Seat reservations on Swiss scenic trains
Jennifer is planning a trip from April 28 to May 8, looking to reserve spots on scenic trains and boats like the Glacier Express and Bernina Express. She wants to know how far in advance she should make these reservations. Helpful responses suggest that reservations can be made up to 90 days prior and that many regular trains are available without the need for reservations, providing more flexibility for her travels.
- You can reserve scenic train seats up to 90 days in advance for the Glacier Express and Bernina Express.
- Most train journeys in Switzerland are scenic and can be done without reservations, so don't stress about booking.
- Consider getting a Swiss Travel Pass, which allows travel on regular trains along scenic routes without extra charges.
AI-generated summary-
Hi, I will be traveling from April 28, 2020 to May 8, 2020. How far in advance should I buy reservations for the scenic trains, boats, buses (Glacier Express, Bernina Express and Gotthard panoramic)? Thank you, Jennifer
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Hi Justjen1,
You can make your seat reservations on the scenic trains up to 90 days in advance. A few resellers may even allow you to make bookings earlier. Have a look at these links for details:
- Glacier Express: http://www.myswissalps.com/glacierexpress/tickets
- Bernina Express: http://www.myswissalps.com/berninaexpress/tickets
- Gotthard Panorama Express: http://www.myswissalps.com/gotthardpanoramaexpress/tickets
Hope that helps. Happy holidays.
Anna
Please bear in mind that all the three trains you mention run on routes that are traversed by plenty of ordinary regular trains without the need for reservations or extra fare supplements. This can help if you are travelling on a ‘budget’.
Try not to focus too hard on the so called ‘scenic’ aka ‘panoramic’ trains. Nearly all railways in Switzerland are scenic in some way – if you don’t see high mountains you will see other icons of Switzerland such as lakes, rolling pastures, farmsteads, cows etc. – so you will rarely be disappointed with any Swiss train trip
If you get a Swiss Travel Pass, you can travel on any and all of the railway lines of the main Swiss national network, this includes any train on the so called ‘Glacier Express route‘ (which in fact is just a normal railway with lots of normal trains services throughout the day.
In particular the Gotthard Panorama Express (see below) is not worth the bother in my opinion.
Parts of the Glacier Express are also mundane, and if you choose your itinerary carefully you can ride the spectacular bits of the so called Glacier Express route on ordinary trains as day trips without luggage and be able to get off and enjoy the mountain air, rather than just see the views from inside a sealed train.
Gotthard Panorama Express – a personal view
This is ‘take it or leave it’ advice:
Personally I am sceptical of the attraction of the Gotthard Panorama Express. It is an attempt to keep some tourism going on the Gotthard ‘mountain route’ since the rest of the fast trains now go through the base tunnel. However, you see mainly valleys not high mountains. Also it is reservation obligatory and first class only.
Also, the train gets rather lonely – part of the ‘romance’ of the Gotthard route previously was that your train competed for space on the line with huge long international long-distance trains carrying 000s of passengers a day between northern and southern Europe, and those passenger trains interacted and weaved in between dozens of heavy freight trains lumbering back and forth across the Alps.
The curiosity was seeing another train high above you one minute then a few minutes later passing by your train on the same level, then perhaps seeing it again below you a few minutes after that. It is this that no longer happens as there are so few trains left on the line.
Thanks for the advice, I’ll keep it in mind when some of those fees start adding up!
Hi Justjen1,
you can read more about the difference between the panoramic trains and the local trains at http://www.myswissalps.com/glacierexpress and http://www.myswissalps.com/gotthardpanoramaexpress, look for the part that is called like “Regular trains and boats versus the official Gotthard Panorama Express”, it is right above the map.
Just to add with reference to your phrase:
Assuming you are in possession of a valid Travel pass, the following applies
just about every train journey in Switzerland is scenic in some way, and 98% of trips can be done reservation free. I’ve been travelling on Swiss railways for 59 years (very often during peak tourist seasons too) and have never once booked a train in advance or paid a supplementary fare.
‘Scenic buses‘:
A small number of ‘specialist’ post bus routes require advance reservation – but this really only applies to the ‘special’ high mountain routes (in particular the Furka, Grimsel pass areas) and very many scenic roads can be covered by regular local post bus services for no extra cost
Swiss lake boats are generally reservation-free and are not/cannot be ‘reserved’ in advance. You generally turn up at the quayside and queue. So the earlier you can arrive at the landing stage the better, but I have never seen anyone turned away from a lake boat even on popular routes – the boats are quite high capacity.
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