Glacier Express reservation/Swiss Travel Pass Flex
Tenniswall is planning a trip to Switzerland and wants to know if they can reserve and pay for seats on the Glacier Express before purchasing the Swiss Travel Pass Flex for their travel dates. They are looking for clear guidance on how to make reservations and what tickets are needed for their journey.
- Reservations for the Glacier Express are required and can be made in advance without purchasing a ticket first.
- When using the Swiss Travel Pass Flex, ensure you have an activated day ticket for the travel date.
- For seat reservations on other trains like the Bernina Express and GoldenPass, check the official websites for updates and availability.
AI-generated summary-
Can you reserve and pay for seats on Glacier Express first.
And then buy a “Swiss Travel Pass Flex” to cover those dates afterwards?
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Hi Tenniswall,
Welcome to MySwissAlps.
Wonderful to hear you are considering the magical Glacier Express.
Yes, reservations for the Glacier Express (all classes) are necessary for travellers. More information can be found here;https://www.myswissalps.com/glacierexpress/tickets
In regard to the Swiss Travel Pass Flex, details and an overview can be found here. https://www.myswissalps.com/swisstravelpassflex
I hope this helps, feel free to reach out with any further questions.
Kind regards,
Yolanda
Thank you for the reply, Yolanda. Very helpful.
Could you also provide the seat reservation link for the following,
1. Bernina Express
2. GoldenPass Express
Thanks.
Hi Tenniswall,
Seat reservations and tickets for panoramic trains can be booked separately. You can book your seats in advance even without a ticket. Just make sure you have both (seat reservation and valid tickets or railpass) on the day of travel.
You can find reservation and tickets details for the Bernina Express and Golden Pass below:
- Bernina Express: http://www.myswissalps.com/berninaexpress/tickets
- Golden Pass: http://www.myswissalps.com/goldenpass/tickets
regards,
Anna
Hi Anna,
Thank you for confirming what I have read online, “You can book your seats in advance even without a ticket.” I could not accept this concept at first. But you clarified it for me. Many thanks.
I have not done any seat reservations because my trip (June 15, 2023) is still out of the 90 day window. Today is February 6 and the seat reservatopm is available only through the first week of May. But I did try to walk through the whole seat reservation process online with some accepted dates. Just to see what I would get when the time comes. And found out it only had the “print” option for seat reservation proofs. Is it correct to say that the seat reservation proof is only going to be on paper and cannot be in a digital form as in iPhone Wallet?
I also tried the second link you provided, Golden Pass: http://www.myswissalps.com/goldenpass/tickets. The Golden Pass stations do not include Interlaken. Do you know if one day they may extend it to Interlaken?
Hi Tenniswall,
When you purchase tickets or seat reservations online, you will receive the tickets or seat confirmation by email either as e-tickets or in PDF formats. You can print this out or download into your e-wallet.
If you’re planning to travel on the Golden Pass train from Interlaken to Montreux, to purchase a ticket online just write Interlaken as your location and Monteux as your destination.
Hope this helps.
Regards,
Anna
Hi Anna,
Thank you for the e-wallet explanation. I will do the e-wallet. And printout just in case my iPhone is out of power.
I tried what you told me to do. Enter name of the station to the reservation form if the station name is not available. After I could not find “Interlaken” name from the “from” and “to” station names (as shown in photos 1 and 2), I tried to enter “Interlaken” on the “Arrive From” for the Golden Pass train (as shown in photo 3) because that is only space where I could enter a station name.
But it still asked for the “from” information. So I chose “Zweisimmen” as “From” and it came back with an error message (as shown in photo 4)
It seems to me that the link you have provided for Golden Pass, Golden Pass: http://www.myswissalps.com/goldenpass/tickets, only covers Montreux<==>Zweisimmen which is the Golden Pass Panoramic train that terminates at Zweisimmen.
But it does not extends from Zweisimmen toward Interlaken. Could it be that there is another link to cover this Golden Pass train that goes from Zweisimmen to Interlaken?
Thanks.
