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
Switzerland
562 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
1014 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.
Posted by
USA
1014 posts
FYI, I’m currently on the train. I showed them my BOP and my GPE 1st class reservation. They still made me show my HFC and made me pay another 20 CHF. I thought I did everything right, but apparently not.
Posted by
Wengen
4215 posts
Do you have a 1st or 2nd class BO pass? if you had a 2nd class the conductor would have sold you a class upgrade. You could have gotten that in advance at teh station.
Posted by
USA
1014 posts
WengenK, my BOP is 2nd class. So I paid 20 for the upgrade and 20 for the seat reservation then. Is that right? If so, that makes me feel better. My plan had been to double check that I had everything in order before I got on the train, but the service desk was still closed when I got there this morning.