Hi,
I plan on purchasing the Swiss family pass for 2 adults and 3 children. I plan on purchasing the pass when I land in Geneva July5th.
on July 7th we plan on taking the Golden pass to Luzern. Ideally, we would like to be in the panoramic trains. Is it possible to make the seat reservation without having the pass yet? Is the price same with/without a pass? How necessary is it to make seat reservations from now? Is it likely that these trains will sell out in July?
Thank you.
Posted by
Basel, Switzerland
8889 posts
Hala, Yes, you can make the reservations without having a ticket (yet). I can't comment on how necessary it is, the timetable says "Reservation recommended" for the trains from Montreux to Zweisimmen.
Timetable here, see 2nd page: http://www.goldenpass.ch/assets/media/cms/images/global/Horaire/BD_MOB_broch_horaires_2017-2018.pdf
"Is the price same with/without a pass?" - the price for a reservation is the same whatever type of ticket you have, the rpice for the ticket varies, with a Swiss Pass you don't need a ticket, so it is zero.
"Is it likely that these trains will sell out in July?" - the trains never sell out, because tickets are not for a specific trains, people can get on any train. But the reserved seats in the Panoramic coaches may sell out, relegating you to the normal sized windows.
Posted by
OP
4 posts
Very helpful, thank you!
Posted by
Alexandria, VA
771 posts
I had similar questions and found out the following on the My Swiss Alps website. I have not been yet. (And I'm not sure how any of this applies to children.)
You don't need a reservation unless you want to guarantee seats, to sit together, have a window, etc. The reservations are 5 CHF each, each way. The VIP seats at the front of the cars with the great views are in 1st class and those require reservations.
If your Swiss Travel Pass (STP) is 1st class, then you are OK in the 1st class Panoramic cars. If your STP is 2nd class, you need to purchase an upgrade to 1st class if you want to travel in 1st class, at any manned Swiss Rail office. The cost is one half the difference between 1st and 2nd, which is not much--I believe it comes to 6.5 CHF per ticket. This is for between Montreux and Zweisimenn, where the panoramic cars are.
The website https://reservations.mob.ch has information on the trains and available seats. I put in July 7, Montreux to Zweisimenn with a 9:44 departure. There are 24 seats available in 1st class and 10 in 2nd class. You can try other times. The site switches languages between pages sometimes. The language choices are in the upper right corner.
The little grey boxes tell you if the car is 1st or 2nd class. Click on a car to see what is available. If you hover over a seat it tells you the number. Seats with a little 'n' between them are facing each other so in 2nd class 34, 35, 36 & 37 are facing each other. The 'n' is a table.
Hope this helps. As I say, I haven't done it yet, other than making reservations.