Glacier Express tickets and reservation
A traveler is planning a summer trip to Switzerland and needs advice on booking the Glacier Express and Bernina Express. They want to know when they can book their seats, how to use their Swiss Half Fare Card, and how early they can purchase the card itself. Their itinerary includes Zermatt and St. Moritz, with specific concerns about high season and ticketing.
- You can reserve a seat on the Glacier Express up to 90 days in advance, but tickets can be purchased later.
- With a Swiss Half Fare Card, consider getting a Saver Day Pass for potential savings on longer trips.
- If you have the Swiss Travel Pass, seat reservations for the Glacier Express are required, but travel tickets are included.
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Hi experts! I’m new here but have been reading many posts like crazy in preparation for my trip next summer.
I’m not finding something that tells me exactly how early I can book the Glacier Express. I’ve read a few post where they reserved their seat a LONG time in advance… and then went back in and bought the train ticket later. I’m really confused by this. At what point can I purchase each of these things? I plan to get the Swiss HFC for my time in Switzerland. As I understand it, it doesn’t help with the actual seat reservation on the GE, is that correct? But I will use it later when making the reservation? I want to be sure to reserve my seats as early as possible since it looks like the end of June will be high season.
The plan is to stay a few days in Zermatt (after Lauterbrunnen) and take the GE to St. Moritz… stay there 2 nights and then take the Bernina Express into Italy. Are there tips to booking both of these journeys?
Also, does anyone know how early you can buy the Swiss HFC? I realize it’s only good for a month, but how does that month start? I’d love to be able to buy it early if it’s possible?
Thank you all so much and we’re so looking forward to getting back to Switzerland.
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Hi Sburbank35,
Welcome to the forum. Thanks for joining MySwissAlps.
You can make seat reservation on the Glacier Express even without a ticket. If you’re planning to travel during a busy period, it’s advisable to book the seat early. You can book seats up to 90 days in advance. Once you have confirmed your seats, you can purchase the tickets online or you can travel with a railpass such as the Swiss Travel Pass.
If you have a Swiss Half Fare Card, you can purchase a cheaper Saver Day Pass which is also valid on the Glacier Express as well as the Bernina Express.
You can find further information about Glacier Express tickets and reservation here: http://www.myswissalps.com/glacierexpress/tickets
Information about Bernina Express tickets and reservation here: http://www.myswissalps.com/berninaexpress/tickets
Options to purchase the Swiss Half Fare Card here: http://www.myswissalps.com/swisshalffarecard/price
Regards,
Anna
Hi Anna!
Thank you so much for responding. I’ll make sure I set an alarm on my calendar for 90 days out of my planned trip. So, I can pay for my seat 90 days prior but I cannot buy my actual ticket that soon? I’m wanting to book a FC seat on the Glacier Express. I think the Excellence class is way outside of my budget and I don’t need a fancy lunch. It appears you would still have to purchase drinks from the bar anyway, correct?
Can you explain why I would buy the Saver Day Pass with my HFC? I’m a bit confused on that.
Thank you again!
Stephanie
If you don’t want a ‘fancy lunch’ then do remember that you don’t have to use the Glacier Express to travel the routes traversed by the Glacier Express, which is just a special train on a regular railway.
When you have a Swiss Half Fare Card you can either use it to buy any regular point to point ticket for half fare or you can purchase a Saver Day Pass at a reduced rate.
A Saver Day Pass is usually good value for the following one or more reasons:
- you are travelling a long way across Switzerland, so the Saver Day Pass works out cheaper than a half fare point to point ticket
- you want to use a variety of different routes in one day
- you want to go backwards and forwards around a region on different trains, buses, trams etc in the same day
- you want to do a circular tour, for example in Canton Graubunden you can do Chur – St Moritz – Scuol Tarasp – Klosters – Davos – Chur as a day tour
Hi Stephanie,
the reason why Anna recommended the Saver Day Pass with your Swiss Half Fare Card as this can be the cheapest solution if you buy your Saver Day Pass well in advance. You can read more about it here: http://www.myswissalps.com/saverdaypass/price.
The seat reservation on the Glacier Express must be paid separately, unfortunately, none of the passes includes the seat reservation.
If you haven’t bought your Swiss Half Fare Card, you might want to have a look at the Swiss Travel Pass: http://www.myswissalps.com/swisstravelpass.
If you have a Swiss Travel Pass you do not need the Saver Day Pass. With the Swiss Travel Pass, your train ticket for the Glacier Express is for free. You still need to reserve your seat, what you can do here: http://www.myswissalps.com/glacierexpress/tickets.
Ildiko
So…. here is all I plan to do and when…
Geneva (3 nights)
Geneva to Lauterbrunnen by train (Lauterbrunnen 4 nights lots of cable cars/gondolas and the Jungfraujoch train)
Lauterbrunnen to Zermatt (2 nights)
Zermatt to St. Moritz via the Glacier Express (2 nights in St. Moritz)
St. Moritz to Tirano via the Bernina Express
What pass do you think is the best for me to get? I was thinking the Swiss Half Fare Card. But you all are the experts so let me know what your suggestions are. I still cannot believe last time I was there I had no idea about the half fare cards.
Hi Sburbank35,
As you are visiting different regions in Switzerland, either the Swiss Travel Pass or the Swiss Half Fare Card would be good for your itinerary. To make sure, you should make calculations. Please feel free to use our calculation spreadsheet: http://www.myswissalps.com/train/ticketspasses/practical/chooserailpass. I have a guess, that the Swiss Travel Pass will be the best, but to make sure, please use the spreadseeht to compare the options.
You can check the validity maps of these passes here: http://www.myswissalps.com/swisstravelpass/validity and http://www.myswissalps.com/swisshalffarecard/validity.
Ildiko
In case you would like to learn more about the regions you are planning to visit:
- Jungfrau region: http://www.myswissalps.com/jungfrauregion
- Zermatt: http://www.myswissalps.com/zermatt
- Geneva: http://www.myswissalps.com/geneva
- and the panoramic trains: http://www.myswissalps.com/glacierexpress and http://www.myswissalps.com/berninaexpress
lidiko,
Thank you so much! This is the most helpful and friendly forum. I’ll check all those links.
Stephanie
I’m going through and finding prices for things and have a question. It looks like I can reserve a seat on the Bernina Express all the way into May of next year. If I were to buy my seat WAY in advance, how do I then go back at the 2 month window and just buy the train ticket? I’m on the RHB.CH site and if I look at a time table where both train and seat are available for pricing, I can’t see where I would JUST buy the train ticket if I already had my seat purchased. It seems to put both of them on my total. In looking at the FAQs it says to put in “reservation only” but that seems to still just refer to the seat. I’m a bit confused. Can someone tell me how I can just buy the train ticket after I have purchased my seat reservation?
Thanks again!
Hi Sburbank35,
you can buy tickets to the Bernina Express here: http://www.myswissalps.com/berninaexpress/tickets.
But if you have a rail pass, like the Swiss Travel Pass (http://www.myswissalps.com/swisstravelpass), you might travel for free anyway, so you do not need the ticket, just the seat reservation.
If you do not have any multi-day rail pass, have a look at the Saver Day Pass: http://www.myswissalps.com/saverdaypass/price. Usually, if you buy it earlier, it will be cheaper.
Take care,
Ildiko
If you book the reservation a long time in advance that will guarantee your seat. That means that you can purchase your travel ticket at any time right up to a few minutes before the train departs.
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