Hello
Travelling from Lucerne to Lauterbrunnen staying there 4nights then onto Montreaux in mid September. I plan to reserve a seat on the Interlaken Express ahead of time but buy a 3 day Bernese Oberland Pass that morning at the train station before I board the train which will be my ticket. Once in Interlaken I will then extend the BO pass for 2 days which gives me 5 days total as they don’t sell 5 day passes online. I will also reserve a seat on the Golden Pass Express and my extended BO pass will cover the ticket for that trip to Montreaux. Will this plan work ? I believe you can reserve a seat without having a pass purchased already ? I’m So confused by all the options by this seems to be the best value for money.
Posted by
447 posts
you don't really need to reserve on the hourly Luzern-Interlaken trains and at CHF12 it seems a rip off. But it's recommended for the direct cars on Interlaken-Montreux trains, I have seen dates when they were fully booked in advance. I think you can reserve before you have the pass, after all you do it by claiming the discount of a different pass so there can't be much checking!
You could try buying the extension at the same time as the 3 day pass, it would be one less transaction whilst travelling.
That seems to be a nice little tour, enjoy it!
Posted by
Switzerland
492 posts
Seat reservations are always separate. You will show your pass when you are on the train, not before. The BO pass website tells you how to reserve seats and shares the link for where to make the reservations for each train, do this as soon as you know which train you plan on taking.
Posted by
USA
981 posts
I'm really glad you asked this question since I'll be doing the same thing, only going from Montreux to Murren and somehow in the thick of the many details that need to be arranged for this trip, I overlooked this one. I just now reserved my seat for late August. I put in that I had a swiss travel pass although I'll be using the Berner Oberland Pass too and I haven't yet purchased it. According to what I read, you just show the BOP on the train when asked.
Posted by
OP
2 posts
Thanks all for the input. Good to know about not really needing to reserve a seat for the Interlaken express as it’s now 16 Francs to reserve a seat ! But I think I will for the Golden Pass for peace of mind as definitely need a seat on that train.