[Anonymous]

2 June 2019 at 12:57:02 #821976

Hello,

Next March, my wife & myself will be visiting Switzerland for her birthday.

We will be purchasing 2nd class travel passes.

However, we want to upgrade to 1st class and reserve seats for the Glacier express.

we cannot purchase our passes until January, when the prices will be available.

How do we upgrade to 1st class and reserve seats for this journey?

will we be able to upgrade online before our holiday or do we have to purchase upgrade at the station?

Thanks for your advice

Richard

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[User]

Reply 1 of 18 • 2 June 2019 at 15:11:12 #913940

Hello Aprilhusband,

Nice to hear you’re coming along to Switzerland.

Reservations for the Glacier Express as well as upgrades 2nd to 1st class can also be made 3 months in advance to travel. See below link for details and also purchase options, once the time arises.
– http://www.myswissalps.com/gl acierexpress/tickets, check the “more information” ab the bottom, too

Hope this answers your question.

Best,
Steph

[User]

Reply 2 of 18 • 2 June 2019 at 20:14:58 #913941

Hello Steph,

Thanks for the information.

It looks like we can book our seats in advance next January.

This will be our 3rd visit to Switzerland. We are looking forward to celebrating my wife’s birthday on the Glacier Express

Regards

Richard

[rockoyster]

Reply 3 of 18 • 2 June 2019 at 21:12:45 #913942

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.

[User]

Reply 4 of 18 • 2 June 2019 at 21:40:32 #913943

Hello Rockoyster

Thanks for your information.

All very helpful.

Regards

Richard

[User]

Reply 5 of 18 • 3 June 2019 at 5:55:49 #913944

Did the Glacier Express yesterday on 1st class Eurail Global passes. Regret it! Would NEVER recommend. Take the regular trains instead.

• You must make a reservation, which is a significant extra cost, even if the entire 1st class car is empty (we were the only ones in the entire car). You cannot hop on & off without making a new expensive reservation. If you get on without a reservation, they make you pay it anyway. You can’t change a reservation once made.
• If it’s cloudy, you don’t see much,and you’re stuck. If it’s sunny, then the cars get exceedingly hot and you see a lot of reflections from the interior of the train in your windows. There’s very little to see out of those angled windows, they serve no real function except to let sunlight in and detract from the experience. Also, they are a perch for bird who leave droppings all over the windows. Very poor design in my opinion.
• A bottle of water is 6 CHF!!!
• The audio program is awful. You are given very low quality earpieces with short cords that require you to stay seated. We had to change seats 3 times before finding channel/volume controls that worked. Short little commentaries that only come on periodically, are played once and cannot be replayed if you miss one. On the 8 hour trip, I estimate there is no more than 20 min of commentary, so you either stay tethered and seated, or skip them.
• There are no glaciers to see, except a fleeting glimpse of one. The name Glacier express probably comes from the speed of the train at many points – frequent stops (at not-very-interesting points) to let oncoming trains pass, or to change engines. Long stops at places like Chur, but not long enough to get out and do anything. Lots of tunnels (and those all look alike).
• Abysmal-quality maps provided, very difficult to determine where you are or what you are looking at because they are simplified to the point of being useless. You are given a 60-page booklet which at first feels like a lot of information, but then you realize it’s in 6 languages, so there are only 10 pages, and the actual information content is minimal.
• Other than the audio system, seats are no different than regular trains.

All-in-all, I would never recommend this excursion. Instead, just take regular trains along the exact same route. You will always know where you are, they cost nothing beyond a rail pass, you don’t have those angled windows which is much better because the interior of the train is darker so you have far fewer reflections, you retain flexibility if the day is cloudy, and you can get on & off for a meal or to break up the trip.

We actually did a portion of the Gotthard Panorama Express and had a much better experience. The windows are curved, which helps A LOT. Much better maps and information provided. We only did a short segment, and that was much more enjoyable. Because it was only a short segment, the conductor didn’t charge us the reservation fee (although he was supposed to).

[rockoyster]

Reply 6 of 18 • 3 June 2019 at 6:59:41 #913945

Hello PnBA,

Pity you hadn’t seen any of 1960man’s frequent disclaimers about the Glacier Express beforehand. Actual glaciers stopped being a feature when they built the tunnel under the Furka Pass.

