Reservations for Swiss regular/panoramic trains?
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First, I would like to thank ALL the moderators of MySwissAlps.com for ALL your helpful advice. My wife and I could not have planned our Switzerland trip without your helpful advice and also the advice of other contributors on the site (ie: 1960Man). Thank you all. After our trip was postponed in 2020, we are finally set for our trip of a lifetime and our first visit to Switzerland in September 2023. Our flights & hotel stays are all booked. We plan to purchase the 15-Day Swiss Travel Pass soon (2nd-class). Our brief itinerary is below…
*My final question is whether or not to make ‘Seat Reservations’ on the *Panoramic Trains* or just go with the flexibility of the available Regional Trains instead. I’m looking for the Pros & Cons of the listed *Panoramic Trains*. I’ve listed some of my pros & cons below. Feel free to expand on these.
After 6-days in Austria (Sept 6-11), we’ll arrive in Zurich in late morning (Sept 12 – via Innsbruck train).
1 Night in Zurich
~ Regional Train: Zurich to Luzern
2 Nights in Luzern
THOUGHTS on *Gotthard Panoramic Express* (Boat: Luzern to Fluelen / Train: Fluelen to Lugano)
* I’m thinking instead of taking the Treno Gottardo train so we can visit the castles in Bellinzona before heading to Lugano.
1 Night in Lugano
THOUGHTS on *Bernina Express* (Bus: Lugano to Tirano / Train: Tirano to St.Moritz) – can we book just the bus & take a regional train from Tirano to St. Moritz)?
1 Night in St. Moritz
THOUGHTS on *Glacier Express* (Train: St. Moritz to Zermatt)
2 Nights in Zermatt
~ Regional Train: Zermatt to Interlaken/ Lauterbrunnen/ Wengen
5 nights in Wengen
THOUGHTS on *Golden Pass Express* (Train: Wengen/ Lauterbrunnen/ Interlaken to Montreux)
2 Nights in Montreux
~ Regional Train to Lausanne/ Geneva
1 Night in Geneva
Morning: flight home
* PROs & CONs (on taking Panoramic trains vs Regional trains) – 2nd Class
PROs:
~ Views: Panoramic Windows (floor to ceiling)
~ Itinerary & Seat Reservations: knowing this is what we’re doing/ seats reserved.
~ Claim: “We rode on the (Glacier/ Bernina Exp) Panoramic Train.”
CONs:
~ Added cost for ‘seat reservations.’
~ Need to book in advance.
~ When booking seats, we don’t know which direction we’re facing.
~ Once booked, you can’t move from seat (regardless of view)
~ Flexibility – we can’t stay longer at some stops and skip others.
~ Panoramic windows, fixed glass, cannot open, picture glare.
~ The panoramic cars are touristy, they’re more crowded than regional trains.
~ Both the Regional & Panoramic trains run on the same tracks (same views)
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