15481 posts
Hi NomadGirl,
Welcome to MySwissAlps!
1 – This trip does not need to be booked in advance. Tickets do not sell out, you can buy them on the spot. If you are planning to travel on the Glacier Express, you will need a seat reservation. Reservations do need to be booked in advance as seats can sell out on that particular train: myswissalps.com/ glacierexpress/tickets.
2 – Tickets to Italy do need to be booked in advance. You can do so through the SBB site and pick the Half-fare travel card when asked, or check if any of these sites offer better prices.
The Swiss Half Fare Card itself can be purchased through the SBB tourist shop at http://www.swissrailways.com/ en. After filling out your address, they will show the delivery options. Pick “Online Ticket” from the bottom of the list. They will e-mail the card (no delivery fees), so you can print it at home. Whether you buy the card before or after you buy tickets does not matter, as long as you have both when you board the train.
72625 posts
Hi Arno,
Thank you for the wonderful information you have provided.
It helps to clear most of my doubts. However, I have check that I am able to buy seat reservations now, but not the train tickets, if there a chance that seats might sell out even after I have bought the seat reservations?
15481 posts
You’re most welcome! I’m not sure if I understand your question, but tickets can’t sell out. Only seat reservations can sell out. Please see myswissalps.com/ train/reservations/ howtouse.