MySwissAlps.com features ads, commercial and non-commercial Gotthard Panorama Express/short stay rail options
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Morning Leah,
I hope HR come through for you. They don’t seem to work weekends.
If you get reservations it doesn’t matter if you have a pass or a point to point ticket.
It may be a Saver Day Pass (http://www.myswissalps.com/on edaytravelpass/details) and bit.ly/2rkekat will be more cost effective for you but the price rises the closer to your travel date you get. Be sure to get 1st Class ones to match your reservations.
Okay, thank you! I guess I will hold tight and see what I hear from HR once Monday rolls around for them. I’m assuming they are based in Western Europe. So assuming this goes through (and I’m still doubtful :/) then is it true that I will still need either one of these two options:
1. A Saver Day Pass for 1st Class so the boat leg in 1st and the train leg in 1st matches, thus not needing tickets until I get there?
or
2. Point to point tickets for boat (with 1st class supplement) and train (1st class price) that I should buy ahead of time?
And, I assume I would buy a Saver Day Pass for each of us through SBB, but would I buy the tickets from SBB or HR? Thank you for all of your time. I hope you are doing something fun other than trying to solve my problems 🙁 Leah
Hi Leah,
1. Correct.
2. You can buy 1 ticket to cover the trip from Luzern to Chiasso (if you are continuing to Milan on same day). You can buy SDP or ticket on line or at station. Buying the through ticket on-line might be a challenge to ensure you get the boat and train legs right though.
What could be more fun than railway timetables? 😉
Oh, you are NOT kidding about those timetables! And you are funny. We are only going to Lugano and stopping there. So IF i get the go-ahead from HR, then I quickly buy a SDP 1st class type for each of us through SBB on line and then I’m good? Or is there more in that scenario. I’m gonna need a vacation after trying to book this boat/train dealie 😉 and so will you all after trying to help. Whew!
More homework. You should read “How to choose the best travel pass” (http://www.myswissalps.com/tr ain/ticketspasses/prac tical/chooserailpass), download the handy spreadsheet calculator and do the math.
If you are travelling with a 2nd Class Swiss Travel Pass but want to travel 1st Class on any particular trip you can buy a Class upgrade at any SBB station or using the SBB Mobile App or here bit.ly/2rZEIXh. You need to buy a route specific upgrade.
If you buy on line you need to nominate a Half-fare Card reduction to get the correct price. An upgrade will cost half the difference between 1st and 2nd class full-fares.
Hi Leah,
This link might encourage yo to get a Swiss Travel Pass and stay in Lugano with day trip to Como perhaps. Also http://www.myswissalps.com/ti cino/travel
Thank you, Rockoyster, for sharing this! Wonderfully written and right up our alley. We are, in fact, staying in Morcote 🙂 for 4 nights and doing a day trip to Como during that time to explore and pick up a car (so when we leave Morcote and head into Italy it will be an Italy – Italy rental and we will avoid a big surcharge). I really appreciate seeing your great photos, I’ve had a dream to see Morcote specifically for some time now and I just want to take it easy and relax there. It’s a bucket list thing 🙂 I didn’t think about how the Swiss Travel Pass might be used on the boats there, too…thank you! It seemed originally like that option would be too costly for our few train rides but now I have to rethink it! We will not have the Ticino Ticket 🙁 because we are renting an apartment in a home but that’s okay. Thanks again for sharing! Leah
❤️ Morcote – firmly on my bucket list for next time. More Swiss photos at flic.kr/s/aHskYag4FS
Passholder fares indicate that it is only a reservation and not the ticket as well (you are already holding a pass) I think it is just an old term and doesn’t mean you must have a rail pass rather than just a ticket for the 1 trip on the train. Either is fine.
You don’t have to have the ticket or rail pass before buying the reservation though. Just make sure you have a seat reservation and a ticket (or rail pass) before boarding the train. The order in which you buy them doesn’t matter (of course getting the reservation first is more important as they sell out).
Hope you enjoy the trip! I wouldn’t worry too much about getting the actual panoramic train if it is indeed sold out – it’ll be a good trip either way!
Swiss Travel Passe often work out in the end as you end up taking more trips than you think you will be it on buses, trains, funiculars, cable cars, boats etc etc. – they are just so easy and simple to use too.
Thank you both. In the end, now this morning I did indeed learn that HappyRails really did not have 1st Class seat reservations to sell and they are asking me if I would like a refund or to do the 2nd class seat reservation on the GPE train. I have read reviews that most people feel the extra cost for the seat reservations on this particular train with 2nd class experience isn’t ideal, so now after reading all of your comments I think perhaps just getting the Swiss Travel Pass and getting on a different train will be best. What I’d really like to do IS TAKE THE SAME BOAT (steamer) that is part of the GPE combo, the one that departs Lucerne at 11:12 am and arrives Fluelen 13:55 pm, at the 1st Class fare (I hope the boat leg is not sold out). Then I can try to book the 14:16 train (via Goschenen with the train change in Erstfeld) from Fluelen to Lugano in comfy 1st Class (I’ve never been in 1st Class, so a treat, and if for some reason there is a cancellation on the 14:10 panoramic train in 1st, maybe we can leave 6 min earlier, if not we are still good). So here is my question: If we get two Swiss Travel Passes in advance, and spring for the 1st class to keep it SIMPLE without having to figure out any up-charges, since the boat and regular train at 14:16 don’t need seat reservations (or does the boat?) then do I even need to purchase any tickets for the boat or train? I am not very comfortable with nothing set in stone in advance, especially with the GPE having sold out on my date of October 13. I think I’d like to have the Passes AND know that we are on THAT 11;12 steamer and the 14:16 train. Thanks for repeating some things you have most certainly told me already 🙁 perhaps you could provide me with a very simple step by step list of how to do each part of the process now that I FINALLY know what I want to do! Thank you so very much! Leah
Hi Leah,
If you buy a 1st class Swiss Travel Pass there is nothing else that you need for your plan. It’s only the Gotthard Panorama Express train that requires reservations. The boat can’t be reserved nor can it sell out. You can just hop on the boat and any other train with your pass.
If you buy a 2nd class Swiss Travel Pass but still want to travel in first class on that trip, you can buy an upgrade ticket at any staffed Swiss station at any time. These upgrades do not sell out.
Please see here for the pass purchase options: http://www.myswissalps.com/sw isstravelpass/price
Okay, thank you Arno. It seems strange that a boat at a particular time cannot sell out, but everyone says so in the forum and you have all been so knowledgeable and helpful to me. So if I bought the second class STP I could buy my upgrades the day before (we will fly in and take the train from Zurich to Lucerne on 12th) for the Lucern steamer boat and train to Lugano on the 13th, correct? The 2nd class one might save us some $ as we probably need to buy the 4day pass now that I know I will use it on local travel options in Lugano area too! Thanks so much!
Hi Leah,
Yes, all of that will work fine for you.
Lugano is wonderful too! You’ll have to come back to see everything I guess 😉
Enjoy your trip!
Wonderful, thank you! I have been trying to get my husband over there for a taste of Switzerland, after he sees it I believe it will be very easy to go back 🙂 thank you all immensely for the advice, I feel comfortable with all that I have learned – thanks to you all and this great forum! Kindly, Leah
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