Carriages available for GoldenPass reservation
A traveler started the thread seeking advice on train reservations for trips from Gstaad to Montreux and Spiez. They are concerned about securing seats on the Panoramic trains due to their luggage and want clarity on the differences between regular and Express trains, as well as the reservation process. They are planning to travel at the end of November and want to feel prepared ahead of time.
- Make sure to reserve your seats for the GoldenPass Express trains as they have limited availability, especially in peak seasons.
- In November, you may find fewer crowds on trains, but it’s still good to consider reserving for peace of mind.
- Check the SBB app for train types, as all are labeled as Panoramic, but only some are the Express with reserved seats.
- Utilizing the Swiss Travel Pass might give you more flexibility in traveling without stressing over specific train reservations.
AI-generated summary-
Hi,
I have been looking at the 2 sites where reservation for the regular Panoramic trains as well as the Panoramic EXPRESS trains can be made. The routes I am checking are between (1) Gstaad to Montreux and vice versa and (2) Gstaad to Spiez. We will be using the 1st Class Saver Day Pass (the actual journeys are much longer but it’s just those particular segments that reservation is recommended).
I do want to make reservations on those routes to ensure we get our 2 seats as we will have our luggages.. It does not matter if it’s the special EXPRESS or the normal Panoramic trains.
>>>>Question A) I noticed that all trains on those routes are called PANORAMIC trains in the sbb app.. But those special trains that only run 4x a day have the additional word “EXPRESS”.
1) So those with the word “EXPRESS” have the additional Prestige Class besides 1st and 2nd class? .
2) Those without the word “EXPRESS” are just regular trains with the 1st and 2nd class?
>>>>Question B) Panoramic EXPRESS trains (reservation of CHF20 pp one way)
On the gpx swiss link i.e. http://www.gpx.swiss/en/
Note: I had to use my IPAD TO HAVE A FULL VIEW OF THE SEAT AVAILABILITY MAP instead of the iPhone.
After going through the steps and selecting the date and time for the reservation, it only showed one carriage (#10) for 1st Class and one carriage (#20) for 2nd Class and hence even 90 days in advance, quite a lot of seats were already reserved in those carriages, depending on the date and time selected.
1) Is there only one carriage for reserved seats? (i.e. Carriage 10 for 1st Class and Carriage 20 for 2nd Class)?
2) What happened to the other carriages in that train? Are those carriages that do not show up in the link already booked up or are they open for non reserved seats on a 1st come 1st serve basis at the station?
3) So if one did not make any reservations, there is still a chance of getting on board the other carriages which are not open for reservation?
>>>>C) Normal Panoramic trains including Bella Epoche (reservation CHF 9pp one way)
For the routes I mentioned above, it is recommended that reservations ALSO be made on this link:
The same thing happens when the date and time is selected. Only one carriage (#11) for 1st class and one carriage (#21) 2nd class appears for reservation. So my questions are still the same as above as the Panoramic EXPRESS trains i.e. only one carriage for reservation?
>>>>D) Are cancellations for seat reservations refundable?
Actually we will only be travelling at the end of Nov 2023 but I wanted to get used to the reservation links beforehand and be able to book 90 days when the time draws near.
Thanks in advance to those who will help to clarify and clear my confusion.
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Hi traveljet,
The Golden Pass Express train is a direct service between Montreux and Interlaken Ost: see “The train” and “The GoldenPass Express, Interlaken-Montreux” at http://www.myswissalps.com/goldenpass. This train currently runs twice a day in each direction and is quite in demand. Seat reservation is recommended if you are planning to travel on the express service. If there are no seats available for your chosen connection, it’s likely that all seats have been taken up. The original Golden Pass between Montreux and Zweisimmen runs hourly alternating between the Panoramic and Belle Epoque. Seat reservation on this train is not compulsory but also recommended during peak season. Without a seat reservation, you can still board the train but there’s no guarantee you will get a seat.
Seat reservation in general are non-refundable. However reimbursement is possible in some cases. You can find the terms and conditions on the MOB website. You can find the link here: http://www.myswissalps.com/goldenpass/tickets
Hope this helps. Let us know if you need further info.
