Seat reservations needed with Swiss Travel Pass?
A traveler is planning a trip to Switzerland, arriving in Geneva on July 16 and visiting locations like Montreux, Nendaz, Thun, and Lucerne over 12 days. They are confused about train reservations, particularly which scenic trains require them and want to confirm if their planned routes need any reservations.
- Reservations are only required for special scenic trains like the Glacier Express and Bernina Express.
- None of the trains listed in your itinerary require reservations.
- Consider reserving a ticket for the Jungfrau trip on busy sunny days in July and August.
- Your Swiss Travel Pass covers most travel within Switzerland, but you’ll need an additional ticket for trains to neighboring countries.
AI-generated summary-
I’ve been reading the train section and am a little confused. It seems that if I buy a Swiss travel pass in advance, I generally don’t need separate tickets to get on a train. However, there are some scenic or special trains that do need a reservation. Is that correct? However, I couldn’t find a simple listing of which trains these are. I am posting my itinerary below. Would someone please tell me if any of these routes need a reservation.
Thanks so much for your help.
Arrive Geneva airport on July 16 Take train to Montreux
Montreux – 4 nights (July 16-20)
likely day trips to Gruyere and Brac, Lavaux vineyards, Lausanne
July 20 Take train to Sion and bus or taxi to Nendaz
Nendaz – 2 nights (July 20-22)
International Alphorn Festival
July 22 Take train to Thun
Thun – 5 nights (July 22-27)
likely day trips to Bern, Lauterbrunnen (valley of waterfalls) and Jungfrau
July 27 Take train to Lucerne (There appears to be 2 possible routes- north via Bern or south via Interlaken. Do you recommend one or the other? Does either need a reservation?)
Lucerne – 4 nights (July 27-31)
Likely day trips to Mt. Pilatus, Mt Titlis, and Basel July 31 Fly out of Zurich Take train directly to airport from Lucerne
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I’m confused about this as well. In particular, I’ve read somewhere that I’d need a seat reservation for any train that travels from within Switzerland to another country (in my case, into Italy) – but aside from knowing for a fact whether that’s true, I have no idea how I’d make such a seat reservation separate and apart from buying a ticket – which I do not want to do, since I have a Swiss Travel Pass.
Similarly, I’ve heard differently on whether or not I can cruise all the way on my single train from within Switzerland to Milano Centrale in Italy without paying any additional fare for the in-Italy portion.
Any helpful information would be most appreciated.
Hi SSboomer! That’s correct. Seat reservations are unusual in Switzerland and only required for special trains such as the Glacier Express, Bernina Express and Gotthard Panorama Express: myswissalps.com/train/ reservations. As for your itinerary: none of the trips you’ve listed require reservations. You may consider making reservations for your trip up to Jungfraujoch, as trains can get crowded on sunny days in July and August: myswissalps.com/jungfr aujoch/tickets.
The default route from Interlaken to Lucerne runs via Brienz and Meiringen and is called the Luzern-Interlaken Express. It’s part of the Golden Pass line, but again reservations aren’t necessary.
The use of the Swiss Travel Pass is explained at myswissalps.com/swisst ravelpass/howtouse. Purchase options are listed at myswissalps.com/swisst ravelpass/price.
I hope this clarifies things!
Hi Zlick! Yes, trains to neighbouring countries often do require seat reservations. Your Swiss Travel Pass covers the Swiss leg of your trip and you’ll need an additional ticket for the Italian portion (depending on your exact route, this will be a ticket from either Chiasso or Domodossola to Milan). Did you study myswissalps.com/traint ickets/italy?
If you have further questions, would you mind opening a new topic, as the original question here is about seat reservations within Switzerland? We’re happy to help you out there :-)!
Thanks, Annika. That’s very helpful.
In regards to Jungfraujoch, I read in the forums that it’s best to wait until you are in the area to see what the weather is like on a given day. Do you think the cogwheel train to Jungfrau might be full in advance? Or do you mean we should try to reserve online the night before when we have a good idea that it’s going to be a clear day?
Hi SSboomer,
The train to Jungfraujoch could be full on a sunny day in July/August but they run frequently so it depends on your schedule. I agree to reserve the night before once you’ve checked the weather.
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