I am an exchange student in ETH Zurich and I'll be staying here for 5-6 months. During the time I am here I would like to travel around Switzerland and also to some of the neighboring countries. What's the best way for me to do that? Buses or flights or trains? I see easyjet flies from Basel and offers cheap services but I'll be staying in Zurich.

I also heard something about the Track7 card but I guess that's for travel only in Switzerland and that too in the night time. So which pass/service should I use. A friends suggested buying Track7 card (for 99CHF/year?) and then going down to Basel with that and taking the flights. Is that the best option?

Lots of info on this Sticky:

The Swiss Public Transport System

Thanks but that is for within Switzerland right? What about travelling for other countries?

Outside Switzerland is almost off-topic

Maybe someone can give you some ideas though.

The swiss transportation network goes into Liechtenstein as well as some city in Northern Italy. Basel airport is technically in France. So that's 3.
Then try going to easyjet and find flights there for CHF 35 round trip to Barcelona/Venice elsewhere. Seriously the deals are pretty good some times. CHF 100isih to Tel Aviv, depending on the month.

The first time I came to Switzerland, I landed at Basel. My escort was going to be 30 minutes late, so was surprised when the cashier asked me if I had Euro for my coffee. The parking is not particularly large could not understand why I could not see my escort or my escort me. Then it was explained to me, their are 2 exits, one for Switzerland, & the other for France/Germany. Walked back into the airport and out the correct exit

It might be worth investing in a demi-tariff abonnement. It's only for Switzerland, and you have to get it for a year, but it will cut your train/tram expenses in half, and save you money on your bus pass too. It costs about 160CH though, so it's only worth it if you use those things regularly...

Thanks! I guess I'll go with the half fare card as I'll generally be travelling by trains and if I take flights I'll anyway have to go down to Geneva/Basel.

Keep an eye out for offers from Swissair and SBB.

I did a 60CHF return to Milan on Wednesday, though due to un-FOUR-seen circumstances it wasn't the most memorable trip, haha.

SwissAir last week had a 99CHF return to Barcelona - but it seems that offer has now expired.

With EasyJet book at least several weeks in advance, and it costs less to fly on weekdays,