Regards,
Anna
Hi Traveljet
We booked seats and food on the Golden Pass Express at the end of June from Interlaken Ost to Montreux. We had to travel on a regular train to Zweisimmen and then change to the Golden Pass Express for the journey to Montreux because there were technical difficulties at the time. We had small suitcases with us and there was no trouble with storage of luggage during the journey.
The Golden Pass Express only had 4 coaches. We had reserved seats and food in second class. (Coach 20). Coach 21 was for those traveling second class with no reservation and was very crowded. At first we had people with no reservations stood in the aisle of our coach, but they were told to move to Coach 21 by train staff. Coach 10 was reserved first class, but I don’t know the class of the 4th coach.
Everyone on our fully booked coach had reserved their seats for the whole journey to Montreux and so there was no opportunity for anyone to board our coach at any of the stations along the route. I imagine the same was true of the first class coach. It may be different in November.
The journey was a wonderful experience and we are planning to travel on the Golden Pass Express next time we are in Switzerland. We had booked a mountain platter and drinks when we reserved the seats. We were very happy with the service and refreshments we received in second class.
Hope this is of help.
Jane
Hi Jane,
Thanks for sharing your experience on the Golden Pass Express train. Glad to know you had a great time and are planning to come back.
Regards,
Anna
Thanks Anna and Jane, for your invaluable input of your experience. Glad you had a great time as Switzerland is so incredibly beautiful tho expensive especially with dining.
Jane mentioned the special Panoramic Express has only 4 to 5 carriages.
Anna, how many carriages do the regular normal Panoramic trains have? I ask because when looking at the MOB reservation site, there was only one carriage for 1st n one of 2nd class for reservation.
Wonder if they will add more carriages in the future, considering so many overseas visitors esp groups, seem to be flocking to Switzerland and even so called non peak train is not as empty before on popular routes.
Our trip is from 14 Nov – 6 Dec. Many mt rides are closed but we have done quite a bit of that on the past trips to Engelberg, Engadine Graubanden and the Jungfrau region. Not the best season especially for 1st timers but less crowds for us to chill out.
Zermatt will be our 1st visit this coming Nov. So this upcoming trip is for enjoying fresh alpine air and the Olympic museum in Lausanne, a few Christmas markets (Montreux and several in Zurich, Basel, Einsiedeln).
We found a reasonable accommodation in Gstaad (surprisingly) which suited our taste and budget and thought it would be nice to stay there for a few nights But the hassle of the Panoramic train reservations is a worry.
I am more concerned about getting to my destination doesn’t matter whether it’s the Pano Express (Chf 20) or regular Panoramic (much cheaper reservation at CHF9).The actual journeys involving the panorama trains are certain sections are :
>Brig to Gstaad one way with luggages (Panorama from Montreux to Gstaad). Before our base in Brig, we will be in Zermatt 8N.
>Gstaad and Montreux return for Christmas market (all Pano)
>Gstaad to Winterthur with luggages. (Pano from Gstaad to Spiez).
Since reservations seem to be highly recommended, I worked out the sections requiring reservations and it’s quite a hassle because I am tied down to that particular time of departure. The beauty of the Saver Day is flexibility but with reservations, that limits our options.
Another concern is if there’s a breakdown or cancellation of that particular train (happened before on 2 previous trips on different journeys), then it’s going to be stressful when we have luggages because of the sudden change without reservation.
I try to avoid unnecessary issues which can add to travel stress esp with luggages especially when we aren’t spring chickens. Lol.
In the light of this, after input, I decided it is less hassle if we stay put in Brig as a base after a week in Zermatt. Then do our day trips to Montreux and Lausanne from Brig rather than Gstaad.
The train journeys from Brig are very doable and definitely less hassle although the city isn’t “pretty” compared to Gstaad.
The Ambassador Brig hotel also serves a 3 course dinner in their nice restaurant for Chf 45 pp which is a reasonable rate compared to eating out.