Tenniswall… just so you know, I am doing the Bernina Express June 28th and have had my seats since December 28th. I was even slow on logging on to get them and missed 1st class on the first train of the day like I wanted. Bernina seats are already out for all of June dates but Glacier Express are not out yet.
<removed by moderator> some of the information in the ‘Golden Pass’ information section is out of date.
To get the reservations for the new direct train Montreux – Interlaken, go direct to the new MOB website for the new GoldenPass Express:
Hi 1960man,
As discussed before, our GoldenPass page is completely up-to-date except for the picture. I can’t see how any of that would cause confusion. The reservation system we link to from https://www.myswissalps.com/goldenpass/tickets is the official MOB website, and the link you just provided is listed there too.
Please keep your tone friendly as requested in our forum rules. We’re all working hard to provide the best info.
Hi Tenniswall!
The GoldenPass Panoramic and GoldenPass Belle Époque trains only run between Montreux and Zweisimmen. Between Zweisimmen and Interlaken, regional train runs for which you don’t need reservations. This is explained at the below pages:
- https://www.myswissalps.com/goldenpass (see “The train”)
- http://www.myswissalps.com/goldenpass/tickets (see “Regional trains between Interlaken and Zweisimmen”)
If you want to travel on the GoldenPass Express, that provides a direct connection between Interlaken and Monteux, you can use the GoldenPass Express reservation website instead. That one’s listed at the bottom of https://www.myswissalps.com/goldenpass/tickets.
I hope that helps you out. Let us know if you have further questions!
Hi Annika,
I cannot believe that your company has so much patience in answering my questions. Just for this one customer. Simply amazing.
Your explanation of GoldenPass Panoramic, GoldenPass Bell Epoque, and finally GodenPass Express gave me a COMPLETE picture of this complicated situation. Now I am fully educated by those links. Thank you for taking your time to get those links for me.
I just reserved two seats for the Bernina Express because of Sburbank35’s comments. That, all 1st class seats are gone for June 2023, is not true. I just booked two first class seats from Chur to Tirano in the morning and come back to Chur after a short stop in Tirano on the same day. The day of travel is June 21, 2023. Plenty of seats of available as can be seen on the attached Photo 1 with my reserved seats circled. (You can find me there in those seats on that day and say hello). I managed to find one “single” pair of seats 21 and 22 against the window on the way back from Tirano. But I could not find any “single” pair of seats on the way to Tirano. But mine (double singles from Chur to Tirano) are still window seats with some neighbors sitting next to us.
Annika, I have one more question. I got an email from the company after I bought the seat reservation and printed out the attachment of the email. And they are shown in Photo 2.
On the day of travel, in addition to the above two printed seat reservations, I will also have my iPhone turned on with the Swiss Travel Pass Flex turned on for that day.
Is this all I need to get into our 1st class seats without being kicked out by the inspector that day?
I have gone through quite a few sites to find answers for this coming June trip. But I ended up being here again and again. Before I asked any questions, I already found your site quite easy to follow. I bookmarked. I saved it on the Home Screen. I put it in groups. I am glad I did all that.
Then I joined the forum. Boy, you guys are serious and cared a lot about the business.
Just to let you know how appreciated I am.
Hopefully you don’t mean that I made it sounds like 1st class seats in June were sold out. That’s not what I said or meant… just that you shouldn’t wait because they’ve been “for sale” for quite some time now and I missed getting just 2 seats on one side, in first class on the first train out. At any rate, I’m glad you got your seats.
Hi Sburbank35, now I see how I have made a mistake. When I read your “Bernina seats are already out for all of June dates but Glacier Express are not out yet…” I turned it into “Bernina seats are already (sold) out for all of June dates but Glacier Express are not (sold) out yet.”
My bad. What you meant was the Bernina Express seats were open for reservation for all of June NOW. Thank you for pointing that out. Otherwise I would have waited until March 21, 2023 to get seats for June 21, 2023 to follow the “90 day window” rule for seat reservations. If I blindly followed the “90 day window” rule and waited until March 21 to reserve seats for June 21, I doubt I could have those window seats. Thanks again for letting me know.
