[Removed user]

23 February 2017 at 19:40:58 #810884

Hi, going to Switzerland in May and want to take the Glacier Express from St. Moritz to Zermatt on 5/24. I know it is a few days early, but if I call do you think they would go ahead and make seat reservations for me. Also, when I look for 5/21 which I can make, it looks like there is very limited seating. Do they fill up that quick? there were no seats together at all. I am worried…..

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[Removed user]

24 February 2017 at 0:06:45 #859285

I doubt they would make reservations earlier than 3 months beforehand. However, it is possible you are mis-reading the seat availability diagram. Strangely, the booking system doesn’t seem to be programmed to seat people together when booking for more than one, and simply looks for empty seats. For a booking for 2 people, it seems to start at one end of the carriage and finds the first two empty seats, even if not located together.

I have attached two screenshots for 21 May, the date you mentioned that seemed to have limited seating. The first diagram is the default suggestion for reservations for two people. As you can see, if you accepted the default suggestion, you would not be seated with your travel companion.

However, you can click on the two green seats to deselect them, then click on two other seats of your preference. The light grey seats are already booked. The dark grey seats are currently available, so you can click on any of them to reserve them – see second screen shot.

Alpenrose

[Removed user]

24 February 2017 at 0:53:36 #859286

You have no idea how much this has helped me. Can you tell me how you tell which is the left or right side of the train? We have heard that the left side is the best side to sit when going from St Moritz to Zermatt.

[Removed user]

24 February 2017 at 2:27:33 #859287

>> You have no idea how much this has helped me.

Glad it was useful!

>> Can you tell me how you tell which is the left or right side of the train?

It’s not possible to tell, unfortunately 🙁

>> We have heard that the left side is the best side to sit when going from St Moritz to Zermatt.

Sitting on the left would be my choice too, particularly for views of the Landwasser Viadukt. Best views through the Oberalppass are also on the left, but can also be enjoyed from the right hand side, as the windows are so big. Going through the Rhine Gorge, between Reichenau and Ilanz/Glion however, the best views are on the right.

Sitting on the “wrong” side does make taking photos a bit more difficult though. I’ve often found using the zoom is enough to avoid getting the heads of people on the other side of the train in my photos, however. And taking the photo from the other side often means you avoid getting reflections in the photo, which can be a bonus!

On one of my trips over the Landwasser Viadukt, we were seated on the “wrong” side, but like many others, were able to stand in the aisle next to the seats on the other side for the very short time it takes to go over the viadukt, and still got quite a good view.

Alpenrose

[rockoyster]

24 February 2017 at 4:56:33 #859288

I made reservations today for 22 May. Website indicated I could only make reservations as tickets not on sale until to months prior to departure.

I initially got a fright from the old “two green seat trick” until I figures out what the colour coding meant. Wish I had seen Alpenrose’s post earlier.

Another trap for young players – yesterday I managed to muck up the reservation on the Bernina Bus from Tirano to Chur. Silly me assumed that seats 21/22 would be adjacent when in fact seats 22/28 are the ones I should have picked. I obviously didn’t study the seating plan that carefully. The nice people at RHB took pity on me a sorted it out.