Murren to Montreux 1st class, reserve seat ?

Wife and I from U.S. are taking our first trip to Switzerland from May 29 to June 8 . Two nights Luzern , two nights Murren , two nights Montreux , one night Zermatt , two nights St. Moritz , one night Zermatt, one Zurich .

We have bought first class 15 day consecutive Swiss rail travel passes. And have reserved seats for the Golden Pass for Luzern to Interlochen . And Glacier Express Zermatt to St. Moritz.

We had lodged a reservation for June 2nd Golden Pass Zweissimem to Montreux but are now told construction will preclude Golden Pass to Montreux till later in the month. If no Golden Pass reservation need , it strikes me as wise to just rely upon first class seating availability , give ourselves flexibility re timing , and skip any further seat reservation ?

Next , when returning from St. Moritz to Zurich June 7th , we will have already been from Chur to St . Moritz on Glacier Express on way to St. Moritz . It seems that again flexibility may be best and just skip duplicating same Glacier Express experience .

I have the ( official ? ) SBB train app , it seems terrific .

Thoughts re items above or our itinerary in general are general greatly appreciated . I’ve already ruled out spotting the Donald or Kim at the breakfast buffets .

Tom

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Hi Tom and welcome to MySwissAlps!

Yes, you can't reserve seats between Montreux and Zweisimmen (the panoramic trains) due to construction. But at that time I wouldn't be concerned about it - especially in first class which is less crowded.

Yes, rather than through Chur you could go via Zernez and pop into Davosif you have time (Donald was there not too long ago).

Are the towns you list above in the order of travel? Why a 2nd stop in Zermatt before Zurich?

Lucas ,

Thanks for such a careful reading of my post ! The reference to extra , second stop in Zermatt was typo . They are otherwise in order.

I assume you confirm that if using Swiss Travel Pass 1st class , no need to reserve seat on regular trains ? For example , Interlochen to Murren May 31st lor later in trip June 2nd Interlochen to Montreux or June 7th St. Moritz to Zurich ?

Thanks again , cool site ,

Tom

Hi Tom,

>> I assume you confirm that if using Swiss Travel Pass 1st class , no need to reserve seat on regular trains ? For example , Interlochen to Murren May 31st

Reservations are not possible beyond Interlaken (note spelling), and the trip Interlaken to Mürren is not all by train. You get a train from Interlaken Ost to Lauterbrunnen. From Lauterbrunnen you have two choices to get to Mürren:

• Cable car Lauterbrunnen to Grütschalp, then train Grütschalp to Mürren

• Bus Lauterbrunnen to Stechelberg, then cable car Stechelberg-Gimmelwald-Mürren

In Mürren, the cable car station and railway station are at opposite ends of the village, so you might prefer one route over the other, depending on where your accommodation is.

>> June 2nd Interlochen to Montreux

The Golden Pass route Interlaken to Montreux consists of two sectors: Interlaken Ost to Zweisimmen, and Zweisimmen to Montreux.

Reservations are possible (but not really needed) between Interlaken Ost and Zweisimmen.

Reservations are usually recommended on the Zweisimmen-Montreux sector of the Golden Pass line, as that is the sector on which the trains have panoramic windows, and it is very popular. However, construction work on part of that line means that there is a 10km/15-minute bus replacement sector between Château-d’Oex and Montbovon until early June, so reservations have been suspended until 4 June 2018.

>> June 7th St. Moritz to Zurich ?

If you take Lucas' recommendation and travel via Zernez (which I would also recommend), you can usually reserve the sector between Landquart and Zürich, but indications in the timetable are that occupancy on this sector tends to be low to medium, especially in first class.

If you are interested, you can read a description of this trip (with photos) in my post of Feb 28, 2017 - 4:36 AM on the following page:

www.myswissalps.com/fo rum/topic/chur-to-st-moritz-via-davos

Alpenrose

Hi Tom,

I thought that extra Zermatt was strange!

The only trains to think about reserving in Switzerland are the Panoramic trains (except that portion of the Golden Pass currently) which are mandatory.

Happy travels

Thanks very much for the clarification. We will definitely take that alternative Zernez route and loved your photos .

Our only time in Zürich will be when we arrive on the 7th before leaving on the 8th. So it strikes me we may need to decide whether it is worth it to hop off the train in Davos at the expense of Zürich time... We will be staying near the train station in Zürich so perhaps it is more feasible than I think .

Tom

Lucas ,

Thanks again re Zernez tack and other info .

Will mention this here just in case it means more to others than myself. I paid Happy Rail 1522 CHF for two swiss travel pass 15 consecutive days. Their email reflects that amount . They then sent me via email two 485 CHF STP , seemingly second class, for 15 days.

I did bring this to their attention- it has not been that long yet .

Tom

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Hi Tom,

That is no good. But they should sort that out for you quite quickly - they normally have great customer service.

They did , thanks , did not want to go all nervous Nellie on the matter but happy with Happy Rail now...