In Zermatt, we found this hotel Couer Des Alps which is open in Nov – great rating with no poor or unsatisfactory reviews on Tripadvisor or Google .
I think we will have pizzas coming out of our ears after Zermatt as the restaurants there are so very expensive and only pizzas are less likely to empty the wallet as quickly 😂.
So after thinking about the hassle of reservations on the Panoramic trains, we will use Brig as the 2nd base.
Thanks for your input. Any further advice or suggestion is appreciated.
I made a mistake re the Brig -Gstaad route, the GoldenPass Express is from Spiez to Gstaad.
I am still keeping my options open since there is still time to decide on other ideas.
Hi Traveljet
As November is low season we would not be worried about overcrowded trains at that time of the year. We are both in our late 60s.
The only reason we would reserve our second class seats on the Golden Pass Express would be if we were travelling the whole route from Interlaken Ost to Montreux and then only because of the wonderful service and food that added to the experience.
Kind regards
Jane
Hi Jane, I did consider November supposedly being a low season but even then, sometimes the app showed reservations are highly recommended. These days it’s hard to tell since more and more overseas visitors are coming to Switzerland.
This coming trip for us is more to visit Zermatt and some of the the Christmas markets. Since the train routes are very convenient from Brig for other day trips in the region esp with direct routes with no transfers eg Zermatt to Brig or to Montreux and Lausanne and the journey to Winterthur, we won’t base ourselves in Gstaad. Oh upon reading up more, I realised the walk from the Gstaad hotel to the station is 1.2km which is too far for day trips out (they have a shuttle but likely for pickup and drop off with luggages).
I checked out videos for the Panoramic Express route from Zweisimmen to Montreux. Having been to Switzerland 4x already and taking so many train journeys with amazing sceneries, I realised after viewing videos of the Panoramic Express route, the scenery was not particularly different, to warrant the hassle of extra travel hours and reservations. But it’s a great journey for those who are seeing these picture postcard views for the 1st or even 2nd time if they have not been taking that many train rides.
This thread has helped me have a much better understanding of the Panoramic Express trains, thanks to your input. There are so many experiences and always something new to learn.
In your next trip, maybe you can consider the Engadine which is often overlooked. The views of the horse carriage ride from the little town of Sils Maria all the way to the end of the Fex Valley was gorgeous, when we were there in Sept several years back.
We stayed in little Sils Im Maria and Pontresina where there are buses to the mts. Transportation is mostly covered by the hotel guest card for that whole area so it’s a huge savings. Anyway just a suggestion.
Thanks again for sharing details of your experience on the Panoramic Express esp what to look out for. I am sure other travellers will benefit from what you shared. Anna has not responded, so I assume if there is only one carriage showing up on the MOB reservation link for the normal Panoramic trains, then that’s all that is available.
This is the first time after several trips to Switzerland that I have had to look into reservations for the trains. So thanks for the input and patience.
Hello traveljet,
I agree with JaneEB, I think you will be fine in November without reservations for the GoldenPass panoramic trains too. That said, sometimes it’s nice for a piece of mind to have your seats reserved.
In regard to your question on the number of carriages. It could be that they will release more carriages for reservations later on. November / December is probably a little too far ahead at this moment in time for the planning team to confirm the number of carriages that they wil offer.
You also have the option to travel the regular trains on the GoldenPass route instead of the panoramic trains. Scroll to “Regular trains versus GoldenPass trains” in the below link for more details:
Also, in regard to your luggage concern, I am not sure if you are aware of the luggage services that SBB offer. You can arrange to have your luggage transported. More information in the below link – scroll to “Traveling within Switzerland”
Kind regards,
Yolanda
Hi Yolanda, I noticed that all the trains are termed as “GoldenPass Panoramic” trains on the sbb app. When you speak about the panoramic trains, you are referring to those which only run 4x a day and reservations are made at the gpx website? These trains on the sbb app are called GoldenPass Panoramic EXPRESS and there is an extra advice on the app advising about reservations? Am I correct that these EXPRESS trains are what you are referring to when you say “Panoramic” trains?
