Eurail Global Pass & Golden Pass reservations

  • Removed user
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    27 August 2017 at 16:58:45 #813092

    Hello all fellow travelers. I am Hana from Borneo, Malaysia. I will be traveling with my husband for a Europe trip and will be going to Switzerland via Montreux by train on the 25th September 2017. I am so glad that I found this website and I hope that some of you can help me out since this will be our first time in Europe and Switzerland.

    I have purchased the Eurail Global Pass and from my understanding, the train journey from Montreux to Lucerne should be FREE with a Global Pass (or am I wrong?) but reservation is needed. The plan is to take a train using the Golden Pass Line from Montreux to Interlaken (26/09) and then Interlaken to Lucerne (27/09).

    • I tried to make seat reservations through the Golden Pass Line website a few times but I cant seem to gain access to continue my booking. I was unable to select the ‘FROM’ and ‘TO’ options, let alone the dates and time.
    • I tried clicking on the ‘REACH DIRECTLY THE BOOKING WEBSITE’, it takes me to another similar page but here I was ABLE to select all the options. Unfortunately, the page is in German language and I was unable to have it translated to English.
    • So I got stuck on the ‘WARENKORB’ part of the booking. I am not sure if it is my laptop’s settings or the page itself is dealing with some maintenance probably?

    As for the itinerary of our short trip, we will only spend short times in Montreux and Lucerne. Any suggestions there? In Interlaken we plan to take the Lake Brienz cruise which also to my understanding is FREE with a Global Pass. May I ask, say that we took the Lake Brienz cruise, and we reached Brienz, do we need to take the cruise again to return to Interlaken or is there any other option (train?)?

    We are also planning to go to Jungfraujoch via Grindelwald in the morning of the 27th before heading to Lucerne in the evening. I am curious, at Jungfraujoch is it safe if we were to wear normal shoes and not winter boots? As we are trying to keep our luggage light we will only be carrying 1 pair of very good shoes (Skechers type) which is probably not suitable on snow.

    On a different note, other than sight seeing, both of us enjoy good food and I believe its important to try the local cuisines to really have a feel on what the country/place has to offer. Is there any particular dish known to be a Swiss national dish? Just to inform, we are Muslims so dishes that can be enjoyed by Muslims would be nice. I heard the cheeses are good in Switzerland, we will be getting some of that for sure.

    I really hope to hear from some of you soon, thank you for your time and warm regards from us in Malaysia.

    Hana J

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    Removed user
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    27 August 2017 at 17:27:57 #869030

    Hi Hana and welcome to MySwissAlps!

    Yes, the Golden Pass route from Montreux to Lucerne is covered by the Eurail Global Pass (as is Lake Brienz). You can read more about what is covered in Switzerland here (with a list and map).

    You don’t have to make reservations on the Golden Pass but it can be a good idea on the Montreux to Zweisimmen section (you change trains at least twice on this route). Try using our link for reservations here. The first page you see is an example. Click book now at the bottom of the page. It should come up in English but you can switch languages on the top right of the web page.

    For ideas of what to do in Montreux click here, and Lucerne click here.

    You can take a train from Brienz to Interlaken. Use the Swiss railways timetable to plan your trips.

    There is always snow on Jungfraujoch so it depends on how much walking/hiking you want to do at the top. If you still near the station and restaurant area and don’t go to far then regular shoes would be ok.
    It is possible to be below 0 degrees at the top so be prepared for the cold.

    Swiss food can vary by region, but it pretty much always involves cheese (or chocolate). Popular Swiss dishes are:

    • Cheese fondue – Melted cheese eaten with bread cubes and vegetables. The bread cubes are picked up on the fork and swivelled in the melted cheese
    • Raclette – Melted cheese served with “Gschwellti” (jacket potatoes), cocktail gherkins and onions as well as pickled fruit.
    • Älplermagronen – A kind of gratin with potatoes, macaroni, cheese, cream and onions. And most importantly, stewed apple on the side.
    • Rösti – A flat, hot cake made of grated, cooked jacket or raw potatoes and fried in hot butter or fat. The dish is bound by nothing apart from the starch contained in the potatoes.

    Cheers,
    Lucas

    Removed user
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    28 August 2017 at 6:39:33 #869031

    Thank you so very much for your swift reply Lucas! Ive managed to reserve my seats already on the Golden Pass. And thank you for your info on the local delicacies. Cant wait to try em. Have a good day ahead and thank you again so very much.

    Warm regards,

    Hana Jaafar

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