Reserving Goschenen to Lucerne?

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    14 May 2017 at 21:14:34 #811822

    We will be traveling from Zermatt to Lucerne on July 9, 2017. I have purchased a Swiss Rail Pass. We are planning to take the Glacier Express from Zermatt to Andermatt, then the cogwheel train from Andermatt to Goschenen, then the Gotthard Panorama Express from Goschenen to Lucerne. I cannot figure out how to make the reservation from Goschenen to Lucerne on the Gotthard Panorama Express as Goschenen does not come up on the menu. How do I do this? Also, will I then need a boat reservation once we reach Lucerne? Thank you for any help!

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    15 May 2017 at 2:27:31 #863327

    Hi, and welcome to MySwissAlps!

    Are you doing the reservation on the HappyRail website? It doesn’t seem to me that you can reserve anything except the full route on that site, but I will leave it to others to confirm whether that is in fact the case.

    You can reserve Göschenen to Flüelen on the Gotthard Panorama Express in the SBB Ticket Shop, and I can give you instructions for that if needed, but first of all I would suggest you consider whether or not a reservation is worth it. You can travel over the same route by normal trains without a reservation. Reservations are actually not even possible on the normal trains.

    You can’t reserve the boat from Flüelen to Luzern, so the reservation would only be for the rail sector Göschenen to Flüelen. This is a 41 minute trip, and a reservation on the Gotthard Panorama Express would cost CHF 12 per passenger. In my view, the most spectacular scenery in this area is the Schöllenen Gorge between Andermatt and Göschenen, which you will have already passed before getting to Göschenen and joining the Gotthard Panorama Express; and the area around Wassen, where the train negotiates a series of loops to lose a lot of height within a very short distance.

    When you get to Flüelen, you can get a boat to Luzern whether you are on the official Gotthard Panorama Express or not.

    If you want to take a boat from Flüelen to Luzern, you will need to do separate timetable searches for Zermatt-Flüelen and Flüelen-Luzern, otherwise you will just get the fastest connections from Flüelen, which will be trains. For searching the timetable for the sector Flüelen to Luzern, use advanced search to limit the transport options to “ship”.

    Attached are screenshots from the SBB timetable showing an example of how you could travel on the Glacier Express from Zermatt to Andermatt, then from Andermatt to Flüelen on a normal train without reservations (same route as the Gotthard Panorama Express), then from Flüelen to Luzern by steam boat. You will arrive at Flüelen a few minutes before the Gotthard Panorama Express does, and end up on the same boat as its passengers will.

    My screenshots are from the old version of the SBB timetable, which I prefer for both content and presentation. The link for that is

    fahrplan.sbb.ch/bin/qu ery.exe/en?showAdvancedInput=1

    Alpenrose

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    16 May 2017 at 3:39:03 #863328

    Thank you so much, Alpenrose. Is this the best route to get from Zermatt to Lucerne, or are there other options I should look at? I have not used the HappyRail website, but I will look at that.

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    16 May 2017 at 7:01:24 #863329

    You can travel to Luzern via many different towns if you like but it will take you out of your way for the most part!

    I think your idea is the most scenic though.

    Cheers

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    18 May 2017 at 1:12:43 #863330

    >> Is this the best route to get from Zermatt to Lucerne, or are there other options I should look at?

    The fastest route from Zermatt to Luzern is Zermatt-Visp-Bern-Luzern (and sometimes also via Olten), which takes between 3 hrs 23 min and 3 hrs 42 min.

    The route through Andermatt, Göschenen and the boat ride on the Vierwaldstättersee (Lake Lucerne) is much more scenic, but takes longer. I agree with Lucas – you have definitely picked the most scenic route to Luzern from Zermatt. As it fits so well into your itinerary, you wouldn’t want to miss it!

    From Andermatt to Göschenen, sit on the right hand side of the train, and keep your eyes open for the Schöllenen Gorge with its Devil’s Bridge, where the road goes straight into a tunnel in the rockface (pictures attached).

    Then a little further on (at Wassen), you will see a small white church below on a hill on the right hand side, then the train will loop around inside a tunnel to lose height and pass it again on the left hand side, and finally, when the train has reached the valley floor via another tunnel loop, the church will reappear again on left hand side.

    The boat trip on the Vierwaldstättersee is truly lovely. I posted some pictures of my boat trip in an earlier thread if you are interested:

    http://www.myswissalps.com/fo rum/topic/trip-report-late-august-to-mid-october-2016

    Pictures are attached to first post.

    Alpenrose

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