MySwissAlps.com features ads, commercial and non-commercial Glacier or Bernina Express in 2nd week of Sept?
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Hello,
We just booked STP with 25% discount with HappyRail ad thank you so much for suggestion from this site. We now start booking our favorite train rides. Golden Pass between Lucerne and Montreux is already on our itinerary. And we don’t know if we should take either Glacier Express or Bernina Express train. Would you please share suggestions between the two? Our trip will be the second week of this September.
And does STP cover both Glacier Express and Bernina Express train? And I assume we need to pay extra for seat reservations?
Is there only 1 train on Glacier Express and Bernina Express train per day?
Please share your experience on these trains.
Thank you,
Thy
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Hi Thy,
Good to hear you got your discounted Swiss Travel Pass and that you’re now planning scenic train rides.
Both train rides are wonderful in their own way. Whether the Glacier Express or the Bernina Express is best, first of all depends on your overall travel plans and your base towns. The routes are in different parts of the country. Without knowing your itinerary, it’s hard to advise. I suggest you first study the information about routes and scenery at these pages:
There are several trains per day. You’ll find links to timetables from the “Route” tabs.
Both rides are covered by the Swiss Travel Pass indeed (https://www.myswissalps.com/swisstravelpass/validity) and all you need are additional seat reservations:
- https://www.myswissalps.com/glacierexpress/tickets
- https://www.myswissalps.com/berninaexpress/tickets
I hope this gets you started!
Hi Annika,
I have read more from this site after I posted my questions and also thank you so much for the links you shared on your last post.
Our main stay is in Lucerne and Interlaken. We are debating which legs we should take. 1) Zermat to Chur, 2) Brig to Chur. The reason we choose to end in Chur is it’s convenient for us to go to Zurich and fly home from ZRH. If we choose option 2 from Brig – Chur, will we miss out best legs? Is the leg from Brig – Chur less pretty one?
And should we sit on the right side of the train if we start from Brig?
Thank you.
Thy
Hi Thy,
Right, from Interlaken you can indeed do a leg of the Glacier Express and end up in Chur. All you’ll miss if you travel from Brig to Chur (as compared to option 1) is the leg through the Matter valley. This is definitely beautiful, but if it doesn’t fit your planning, you can best skip it. You’ll see wonderful scenery between Brig and Chur as well, with great highlights such as the Oberalp pass and the Rhine gorge. You’ll see the sections described at http://www.myswissalps.com/glacierexpress/gettingthere.
If you get in at Brig, you can best sit on the right side for the first leg, and on the left side for the leg in the Rhine gorge. But note that you can’t choose a side of train while reservering seats. Even if a booking system allows you to choose a particular seat, this doesn’t guarantee anything about the direction in which the carriage travels. If you’re lucky and your carriage is pretty empty, it’s no problem to switch sides every once in a while, as long as you don’t bother other passengers and don’t occupy reserved seats.
Annika,
My favorite part of the train ride is to go thru high long bridges and mountains. Does it mean I should start from Zermatt? If so I will modify my travel plan to spend 1 night in Zermatt. Is it worth the effort?
Thank you for the advices in your previous post
Thy
Hi Thy,
The section from Zermatt to Brig is comprised mainly of marrow stretches, with views of massive rock faces as the train descends from an altitude of more than 1500m to the 600m above sea level. As Annika has mentioned, the route is explained here: http://www.myswissalps.com/glacierexpress/gettingthere (read Section 1).
Personally my favourite section of the Glacier Express is between Andermatt and Chur. In this section, you’ll be crossing the Oberalp Pass and the Swiss version of Grand Canyon. If you continue towards St Moritz you’ll be crossing the iconic Landwasser Viaduct near Filisur.
Having said that, Zermatt is a lovely village and the view of the Matterhorn is definitely worth a detour if you have the time.
Hope this information was useful.
Regards,
Anna
Do the Glacier Express and regular train have the same routes between Brig – Zermatt and between Chur – St. Moritz?
And is there bus route between St. Moritz – Zurich? If we take Glacier Express to between Chur – St. Moritz, we want to check out if there is a different scenic route to get from St. Moritz – Chur – Zurich.
Thank you.
Hi Thy,
Yes, the Glacier Express and regular trains travel on the same route so essentially you’ll get the same views. However, regular trains do not offer panoramic windows and don’t have the same level of comfort as the Glacier Express. In addition, you would need to switch trains multiples times if you take a regular train. Glacier Express in the only direct train from Zermatt to St. Moritz/ Chur. The differences between taking a panoramic train and a regular train are explained in detail here: http://www.myswissalps.com/glacierexpress (please scroll down to read)
I am not aware of any direct bus services between St Moritz and Zurich. I think the most convenient way to travel is still the train and you can check various train connections between Zurich and St. Moritz using the SBB timetable: http://www.myswissalps.com/timetable
Regards,
Anna
If you don’t want to repeat the same route between St. Moritz and Chur, you can go via Klosters. This is by train, not bus. This route goes through the lower Engadine Valley and the countryside. Will take slightly longer, and perhaps require an additional change of trains unless you take a RegioExpress train.
Thank you so much for all suggestions!
Hi Heart Voyage,
If you’re going to go Zurich from St Moritz, I wouldn’t think you’d want to take the bus. That’s a fairly long ride made even longer by all the stops and probable switches, and clearly not as comfortable as the trains. If you really want to see the bridges and such, maybe consider spending the night in Zermatt to see the Matterhorn, as that would certainly be well worth it. Then the beginning of the Glacier Express is right there. You can take the whole route from beginning to end and see it all. That will put you into St Moritz. But, it is an 8 hour ride, so keep that in mind as that’s almost the whole day. Then you can either backtrack through Chur, or go as Lungworm suggested, through Klosters to get back to Zurich. Zurich is a big enough hub (with a huge station) that it can be reached from anywhere in the country with a switch or two. Part of the Route from Chur to St Moritz runs along some of the same as the Bernina Express, so you can see some of that same scenery up til a certain point. While the Glacier Express does run along the same lines as the public trains, that allows you to get on/off as you may want since you do have the Swiss Travel Pass. But being on the train for that long will be worth it to pay for the reservation. All parts of the Glacier are beautiful. The mountains, the villages, the rivers, the bridges, you really can’t go wrong. Just some things to consider. Have fun, you’ll enjoy whichever you end up doing.
Danielsan
Thank you so much
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