I should have listened to Carrie!!!

Oh no!! Sorry Lola!

I did find train travel in Switzerland to be more stressful this year due to the crowds, even in 1st class some days.

You may want to consider a class upgrade for some of your other journeys.

https://www.sbb.ch/en/tickets-offers/tickets/point-to-point-tickets-switzerland/class-upgrades-supersaver-class-upgrades/class-upgrade.html

I've been thinking about taking the RS my way alpine tour, in large part to give myself a break from dealing with the trains.

Have a great trip!!!

Well, thank goodness you were able to find seats. We stood between cars for an hour last month.

Zürich to Bern on IC1/IC5 is invariably crowded after work on weekdays; you might have hit the tail end of rush hour.
I would not worry as much on Bern to Brig in the daytime. And the seats are identical in 1st vs 2nd class anyway.

Yikes. So sorry. FYI: Aug 26 and 31st, we were nearly alone upstairs in 1st in every train we took, roundtrip Geneva to Bern to Interlaken.

We have been on a very crowded train from Bern to Zürich in the past—-we were traveling to the airport for an afternoon flight to London. turns out it was the day of the Zürich Street Parade, when up to a million techno music fans swarm to Zürich, many dressed in little more than tinfoil, feathers, and paint. We had to stand in the open area by the doors with our luggage. At least our teenage daughters were amused by the scene at the Zurich main station.

I know the IC 5 between Zurich and Bern can be very crowded in the daytime, but I just wasn’t expecting that at 8:30 at night. Many of the passengers upstairs were Swiss army soldiers, and they tended to sit in groups of three in the 4-seat cluster, maybe so their legs wouldn’t clash. But they were not at all welcoming to anyone who wanted to take that empty fourth seat, so not one did.

I think we made a mistake in jumping on a middle car on the train, near the top of the escalator up from the corridor below. Of course there would be more people there. But we did not have time to walk further to one end of the train or the other.

A few years ago, I took a train from Zurich Airport to Bern and then from Bern to Geneva a few days later. First class both times.

On the first trip, I was the only one in the car. On the second, I stayed on the lower level and was the only person. There were five people on the upper deck.

Now those were peaceful trips.

Life is short, treat yourself well.

Even in January, I noticed that the stretch from Zurich HB to Bern is quite full, the equivalent of the NYC-Washington Acela, money capital to political capital. Fortunately I boarded at the airport where there were plenty of seats available, and that was 1st class. After departing the HB, there were lots of people searching for seats, usually groups of 2 to 4.

Life is short, treat yourself well.

I like this. Good motto!!

Me too.

Unfortunately, this year the train does not run directly from the airport to Bern, so we had to change trains at Zurich Hauptbahnhof. Had we not been a bit fatigued from the overnight flight from Seattle to London, and the late departure of our flight from London to Zurich, we would not have been so annoyed.

But hey, we made it to Bern by 10 pm, had a great day today, and just came back from a fun evening at a local restaurant. It’s all OK. Tomorrow we move to Bettmeralp where it is very cold, but we are prepared with down jackets, gloves, and the rest. I just want to see the Aletschgletscher once again before it disappears, or we are unable to travel. My 80-year-old husband keeps reminding me the clock is ticking.

The IC 1 at 8 past the hour, and the IC 8 at 45 past the hour are direct to Bern from Zurich airport. They do stop at Zurich HB, then nonstop to Bern.

I'm glad to read that things have improved.

I would so love it if someone would post "I should have listened to Estimated Prophet!"

Frank II for the motto!

We have a corollary in our family: "If you don't travel first class, your children will." Our son is not amused.

Sam, I see those direct trains on the schedule now, but the :08 train trains did not appear on the schedule from ZRH to Bern for last Sunday night, nor the :45 train. The options we had were 20:15 (which we caught), 20:36, and 20:48, all with a change at Zurich. There were little construction icons and a not that the schedule was “updated”. Looking at the screenshots I took of the routes, I see that IC 1 and IC 8 did not go to the airport on Sunday evening; they started at Zurich HB. We boarded the ( very crowded) IC 8 at the Hauptbahnhof.

I use that train every other day to go to work etc...

It entirely depends on the time of the day you travel. And I can tell you now, that if you are on that train during rush hour, even first class will be standing room 3 out of every 4 trips.