty slim, so they make their money by dealing in volume – don’t expect them to entertain lots of questions.

Discount agents – such as STA, Council Travel, or others listed on p.14 – also wheel and deal in blocks of tickets offloaded by the airlines, but they typically offer a range of other travel-related services such as insurance, rail passes, youth and student ID cards, car rentals, tours and the like. These agencies tend to be most worthwhile to students and under-26s, who can often benefit from special fares and deals. Some agents specialize in charter flights, which may be cheaper than anything available on a scheduled flight, but departure dates are fixed, withdrawal penalties high (check the refund policy) and not all North American cities are serviced by Swiss-bound charters. Travel clubs are another option for those who travel a lot – most charge an annual membership fee, which may be worth it for discounts on air tickets, car rental and the like.

You should also stay on the lookout for any special promotional offers the airlines might have. These crop up throughout the year and, for the flexible traveller, can deliver substantial savings. A further possibility for those with a flexible schedule is a courier flight to Zürich or Geneva, though these don’t turn up as often as they do for other major European cities like London and Paris. In return for shepherding a parcel through customs, and possibly giving up your baggage allowance, you can expect to get a heavily discounted ticket, anything between US$150 and US$500, depending on season. A couple of courier outfits are listed in the box above.

Regardless of where you buy your ticket, the fare will depend on season. As a general rule, you can expect fares to Switzerland to be highest from around June to mid-September; they drop during the “shoulder” seasons, April to mid-May, and mid-September to October; and you’ll get the best deals during the low season, which extends from November through March (excluding the weeks around Christmas and New Year when prices are hiked up and seats are at a premium). The high season fare can be more than double that of the low season. Note that flying on weekends ordinarily adds around US$60/C$90 to the round-trip fare; prices quoted in the following sections assume mid-week travel in the low season, exclude tax and are subject to change.

If Switzerland is only one stop on a longer journey, you might want to consider buying a Round-the-World (RTW) ticket. Some travel agents can sell you any of a hundred or more “off-the-shelf” RTW tickets which include Zürich on their itineraries; prices range from US$1200/C$1770 all the way up to US$5000/C$7400.