No seats on Glacier Express, should we travel on the regional trains?
A traveler is eagerly planning a trip to Switzerland this June and hopes to ride the Glacier Express from Zermatt to St. Moritz. However, they've encountered a booking issue with no available seats on their chosen date and are seeking advice on whether to wait for availability or change their plans.
- Check at the Zermatt Train Station for any last-minute cancellations for the Glacier Express.
- Consider taking regional trains if Glacier Express seats are unavailable; they run a similar route and offer great views.
- Be aware that tickets for the Glacier Express may be released 27 days before travel if not reserved by group bookings.
AI-generated summary-
We are so looking forward to our trip this June to Switzerland. One of the highlights was to take the Glacial Express from Zermatt to St. Moritz but I just tried to reserve seats (we already have the Swiss Travel Pass) and there was no availability in any class on the day we were planning to take the train. What do you suggest we do—take our chances that maybe some seats might become available closer to our trip or change our itinerary and go somewhere else from Zermatt on our way back to Zurich? Plan B would be to take regional trains but is the 6-7 hour trip on regional trains going to disappoint?
Thanks so much for your advice and help.
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Hi docsher,
If you do take regional trains between Zermatt and St Moritz, it will not disappoint, no. Basicall the only difference will be that there will be changes. Perhaps three, depending on which ones you are on. That and there may be some changes in some slightly different places, but again, you will not be disappointed as, for the most part, they run on the same tracks. Have a great trip.
Regards,
Danielsan
Hi,
You can allways try to go to the Zermatt Train Station and see if there are no cancellations on the Glacier Express that day. It happens you know.
Then should you have no luck with this, you can try the regular trains.
Good luck 👍
Luc
Hi docsher,
In addition to the helpful replies above, yes you can absolutely travel on the regular regional trains as an alternative to the Glacier Express. I actually did part of the Glacier Express route last Thursday on the regular regional trains. The train was comfortable, windows were large enough to enjoy the scenery for sure. None of added extras of the Glacier Express trains but it was still very pleasant 🙂
More on the Glacier Express route in the below link, there is also a section on “What’s the difference between Glacier Express trains and regular trains?”
Kind regards,
Yolanda
I read somewhere that often tickets are released 27 days before. These are apparently taken by tour groups, but then if not used they are released back to the company running the GE.
Not sure if this is true or not but it might be worth checking at that point.
Hi DebH and docsher!
Yes, that’s true. Seats that have initially been held back for group reservations and tour operators, but that are not reserved 27 days before a travel date, are then released for individual travelers. It’s here in my article with 7 reservation tips for the Glacier Express: https://www.myswissalps.com/blog/glacier-express-reservations/.
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