We want to travel from Lugano to Zermatt on July 7th on the Wilhelm Tell Express transferring to the Glacier Express in Andermatt. We have purchased a Swiss Travel Pass, but would like to reserve first class seats in a Panoramic Train car. Can we reserve online? How do we reserve on the www.rail.ch? We understand we can only reserve 30 days in advance, but are confused on how we book only partial scenic train trips.
Posted by
Seattle, WA
17422 posts
Maybe try the actual Glacier Express website:
Posted by
Basel, Switzerland
8889 posts
The Willhelm Tell Express runs north/south Lugano to Luzern. The Glacier Express runs east/west Zermatt to Chur.
In both cases these are just extra once-a-day tourist trains. There are normal hourly trains on these routes (as there are on all Swiss rail lines) which do not need a reservation.
- The two routes cross but they do not directly connect, because the north-south route is in a tunnel physically below the east west route.
- You would have to go Lugano (north) - Göschenen (change) - Andermatt (change) - (west) Zermatt.
- You would only be doing ½ of each route.
- You would be unlikely to get both of "the" tourist trains, they are not designed to connect, but there are plenty of other trains.
- There is an alternative route which is also scenic: Lugano - Locarno (Centovalli route) - Domodossola (Simplon route) - Brig - Zermatt
Look up times on the Swiss railways site, it will show all these routes: https://www.sbb.ch/en/
That site should let you book seats. Since you already have a ticket (your pass), you only need the reservation. you should be able to do that between any two stations.