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Not Understanding How To Purchase Reserved Seats on sbb.ch

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We are spending 15 days in Switzerland in July 2026 and going to buy the Swiss Travel Pass. But we are confused on a couple things:

  1. If we have the Swiss Travel Pass, then do we just walk on any train we wish, or must we additionally "reserve a seat" before traveling?

  2. How do we "reserve" a seat online with the Swiss Travel Pass if we don't need to actually purchase a ticket?

If someone has a link that explains all the tricks to purchasing tickets and riding the rails in Switzerland we would appreciate it. We plan on taking several of the famous scenic trains, but are not understanding how to reserve our seat if we just have a Swiss Travel Pass?

Thank you.

Posted by
23073 posts

  1. Yes, you just board the train with your pass and sit wherever there are open seats. Very few people reserve seats as trains are so frequent, and only IC trains even have seat reservations possible. Special tourist type trains like the Glacier Express and Bernina Express do have required seat reservations, which are purchased directly from the train operator.

  2. SBB charges 5 CHF for seat reservations on IC trains.
    https://www.sbb.ch/en/tickets-offers/tickets/point-to-point-tickets-switzerland/seat-reservations.html

Glacier Express: https://glacierexpress.ch/en/book-now
Bernina Express: https://www.rhb.ch/en/panoramic-journeys/bernina-express/

Posted by
3684 posts

Note that you cannot even reserve seats on most trains, and that for other trains few people bother. The only train that requires reservations is the Glacier Express.

Switzerland has a nationwide mass transit network. Taking the train here is as trivial as taking the Underground in London...

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