My husband and I would like to go from Montreux to Interlaken Ost via the Golden Pass in mid October. We already have our Swiss Travel Passes. We know that the Pass covers our travel, but we would like to reserve VIP seats on the panoramic train between Montreux and Zweissemen if possible. I know those seats can get reserved early and are not available on every train to Zweissemen so I wanted to see if I can book them now. I am having difficulty with: finding the best site to make these reservations, recognizing which trains are the panoramic trains or panoramic trains with VIP seats, and paying for the reservation fee without paying for the tickets full price since we have the Swiss Passes. I could really use some help with this. Complicated! Thanks!
Posted by
Basel, Switzerland
8889 posts
This route is run by the "Montreux Oberland Bahn" (MOB), I would try them first.
This page on their website has a "book" option: http://www.goldenpass.ch/en/goldenpass/offer/view?id=14
It appears to charge CHF 8 per person for reservations in the panoramic coaches.
Posted by
Northamptonshire, England
32746 posts
By the VIP tickets I think you mean the seats above the driver.
It is generally accepted that the fabulous view from those seats is going down the slope towards Montreux and the lake rather than the uphill direction away from Montreux.
Will you be making a round trip? If so you might consider trying harder in that direction.
Posted by
Alexandria, VA
771 posts
Chris F. sent you the correct link for booking Panoramic trains, but after searching for a while to help you out, and not seeing trains with VIP seats, I noticed that on that first page, in the blue box, it says VIP trains run only until "1.9.18", or September 1st.
If you decide to make a reservation, the numbers in the little grey boxes indicate 1st class or 2nd class. Click on the train to see available seats. Green seats are available. The seats are arranged two and two, facing each other, and in 1st class they are one and one on the left side.. If you each get a window seat you can both see in each direction pretty well. We did this in June, going only as far as Montbovon. We sat on the left, but the trains switches back and forth coming out of Montreux, so the view is OK from either side. If you hover the cursor over a seat, it shows the number.
If you have 2nd class Swiss Travel Passes and decide to reserve in 1st class, you must pay a surcharge, besides the reservation, to bump your 2nd class seat to 1st class. That surcharge has to be paid at any Swiss train station, not online. We did this, and I think it was another 8 CHF each.
If I were to do it again, I would probably go with making reservations in 2nd class in order to get window seats, but not bother with 1st. I'd probably get seats on the right.
That said, I found the Golden Pass website frustrating when I made our reservations, and it didn't seem any easier looking at it just now. Hope this helps!
Posted by
OP
9 posts
Thanks everyone for the great advice! I got my reservations. Glad I'm not the only one who found this confusing.
Posted by
Napa Valley, Ca
61 posts
TravelingAnn,
Were you able to reserve seats on a panoramic train? Because we will be there in Sept. and they emailed me that the panoramic train will not be running then.
Posted by
OP
9 posts
I didn't get reserved seats on the panoramic with the VIP car. I needed a train leaving Montreux at a certain time and I went with that one. At least we will have window seats!