Hello all!
I have Swiss Travel Passes for my family and I and those are in my Apple Wallet. My question is how do I go about making sure we get on the trains we must get onto? I saw the Trainline site but it wants me to pay and I know I already have the passes. The drop down menu doesn't show the Swiss Travel Pass unless it's not in English or written differently??? I'm lost. Help!
Thanks
Alisha
Trainline is a third party vendor.
Download the SBB app. Just type in your destinations, and you'll get the schedule. Trains leave frequently to most destinations , and are very comfortable.
It will give you train numbers, and platform numbers, how many connections. The Swiss train system is efficient and user- friendly. With the STP, you just get on, and show your pass when the agent comes by.
Safe travels!
Do not use the Trainline site. If you need to see times and routes, use the Swiss train site. SBB. If you are trying to get tickets for the scenic routes/panoramic trains, again, use the SBB site.
Thank you for the information! You saved me there. :) Okay so I don't really need to reserve seats. We just hop on, go to 2class as our pass indicates, and show our pass as needed? So these trains don't tend to book up, I guess?
For the most part, there is adequate seating. We had one train ride, Montreaux to Geneva, that must have been at "rush hour". It was full, but there were no limitations. Some folks actually got up and gave me and my daughters their seats. My daughters (college students) insisted they were fine standing. The people told us, we were guests and to have a seat!
What we did when we wanted to get somewhere,was to talk to a clerk at the train station ticket counter who would print out an itinerary of sorts with times and train changes, when necessary. This was probably 5 years. ago.
Trains are mass transit. The Swiss Railway network is just the backbone of a nationwide mass transit network, and as such functions much like you would expect a commuter or urban rail network to function in a large metropolis. (By world standards Switzerland is just a big city with some very beautiful parks...)
So there is no need to "book" trains. All you need is a ticket, and your pass is in this case your ticket. (Lots of Swiss people have passes too). You just find your train and get on. For Europeans this is so obvious that we tend to forget that for non Europeans this might not be the case.
Just to clarify. There ARE a FEW trains where you can't just walk on and sit down. These trains require you to have a seat reservation in addition to your Swiss Travel Pass. These are special Panoramic trains. The Glacier Express and The Bernina Express both require a seat reservation. The Golden Pass Express, Gotthard Panoramic Express, and the Luzern-Interlaken Express do not require seat reservations, but do have them available. Some might recommend that you get seat reservations for these during peak season. Particularly on the GoldenPass Express.
So, unless you're on one of these panoramic trains, you don't need seat reservations. But if you are on one of these trains, you should investigate seat reservations in advance of your travels.
Thank you all! Yes, where I live there are no trains and very few buses unless you go into town. And I live only forty minutes south of Nashville! I have been overseas multiple times, but never to Switzerland so I wasn't sure how it worked. Thanks again, everyone. We did get actual reservation tickets on the Glacier Express so I think we're good to go. :)
