Mar 20, 2016 - 11:03 AM
in reply to frances
Welcome to MySwissAlps, Frances! Good to hear you're making progress with your planning.
1st class seats will be available in most, if not all, cases, even without seat reservations. You won't be traveling in high season so you'll be avoiding crowded trains. The difference between first and second class is explained here.
A scenic train trip that can easily be incorporated in your plans is the Golden Pass line between Montreux and Lucerne. Seat reservations aren't obligatory.
If you have follow-up questions that aren't closely related to this topic regarding the current 30% discount offer, would you please post them in a new topic? Thank you :-)!