You guys are doing a great service for all travelers. Especially for a first time Switzerland visitor like me who is trying to find my way through the ticket/pass/seat reservation maze. I think I am getting there.
On a side note. Just to let you guys know how much trouble I have to go through to get where I am today.
During this train ride study for Switzerland, I have spent the first 75% of my time in studying “Swiss Pass” and SBB APP. And the more I studied, the more questions and confused I got. Cards, passes, tickets…photos for Cards…link them to SBB APP…etc.
Only during the last 25% of my time, I found the correct path. That is, the Swiss Travel Pass.
Just that one word, “Travel”, being added to the Swiss Pass, I felt like I came out of a long tunnel and saw the day light.
For a non-Switzerland citizen like me, you use Swiss Travel Pass. Not Swiss Pass.
I suggest to change the “Swiss Travel Pass” to “Swiss Pass for Foreigners.” That will save my first 75% effort. And could be true for a lot of other foreigners too.
I agree it is confusing, and I also dislike the title Swiss Travel Pass. When I first used the STP (in 1973…) it was called the Swiss Holiday Card (which I believe is a better name than the current one.
However, the difference is well explained in all the guidance on this web site. Please look at all the resources here to get the full details of how to travel as a tourist.
http://www.myswissalps.com/swisstravelpass
Unfortunately, it is unlikely your suggestion to change the name will be heard as the names are decided by the Swiss government authorities!
Hello 1960man, thank you for your input (this one and previous links that you provided.)
Yesterday I asked Annika the following question. I have not heard anything from her yet. Maybe you can help me out here.
”…Annika, I have one more question. I got an email from the company after I bought the seat reservation and printed out the attachment of the email. And they are shown in Photo 2.
On the day of travel, in addition to the above two printed seat reservations, I will also have my iPhone turned on with the Swiss Travel Pass Flex turned on for that day.
Is this all I need to get into our 1st class seats without being kicked out by the inspector that day?…”
I have attached the “photo 2” in that message here again for you to take a look. It is a photo of the two printed seat reservations. They came through the email from the company where I had bought the seats.
With these two printed seat reservations in my hand, and the Swiss “Travel” Pass (two passes) turned on (I bought Flex) for June 21, 2023 on my iPhone, will we (me and my wife) pass the inspector?
Attachments:
Hi Tenniswall,
Yes ,all you need is a seat reservation and a valid ticket to travel on the Bernina Express. Both paper (printed out in A4 format) and electronic tickets or PDF docs are recognised for ticket inspection.
And for the benefit of everyone else, the difference between a Swiss Pass and a Swiss Travel Pass is explained in detail here: http://www.myswissalps.com/train/ticketspasses/practical/swisspass
regards,
Anna
Hi Anna, thank you for confirming that. It made me feel safe now that we can get on the Bernina Express without worries.
Over the past few days, you and others have provided a great service for a guy like me. Who is trying to learn the ropes from ground 0. But in just two short days, I can now go from a guy with millions of questions to proudly share my knowlede with my friends as if I were the Switzerland expert. Haha.
Once I know how to do the Bernia Express from the beginning to the end, I can now duplicate the process with ALL other Expresses.
Hope to run into some of you when we are there.
Hi Tenniswall!
There’s a moderator in charge of the forum each day, but there are several ones. So it may be another moderator or member that answers a specific question. Hope that explains why you didn’t hear back from me yet :-).
To confirm Anna’s answer: yes, a seat reservation and the Swiss Travel Pass Flex are all you need at the moment of traveling. But note that what you need to show is an activated day ticket for your Swiss Travel Pass Flex. The pass itself is only a code that you need to create an online day ticket. That process is explained here: https://www.myswissalps.com/swisstravelpassflex/howtouse.
Happy to hear the website has been useful so far, and I agree that the name similarity of the Swiss Pass and Swiss Travel Pass is tricky.
Feel free to get back with further questions!
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