[User]

Reply 7 of 18 • 3 June 2019 at 15:42:49 #913946

Oh but I did see those, and was just adding perspective on what I regard to be the terrible design of the coaches, the audio system, and the on-board information provided. We just happened to land in Andermatt when the next train going east was a GEX, so we thought we’d try it. A mistake – we should have waited 30 min for the next IR train. Took advice from you – IIRC – and hiked from Preda to Bergun today. Great!

[Arno]

Reply 8 of 18 • 3 June 2019 at 18:29:30 #913947

Well, you’re clearly not a fan PnBA 😉 I think the name Glacier Express once was perfectly fine. It used to take a higher route across the Furka Pass, and it used the run when climate change was not an issue yet. Nowadays one has to get off the train to see what’s left of the glaciers. This, and more about the route can be found here: http://www.myswissalps.com/gl acierexpress/gettingth ere.

Sometimes regular trains are indeed the best option, in other cases the Express is the way to go. Both serve a purpose I think.

[Arctic_Wolf]

Reply 9 of 18 • 4 June 2019 at 9:12:42 #913948

Hi PnBA

Just a question. Have you travelled 2nd class before? If not, then how can you compare. I see there was no mention of seat comfort and width.

I don’t get it. If we had a whole carriage to ourselves for 8 hrs we would be tickled pink. Dancing, partying and some window viewing 🙂

[rockoyster]

Reply 10 of 18 • 4 June 2019 at 10:34:36 #913949

They didn’t do the whole 8 hour total Glacier Express, Zermatt to St Moritz experience. They just hopped on at Andermatt heading to Chur. Everyone has a take on the GEX but it will quite rightly remain a major tourist attraction.

[User]

Reply 11 of 18 • 4 June 2019 at 11:39:40 #913950

Wolf – we got no class! How can we compare to what? My comparison is the same class on IR trains, which are in some ways nicer (less window glare & reflections), and there is no surcharge for a short hop.

Rocko is right – we only traveled a short distance on the GEX, and got on it rather inadvertently. I never said we didn’t dance & party with our quite adequate supply of bread, chocolate, cheese, and wine. But we resented the whole idea of paying a 33 CHF pp surcharge for what we regarded as inferior window design, and paltry en route information, for such a short trip. What a miserable 8 hours it would be on a crowded car, in the clouds and rain! (the cost of a reservation on the whole trip is more, I think, perhaps 45 CHF).

Just took a “historic trip” in an open carriage from Filisur to Davos. Amazing performance out of a 1925 engine, wonderful experience in an open (no windows or roof) carriage, and great scenery.

[Arctic_Wolf]

Reply 12 of 18 • 4 June 2019 at 12:25:10 #913951

PnBA,

We are taking GEX 1st class from Zermatt which is the same price as from Andermatt. The price varies according to peak times. So I think that an 8 hr trip in the comfort of an empty 1st class carriage would be well worth the CHF43.

When we return I will give my opinion if the Panoramic train prices are justifiable.

p.s We will be taking our own water to save CHF6.

[User]

Reply 13 of 18 • 4 June 2019 at 18:02:57 #913952

Note that there is a cost for the fare (that was covered by our Eurail pass) and a cost for the reservation. My complaint is that we got onto an empty train and still had to pay for a reservation.

Guete reise, Wolf!

[rockoyster]

Reply 14 of 18 • 4 June 2019 at 20:45:26 #913953

My GEX experience at bit.ly/2GEdluh for what it’s worth.

[rockoyster]

Reply 15 of 18 • 5 June 2019 at 22:17:40 #913954

Talking about the Furka Pass – http://www.myswissalps.com/fo rum/topic/new-season-for-switzerlands-old-furka-steam-train.

[Arctic_Wolf]

Reply 16 of 18 • 6 June 2019 at 0:56:16 #913955

Great article rockoyster and thanks Peterli,

So what happens nowadays if there’s an avalanche overnight which blocks any tunnel of the GEX route?

And do the avalanche detectors work by picking up rumbles before the human ear does?

Also interesting to note that RhB have volunteers to do the dirty work yet charge exorbitant prices lol.

[Arno]

Reply 17 of 18 • 6 June 2019 at 5:42:41 #913956

The experts are always checking for potential avalanches, see the avalanche link at http://www.myswissalps.com/ab outswitzerland/practic al/websites. Should one block a road or railroad, then alternative transport or a detour will be offered until it’s cleared.

[User]

Reply 18 of 18 • 7 June 2019 at 21:56:23 #913957

Aprilhusband: I just posted the following, which may be helpful.

http://www.myswissalps.com/fo rum/topic/glacier-express-reservations-fyi