Similarly when you refer to regular trains, you mean the GoldenPass Panoramic without the added word EXPRESS? If you take a look at the sbb app, you will see that ALL trains eg from Zweisimmen to Montreux are called GoldenPass Panoramic trains. The difference is when the word “Express” is attached to it. That was why I was confused when the word Panoramic vs regular trains was mentioned in the replies as I was not sure what the regular trains were. If I am correct, then the confusion is solved as the Panoramic trains you are referring to have the word “Express” indicated in the app.
As for the luggage services, thank you for letting me know. Yes I am aware of this service. Normally we don’t have issues with our luggages, it’s only if there is a short connection time between stations. Although it has not happened yet, if we miss the connection, we will take the next one as we still prefer to have our bags with us. After the last experience at Bern, I will be sure to check when the next connection is if the transfer is a very short interval.
Hi traveljet,
Yes, I think the confusion is the how the trains are labeled on the SBB timetable. They do indeed name them all as Panoramic Express but when you click, underneath, they will specify the train types. I will break it all down so hopefully all be clearer.
Firstly we have the GoldenPass route – this is served by regular, standard trains as well as the panoramic trains (PE) – visually these can also be recognised by their much larger windows in comparison to the windows on a regular, standard train. See attached screenshot, the PE indeed denotes these will be a panoramic train. The “R” trains are your normal standard trains.
The GoldenPass route breakdown of panoramic trains:
1. Lucerne to Interlaken Ost: served by the “Luzern Interlaken Express”.
2. Interlaken Ost to Zweisimmen: served by the GoldenPass Express train.
3. If traveling from Zweisimmen to Montreux and you would like to take a panoramic train, there are 3 types of panoramic trains that you could take:
- GoldenPass Panoramic
- GoldenPass Belle Epoque
- GoldenPass Express – this train is actually a direct train from Interlaken Ost to Montreux. Connections are ongoing, no changes required.
You can read all about the train types in the attached link, scroll to “The train”: https://www.myswissalps.com/goldenpass
Both the GoldenPass Panoramic and GoldenPass Belle Epoque travel only between Zweisimmen and Montreux and vice versa.
As mentioned, all is doable by the regular standard trains too.
In the above GoldenPass link, if you navigate to the “Tickets” tab, you’ll find helpful information for reservations. In the tab “Route”, there is further clarification on how to recognise and differentiate between the train types via the timetable section.
Lastly for connection times. Using the SBB timetable advanced, you can actually plan beyond the standard connection times. If you were concerned about a 7 minute transfer at Bern. If you scroll to “Duration of transfer”, you can change your window, for example to 10, 20 or 30 minutes. That way, you will be presented with the next available connection based on your duration of transfer.
I hope this helps.
Kind regards,
Yolanda
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Hi Yolanda, many thanks for your detailed explanation and patience. Yes, the confusion comes from the way all the trains are labelled as Panoramic Express at first glance. Also the departure times I was searching from i.e. from 11:00 – 17:36pm showed only the PE without regular trains. So I was wondering why I could not find any standard regular trains during those times.
I did notice the word “Express” attached to those trains running only 4x a day as the special ones and from your explanation, it’s now clearer that they are the direct ones from Int Ost to Montreux without needing transfer. Those without the word “Express” but with the word Panoramic means the windows are still wider than normal trains but they are not the regular trains that you were initially referring to. Those regular trains with “R” are only in the wee hours of the morning and late evening – hence I did not spot them in the search on the app.
Many thanks for the clarity.
It’s great there is actually an advanced search to select the preference in the transfer on the sbb website timetable. I was trying to look for that option on the sbb app but could not find it. Am I correct that it’s not available on the app?
Hello again traveljet,
In regard to the “Duration of transfer” capability on the SBB app, unfortunately I don’t think there is this option.
Kind regards,
Yolanda
Hi Yolanda, thanks for the reply. You are such a gem of a moderator😁💎💎
Thank you traveljet 🙂
We, all endeavor to help our members, as much as we can 😉
Kind regards,
Yolanda
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