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Purchase Swiss Travel Pass Now or Upon Arriving in Switzerland?

We have a 3 week trip all by train scheduled in mid-September. We are taking advantage of as many panorama trains as possible. We have purchased our seat reservations for the: Gotthard Express, Bernina Express, Glacier Express, and Golden Pass trains. We are going to purchase the 1st class, 15 day consecutive Swiss Rail Pass and we'll figure out our last 5 days transportation later, as the Swiss Travel Pass will cover those train dates. We purchased the seat reservations online without the Swiss Travel Pass, knowing that we were going to purchase it later.

We haven't purchased a ticket on any of these trains because we believe that our Swiss Travel Pass will be that ticket. Are we correct on our assumptions? Or should be purchase the Travel Pass now and use it to pay for our tickets now? We are really confused!

Posted by
21141 posts

If you intend to get Swiss Travel Pass, you do not need to buy any tickets. You already have your seat reservations for the named trains. You can buy the STP when you arrive. Some people like to buy it with the app, or buy it at the airport train station ticket office.

Posted by
50 posts

We leave in 4 days to go to Switzerland for the first time! I've been doing research on the same thing. If you're interested in saving a little money and don't need to be in first class the whole time, I believe you can get 2nd class STP and then upgrade to first class for any of the individual trains.