Booking train from Chamonix to Lucerne, including Golden Pass route - So Many Questions!

I assume you want to go to Luzern from Interlaken Ost on the Golden Pass route. Since the rail line between Interlaken West and Interlaken Ost is interrupted on your travel day, you have to take a bus between those 2 stations.

You arrive on Pl 2 at Interlaken West at 15:43, then take the replacement bus at 15:58, arriving at Interlaken Ost at 16:04, then take the train to Luzern from Pl 3 at 16:10, arriving Luzern at 18:04.

PS. Your problem is you are looking at trains from Interlaken West and it is showing you trains that go to Olten and change to Luzern there. This is not the scenic route as it goes around the the mountains rather than over them. The 3 connection route is a little more scenic, through Thun, Konolfingen, and Langenau. But I think you want the direct train that goes from Interlaken Ost station. It goes over the Bruenig Pass and is the scenic route and it is direct. You just have to take that short cross-town bus between Interlaken West and Ost stations.

Sam, thank you. Very helpful. Do you know why I'm running into problems buying the Golden Pass tickets?

I just went to gpx.swiss and was able to select seats in Prestige class on the 12:32 train from Montreux to Interlaken West. for October 30.

Thank you, Sam. I'll try again. I'm sure it's user error, as usual.

One last question:
On the gpx.swiss site for buying the tickets there are three boxes with different options to choose:
1. Point-to-point Ticket Montreux-Interlaken West - via Zweissmen. CHF 96
2. Saver Day Pass CHF 97
3. City-Ticket: Montreux-Interlaken West Upgrade City Montreux-via Zweissmen. CHF 103

I'm thinking I should get the Saver Day Pass since I still need to buy a ticket from Interlaken to Lucerne. I know the seat reservation is in addition to this. I don't know if any of the ticket from Chamonix to Montreux would be covered since it originates in France.
Thanks for any help with this.

I'm gradually figuring this out. Bought the Saver Day Passes (first class). Now just trying to find the Reservation Only option on the gpx.swiss site. AI answered many of my questions.

You just need to buy a ticket from Chamonix to Vallorcine. It is only 3.30 EUR. Looks like a bus on Oct 30. A Saver Day Pass will cover you the rest of the way to Luzern.

When you reserve seats on gpx.swiss you will see that there is a box "I already have a valid ticket" that you can tick when you enter the passenger details. That is all you need to do here. They will charge for the reservation only.

Note about the ticket from Chamonix: You need one to Le Chatelard Frontiere, as that is where you Saver Day Pass kicsk in. Buy that in Chamonix.

Wengen, thanks for mentioning that the saver day pass kicks in at le chatelard frontiere. I’m taking this route tomorrow and just realized I need a ticket from Vallorcine to le chatelard frontiere.

Just going to throw this out there as an unsolicited opinion, for what it's worth.

This plan seems like a lot of extra effort when you could just take the direct train from Geneva to Luzern and avoid these buses. You're going to see magnificent mountain scenery in Chamonix and again in Luzern and doing a complicated journey like this isn't going to add THAT much value for the effort. The Golden Pass Express is overrated in my opinion. It's not that the views are bad by any means, but compared to what you'll see in Chamonix, up at Rigi, Pilatus, etc. it's a bit "average" in terms of Swiss scenery. Personally I'd just get to Luzern via the most direct route and then use that extra time to enjoy the mountain destinations where you're going.

The fastest route from Chamonix to Luzern does not involve going back to Geneva. Fastest route is to travel via Vallorcine and Martigny, but then continue via Lausanne to Luzern.

It may be "faster" time wise, but for long travel days with luggage, I base choices on how many times I have to change trains.

On Oct 30 from Chamonix to Luzern --- going via Geneva requires 2 changes, one at Saint-Gervais-les-Bains & one at Geneva. Going via Vallorcine & Martigny requires 2 buses + 2 train changes to save 25 minutes. Personally, no thanks.