Seat reservation

Hi I am planning a trip with family in Saptember. I just saw the discounts on 1st class rail pass tickets. Is it valid on 2nd class too ? Also is seat reservation mandatory on Glacier/Bernina/Golden Pass Line and others if we are travelling first class ?

Hi kanikasat,

Welcome to MySwissAlps! I don't know about a discount on 1st class tickets. There is a discount on 1st class Swiss Travel Passes though, but for customers from the US, Canada and Central America only. Please see here for specifics and how to buy from other countries.

Please see our scenic train pages for information about seat reservations and everything else you need to know about them. Whether you need to book seats is not related to the class of travel. The page myswissalps.com/ train/reservations is interesting as well.

HiI am planning a vacation to switzerland from 19th to 26th september and plan to buy the 1st class pass with the current promotions. But i see most of the scenic trains require additional reservations which will add to my cost - i am wondering if it makes sense to purchase the travel pass indeed or just book the train separately instead.

trains i will be taking lugano - lucerne - montreux- zermatt - St. Moritz - Tirano. What is the additional charge for seat reservation on panoramic trains and kindly suggest what i should do.

i am travelling from india. i saw in the other forums that discounts are valid.

Hi kanikasat,

These are the options in India:

• Buy the pass through your local Indian website www.raileurope.co.in/ pass/swiss-pass and use the promo codes from www.raileurope.co.in/ deals/great-deals-to-tour-Europe for a discount.
• Buy it through the US website www.raileurope.com/rai l-tickets-passes/swiss-pass/index.html. You need to select the e-pass (to print yourself).

Only the Glacier Express and the Bernina Express require seat reservations. These always need to be paid for separately, regardless whether you have a pass or point to point ticket. The costs for the Glacier Express is CHF 33 per person, the Bernina Express is less than that. You can also travel by regular trains and pay nothing extra. See our scenic train pages for details please.

Which pass works out best price wise can be calculated as explained here.

can we get take the bernina express bus from tirano and get off on the way to carry on to bellagio on lake como ?

Hi kanikasat,

That bus does not have stops along the way, so I would not count on it. It takes 30 to 45 minutes by train from Lugano to Como. From Como there are busses to Bellagio I think.

Hello, Arno,

We are trying to purchase three 3-day Swiss Travel Passes for our group online and are looking to make reservations for our trip from Zurich to Milano. We understand the trip from Chiasso to Milano will need to be paid for additionally. As we tried to purchase the tickets, it said that 6 Euros will be charged for us to reserve our seats. Would that perhaps be the same rate for the reservations if we were to reserve the seats at the SBB counters? Our trip using the pass will be from 09-11 August 2015.

Thank you very much for your kind advice!

Tortoise

Hello, Arno,

We went through the shopping cart process with the Swiss Travel Passes as well as with booking seat reservations. However, the "Book a Seat Reservations" leads to "Find Tickets" and we are being charged 57 Euros. Would this be the fare for the Chiasso to Milano leg or simply for the seat reservations?

Thank you and looking forward to hearing from you!

Best regards,

Tortoise

Hello, Arno,

Need we book seat reservations for the scenic train trips and the panoramic train trips which are mentioned in various Websites?

Thank you very much!

Tortoise

Hi Tortoise,

I'm not sure where you are trying to book the tickets to Milan, but here's how it works:

• To book the tickets, go to www.raileurope.com.sg# tab3 and fill out Zurich to Milan, the date and number of travelers. Select the Swiss Travel Pass. That will result in the reduced price for pass holders, so you just pay for Chiasso to Milan and the seat reservations. The prices I saw were around $SG 27/€ 25 per person, but can vary by the travel date.
• Go to www.raileurope.com.sg/ pass/swiss-pass to purchase your Swiss Travel Passes.
• Go to www.raileurope.com.sg/ special-offers/great-deals-to-tour-Europe for the coupon codes to get a discount on all of this.

The links above are your closest retailer (in Singapore, as there is no branch in the Philippines).

Seat reservations are only required for the Glacier Express and Bernina Express. Details can be found on our scenic train pages.

Please open a new thread if you have further questions. Thanks!

Hello, Arno,

Thank you for your reply. We booked our tickets selecting Swiss Travel Pass and also had the opportunity to input the €25 discount, which served to balance out the €25 charge for the delivery of the tickets.

However, we are not even sure what the actual breakdown of the amount charged is. We are supposed to receive 3 pcs. each of the Swiss Travel Passes and the Zurich-to-Milan tickets, plus supposedly some information materials and coupons.

Hoping it will all work out okay.

Best regards,

Tortoise

Hi Tortoise,

I'm glad to help! Should you have any doubts after receiving your tickets and passes, feel free to attach a scan of them here so we can look into it. Of course you can also ask Rail Europe.

Enjoy your trip!

Hello, Arno,

Thank you for the offer to help. We definitely appreciate it and will take you up on it should the need arise. : )

It said 2-3 business days so let's hope they arrive by next Wednesday and it all goes smoothly.

Best regards,

Tortoise