I’ve tried every way I can think of to purchase tickets on the glacier express. Online I’ve been stonewalled. The site freezes as soon as I input Samedan to Zermatt. On the rare occasion I have gotten to a schedule, there is no way to set a date. I tried calling (41 84 864 2442 ) and received message from Verizon that they could not complete call. I am in desperate need of help. Suggestions please!
Posted by
Houston, Texas
1090 posts
When are you going? It may be too soon to purchase a ticket. Bookings can be made up to 93 days in advance of when you want to travel.
Posted by
Green Bay
22395 posts
A ticket is trivial. What you want is the seat reservation, since you could be traveling on a Swiss Travel Pass, in which case you would not need a ticket. Get the seat reservation as soon as they become available for your travel date.
Posted by
OP
2 posts
We are going on September 21. How on earth do you reserve the seat?
Posted by
Green Bay
22395 posts
The website appears to be having some issues right now. Try again tomorrow.
Posted by
Wengen
3283 posts
For all trains in Switzerland you need a ticket, or something that stands in lieu of a ticket (like a travel pass)
For some trains in Switzerland you also need a reservation, but that is the exception.
Tickets are always available for every original-destination pair in the country. And they are available on the travel day itself too. Normal tickets are always the same price irrespective of where and when they are bought. They are for a route, not a specific service, so you can (and should) buy a through ticket if your trip involves more than one train (or bus, or cable car or whatever...).
When you buy tickets in advance you sometimes can get a discount, but you then do no longer have a flexible ticket. Sometimes, for long trips booked in advance the system will offer you a Saver Day Pass as ticket. That is a good option as it is fully flexible. It is especially a good option when arriving by air and immediately travelling a non trivial distance, eg from ZRH to Zermatt.
Reservations are in addition to that, and reserve you a seat. For a handful of trains they are compulsory. They are usually managed by the company that operates the train, so for the Glacier Express you go to www.rhb.ch
Posted by
Green Bay
22395 posts
Sorry, but it does not look like any seats are available from Friday Sept 19 thru Monday September 22. These may be blocked by tour operators and some seats may open up if their bookings do not materialize.
Posted by
Los Angeles
5198 posts
Trainline? Rail Europe? OBB? DB?
Worst case, try Railbookers.
Posted by
Green Bay
22395 posts
You can only get reservations directly from the Glacier Express org, a joint venture of Matterhorn-Gotthard Bahn and Rhaetische Bahn. They are people who actually operate the trains and if they say nothing is available, nobody else can. Like I said, the only opportunity if is one of the tour operators who bought them, turns them in. Maybe look again 30 days in advance.
You can get to Zermatt by the same route using regional trains, but you will have to change trains 4 times. Same scenery, no pricey reservation fees. And it is actually slightly faster than the Glacier Express.