I thought we could board the Glacier Express in Chur to go to Zermatt on the Swiss Pass. But when I try to make a seat reservation on the Swiss Pass site, it says the Swiss Pass doesn't cover this route. Do we have to start at St. Moritz? Or is it possible to go from Chur?
Posted by
Green Bay
20032 posts
I think you need to go the Glacier Express website: http://www.glacierexpress.ch/EN/timetable_tickets/Timetable/winter/Pages/default.aspx
I went Zermatt-Davos in January and traveled on a Swiss Pass, but had a reservation on top of that.
You can board and disembark wherever you wish. If you are paying point-to-point, you just pay that section.
Posted by
OP
15 posts
Did you make your seat reservations online?
Posted by
Green Bay
20032 posts
Unfortunately (or fortunately) it was with a group tour, so everything was set up before hand. I had an 8-day Swiss Pass, and I am looking at a "Tageskarte", printed with the Glacier Express logo, I was handed, prevalidated for the date of travel. The conductor came through and checked my Swiss Pass and tageskarte. We had a block of pre-assigned seats (reservation).
edit- If you look further on the link I posted under "tickets and prices", it clearly states "•GA, day tickets, Swiss Pass an Swiss Card are valid"
There is a mandatory seat reservation of 33 chf in the summer and 13 chf in the winter.
Posted by
OP
15 posts
Thanks for the info!
Posted by
Bern, Switzerland
977 posts
Posted by
Elk Grove, CA, USA
6898 posts
We had a Swiss 1/2 fare card for the GE that did cover our entire journey. However, as noted above, they did add a supplemental fee of about 15CHF before we could board in Brig.
Posted by
Tilburg, Netherlands
2829 posts
Let me clarify this thing: there are a set of tracks connecting Chur with Zermatt and some branches.
It is possible to use Swiss Pass to travel on regular trains that cover the route, requiring a varying number of transfers (1-3).
Over the same tracks there is also an special service called Glacier Express, which is overall a bit faster than taking the normal trains, require reservation which comes with a special fare supplement (compared to the cost of normal optional seat reservations in normal Swiss trains).