Switzerland has a reputation for being expensive, and it is an honest one: a few train journeys and a couple of museum tickets add up quickly. Which makes the Neuchâtel Tourist Card all the more remarkable. It is a guest card issued free of charge by the canton to everyone who spends at least one night in official accommodation there, and it covers public transport across the whole canton plus entry to around thirty museums. Plenty of visitors only find out about it at check-in, and some on the way out. Here is how it works, what it really covers, and how to make the most of it from Hôtel Beaulac on the shore of Lake Neuchâtel. Book your stay at beaulac.ch and the card follows automatically.
How to get it: there is almost nothing to do
The Neuchâtel Tourist Card, usually shortened to NTC, is not something you buy. It is given to everyone who stays at least one night in a hotel, campsite, B&B, holiday flat or group accommodation in the canton. Each person on the booking gets their own card, children included.
Since 1 January 2025 the card has been digital. A few days before you arrive, you will receive an email from neuchateltourisme@myntc.ch asking you to complete a few details. The card then appears on your phone as a web app, replacing the old paper voucher booklet.
It is personal to you, valid from your day of arrival until midnight on the day you leave, for a maximum of fifteen days. If you are asked for your ticket, show the card along with photo ID. If the email never arrives, just ask at reception: it is the accommodation that triggers the card.
What it covers: transport, museums and days out
The heart of the card is free public transport. Trains, buses and funiculars: you travel without a ticket across the Neuchâtel network, as often as you like, for the whole of your stay. That covers the bus up to La Coudre and the Chaumont funicular just as much as the train to La Chaux-de-Fonds, Le Locle or Noiraigue.
On top of that come around forty leisure offers, including free entry to around thirty museums in the canton. Among them are the Musée d’art et d’histoire in Neuchâtel, the Natural History Museum, the Laténium archaeology museum at Hauterive and the International Museum of Horology in La Chaux-de-Fonds. The card also includes a lake cruise on Lake Neuchâtel or the Lac des Brenets, a day’s bike hire in Neuchâtel or Le Locle, and a ride on the Buttes-La Robella chairlift.
Each offer can be used once per person during your stay. Just show the card, on paper or on your phone, at the entrance.
To put it in perspective: in a country where a day of trains and museums can easily run into three figures for a couple, a card that covers most of it for the price of your room changes how you plan a trip.
Three day plans from Hôtel Beaulac
Neuchâtel, from lake to clouds. Start at the Musée d’art et d’histoire on the Esplanade Léopold-Robert, a few steps from the hotel. On the first Sunday of each month it holds demonstrations of the celebrated Jaquet-Droz automata, built in the eighteenth century and still a draw for visitors from all over the world. Then take the bus to La Coudre and the funicular up to Chaumont, at 1,087 metres, for views over the three lakes and, on a clear day, the Alps. End the day at the Laténium in Hauterive, right on the water.
The watchmaking towns. The train takes you up to La Chaux-de-Fonds, whose watchmaking town plan is a UNESCO World Heritage Site together with Le Locle’s. The International Museum of Horology tells the story of timekeeping there. Carry on to Le Locle, then come back down to the lake for the evening without having bought a single ticket.
The Val-de-Travers. The train to Noiraigue drops you at the start of the walk up to the Creux du Van, best kept for the warmer months. The same network serves Môtiers and the rest of the valley, where the story of absinthe can be explored in any season, rain included.
The small print worth knowing
The card is generous, but it has rules, and it is better to know them before you board.
It covers travel within the canton: getting to Neuchâtel from Geneva, Zurich or Basel is up to you. It is valid in second class only, across all zones of the Onde Verte network except zone 42 (Les Bois and Saignelégier).
It is not valid on night buses such as the Noctambus, nor on special services laid on for events. Pets and bikes are not covered.
Some offers are seasonal. Boats, bike hire and the chairlift run to their own calendars, so in winter the value of the card lies mainly in transport and museums. For a weekend in November or February, that is still a great deal. The full, current list is published by the Neuchâtel tourist office at j3l.ch.
One night, and the canton opens up
The Neuchâtel Tourist Card changes the arithmetic of a stay. A night in a hotel no longer pays only for a room: it unlocks the transport network, the museums, the lake and the Jura. The longer you stay, the harder it works for you, for up to fifteen days.
At Hôtel Beaulac, reception will happily help you plan your days around the card, whether that means going up to Chaumont, heading for the watchmaking towns or moving from museum to museum on a wet afternoon. Book your stay at beaulac.ch or on +41 32 723 11 11, and your card will be waiting in your inbox before you arrive.
