Switzerland has the most famous landscapes in the entire world – and there’s a three-day travel pass you can use to explore that costs less than the train from Manchester to London.
Whether it’s a view of the Matterhorn and the Swiss Alps, cruising past lakes, or zipping around cities Geneva or Zurich, there’s a single ticket that can do it all.
And (slightly depressingly) it costs less than a peak train ticket between Manchester and London, for three days of unlimited travel around an entire country. Sigh.
The Swiss Travel Pass includes rides on the world-famous Glacier Express panoramic train, which weaves through the mountains of the Swiss Alps between Zermatt and St Moritz.
It also gets passengers unlimited travel on other panoramic train journeys like the Bernina Express and Gotthard Panorama Express.
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As well as all that train travel, the Swiss Travel Pass includes buses, boats, cable cars and public transport in more than 90 cities.
AND, gets you into 500 different museums.
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The three-day Swiss Travel Pass costs less than a journey from Manchester to London. Credit: Unsplash, Victor He
While Switzerland is one of the most expensive countries in Europe to visit, you can’t argue with the price of the Swiss Travel Pass – just £243.20 for unlimited journeys over three days.
Again – an on-peak train return to London from Manchester costs £386.00…
If three days isn’t enough, there are also Swiss Travel Passes that run for four, six, eight or even 15 consecutive days.
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The Swiss Travel Pass is a rail pass that lets you travel around Switzerland as much as you want by train, bus and boat for a set amount of travel days.
You can use a Swiss Travel Pass if you’re a tourist and permanently reside outside Switzerland and the Principality of Liechtenstein.
Greater Manchester’s heritage railway issues statement as it’s forced to cancel services this week
Emily Sergeant
Greater Manchester’s iconic heritage railway has been forced to cancel its services this weekend due to the heatwave.
In case you hadn’t heard, Amber Extreme Heat warnings and heat-health alerts have been issued by the Met Office and the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) through to Thursday this week – with temperatures widely exceeding 35°C nationwide, and in some areas – particularly on the south coast – potentially even reaching 38°C.
Heatwave conditions in the UK are met when a location records a period of at least three consecutive days with temperature values meeting or exceeding the heatwave temperature threshold for that location.
It does seem, however, that northern parts of the country – especially the North West – are missing most of the extremely hot conditions.
Current forecasts indicate that the peak temperatures for Greater Manchester this week will be tomorrow and Thursday, with highs of 33°C in the city centre.
Despite not reaching the heights of the south, East Lancashire Railway (ELR) has still had to act in advance and has taken the decision to cancel its scheduled services for the next two days as the forecast is ‘too severe’.
Taking to social media to share its decision today, ELR wrote: “Due to the current weather warning for the UK, the decision has been taken to cancel all services on Wednesday 24th and Thursday 25th June 2026, including the afternoon tea and mid-week luncheon dining experiences.
“The welfare of both staff and customers is paramount to the ELR, and we believe that the risk in the extreme heat that has been forecast is too severe to allow for the running of our ordinary services.”
As things stand, ELR says its current plan is to have services resume with the evening dining train on Friday 26 June, but this will still be ‘subject to review’, and further updates on this will be issued later in the week.
Visitors who have already pre-booked services over the two cancelled days will be contacted via email to have their options explained to them.
“We apologise for any inconvenience,” ELR closed out its statement.
Featured Image – ELR
Travel & Tourism
Legendary buffet restaurant could close as plans for ANOTHER Deansgate hotel are revealed
Daisy Jackson
Plans have been revealed for another hotel on Deansgate – and if it goes ahead, it could mean Manchester’s legendary buffet restaurant may close.
Maybrook House stands on a prominent corner in the city centre, where Deansgate crosses with Blackfriars Street.
It’s functioned as offices for years, but now there are proposals to change the building into a ‘vibrant, high-quality new hotel’.
If it goes ahead, the new hotel would provide 240 rooms as well as a new bar and lounge spaces.
Plans for the new Deansgate hotel include a two-storey extension on top of the building, which would bring it to an eight-storey building (still well below the height of neighbouring structures, like the 20-storey Treehouse Hotel).
The team working on the new hotel have said that its design will ‘respect the character of the surrounding area while improving the appearance and experience of the building’.
Other plans include repainting the existing brickwork, refurbishing the concrete panels, and installing more efficient windows.
As for the cafes and restaurants already occupying Maybrook House, most will be able to stay – the plans say that the ground-floor occupiers can remain in place throughout the construction period.
But if it all goes ahead, Cosmo, the world buffet that has been here for almost a decade (and was previously Red Hot World Buffet) would need to vacate the premises.
Maybrook House said: “We recognise that Cosmo is a valued and well-established venue in the city, and are engaging with them directly.”
A hotel operator for the building hasn’t been announced yet, but they said that they are ‘currently in advanced discussions with a prestigious hotel operator’.
Daisy Jackson -
31st October 2025 
