Which seat to reserve on Gotthard Panorama Express
A traveler is planning a North to South train journey in Switzerland and wants to ensure their seat choices are facing forward and adjacent to their wife. They are looking for advice on seat selection and available options for reservations.
- Choose your seats carefully; preferences may not guarantee specific seating arrangements.
- If you have a Swiss Travel Pass, consider mentioning it when booking seat reservations to secure better pricing.
- Using the RhB website allows you to select your seats but may not show all pass options, so double-check the fare for your specific pass.
AI-generated summary-
Hi-
On the SBB site it shows a train layout with seat selections that appear to have a single on one side-a window, and 2 seats on the other, window and aisle.
i am traveling North to South and would like to make sure that the seats i choose are 1. facing forward and 2. that If i want to sit next to my wife am i sitting on the side with 2 seats?
Please advise thank you…
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The layout you describe is typical of all 1st Class carriages.
As far as I’m aware you can only nominate preferences for seats, you can’t actually pick them off a seating plan as you can with the Glacier or Bernina Express trains.
If you prefer to sit side-by-side I think the way you are facing is going to be a bit pot luck.
Do you have a link for where you saw the seat plan?
Personally, for two people, I prefer face to face single seats in first class coaches. Each person sees a slightly different perspective if one of you is facing forward and one backward, plus if you sit side by side in the 2 abreast seating as a couple you will both be facing people you don’t know in the other seats
excellent point, thanks
Well I’ll be blessed. Never seen that one before. That is the RHB site not SBB. On a day I looked at it said 9 seats vacant but let me pick just about any seat in the coach! Go figure.
They don’t indicate direction of travel but for what it’s worth the single fa ing seat where on the right heading north. Whether the trains simply reverse direction at each end I can’t say for sure but it seems probable.
If you follow 1960man’s sound advice it matters not.
Trivia:
RHB = Rorschach Heiden Bergbahn
RhB = Rhätische Bahn
🙂
It’s hard to say if the coaches stay the same way round all the time as I don’t know where they stable the stock overnight. It is also possible that some of the coaches will have the single seats on one side and some on the other depending on how they have been coupled up.
In the meantime, this Czech web site that specialises in train formations has some pictures:
and i thought it was a simple one…..
OK 1960man riddle me this: Why is RhB running a set reservation service on the Gotthard Panorama Express – train service they have nothing to do with?
Nothing is ever simple with the Gotthard Panorama Express which is possibly why 1960man offers this advice.
The official MySwissAlps line is make your bookings using one of these sources.
Hi Rockoyster,
Did a dummy run to book seat reservation only, but there’s no drop down for Eurail Global Pass which covers the journey free and nothing for seat reservation only.
Would cost CHF194 for seat reservation for 2!!!!!!!
ps that’s from Lugano to Fluelen.
Just fib and say you have a Swiss Travel Pass or your own ticket. The goal is to get the right price for just the supplement (aka reservation). As long as you have a reservation and any pass that covers your travel once you board the train all will be well.
Hi again,
Where do I fib to say I have tickets and want just seat reservation only?
Hi Arctif Wolf! Where did you get to see this total amount of CHF 194 for seat reservations only? I just checked the fares on Happyrail (https://www.happyrail. com/en/pass/europe/swi tzerland/passholder-fares-gotthard-panorama-express) and this is what I got:
- CHF 23 per person for seat reservations Lugano-Flüelen only, which is the right fare if you have a 1st class Eurail Global Pass;
- CHF 52 per person for seat reservations Lugano-Flüelen plus an upgrade ticket for 1st class, which is required if you travel with a 2nd class Eurail Global Pass. It’s explained at myswissalps.com/gottha rdpanoramaexpress/tick ets.
You don’t have to indicate which pass you have when ordering here. It assumes you already have a valid ticket or pass, and you have indeed.
The RhB website asks for reduction options indeed and doesn’t show the option of a Eurail Global Pass. Instead you’d choose the “GA Travelcard”, which for the section Lugano-Flüelen offers free traveling, just as with the Eurail Global Pass. However, it doesn’t ask whether you’ll be holding a 2nd or 1nd class travelcard, so I can’t tell whether the system assumes you’ll be having a 2nd class pass and then automatically includes the upgrade to 1st class in the fare that’s offered. Also, the information on passes and discount options seems a bit outdated, as it mentions the Swiss Transfer Ticket which no longer exists as of January 2019.
Hi Annika, I used the link that poncedelon gave above. I wasn’t aware that you can nominate the GA Travelcard as your ticket,so thanks for pointing that out for me. Also on the RhB website you can choose your seats which I don’t think you can on other sites, hence my question of why there was no option for Eurail G P.
We have a 1st class ticket so we will be good to go. Thanks again.
Sorry Arctic. I had not seen or used that RhB site before so just assumed it would look like the Bernina Express site which offers more fibbing options. 😉
GA fib works also.
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