trippster

Dear all,

My husband and I are planning to take the GE from Zermatt to St Moritz in end July. We are planning for a 4 day 2 class Swiss Flexi Pass. Do we need to reserve seats for a July journey? If so, will I get an option of taking 1 class reservation on GE (since my Pass is going to be a 2 class one) ? And is it worth taking 1st class over 2nd class?

Other doubts on the itinerary -

We have 4 days for Swiss (this is our second trip and in an earlier trip we had seen the BO region) Want to cover both Matterhorn and St Mortiz. Hence thought of GE. Where do you guys suggest we spend more nights? In St Mortiz or in Zermatt? Right now, I am inclined towards spending 2d / 1n in Zermatt where I take time to see only Matterhorn and then take the GE and spend the remaining 2d/2n in St Moritz. Does it make sense? What scenic routes are there around the St Moritz region?

Any pointers would be welcome,
Thanks
Trippster

Dukey

I believe, possibly incorrectly, that the panorama coaches have only First Class seats.

These have much larger windows than regular FC and SC cars but they do not open.

Seating is "club" style with tables between two seats facing each other.

There is recorded narration in those cars.

I do not think you are going to get an option to "upgrade" sinceto travel in FC you will need a FC pass.

Whether or not it is worth it to you to be in FC I cannot answer.

Barbara_in_CT

Reservations are always required on the Glacier Express.

On a sunny day, the panorama cars are hot and the windows do not open. I prefer 2nd class and the ability to open windows and hang out at times.

Pick up a picnic at the Coop including a bottle of wine. The small ones will twist off so you don't need a cork screw.

Pick up the book that describes the trip.

Kristinelaine

We were on the Glacier Express a few weeks ago in 2nd class and the car was panoramic. I think this was a recent upgrade of their cars. It was a great trip; however, we later took the Bernina Express down from Pontresina to Tirano and that is even more scenic than the Glacier Express. I think you could do that as a daytrip out of St. Moritz and that would definitely be worth doing. We didn't reserve on that one and had a 2nd class car -- non-panoramic -- and we had it all to ourselves (in late May). I could go back and forth from side to side and open the windows and take pictures to my heart's content! Our car was on the same train as the panoramic ones, which I could see behind us when we went around curves. Those cars were crowded and I was feeling rather smug!

Kristinelaine

I should have thanked those on this site who recommended doing what we did on the Bernina Express. It was great advice!

trippster

thanks all for the replies.

i saw a couple of messages describing 2nd class travel in GE (open windows, clicking snaps etc) and i am hooked

shall try to pick up the book describing the route. thanks for the tip, barbara_in_CT. and kristinelaine, i was just wondering whether i shld consider the other scenic rail journey on bernina express. thanks for the reco... i will def try to fit it in.

is it ok to spend just one night in zermatt? but i am inclined to go with more time on scenic routes while in swiss, since we are following up the trip with a visit to austria where we r basing ourselves for a week around the Salzburg area. (for "experts" on that area - i have a separate thread going on abt it! and i need advice there also ! )

i am also expecting a child later this year. so me and dh are a little cautious about making it a very rushed trip or with too much of walking around.

thanks again!
trippster

kappa

> We were on the Glacier Express a few weeks ago in 2nd class and the car was panoramic.

Kristine is right. As far as I know this is an upgrade from this season.

Dukey

I've been to Zermatt four times and the first time I went it was after getting there from St. Moritz on the GE.

IMO yes it is OK to spend one day/night there. other than hiking or skiiing the big thing to do is to view the Matterhorn peak and the Monte Rosa Massif. You can do it by going up on the Gornergrat Railway (directly across the street from the main railroad station) or taking the series of aerial tramways up to Kleine Matterhorn.

Hopefully you will have good weather as the peak can easily be obscured by clouds; the Gornergrat waiting room has a live cam you can veiw before you buy tickets up.

Zermatt itself is easy to traverse within a couple of hours or less; some would call it the 'typical ski village" with lots of drinking places and some high end shopping (I once saw a watch in a window for 52 THOUSAND Euro) and some not so high end.

Enjoy your trip on the trains...unforgettable I can assure you.

PalenQ

Glacier Express closed down for a few months last fall to completely revamp its rolling stock - even spiffier first class observation cars and observation cars in 2nd class as well - probably sans windows that open. You also now get headphones, an improvement over the crackly old PA system of describing the sites.

For railpass holders unfortunately the supplement to use GE has leapt to i believe around $35-40 over the previous nominal fee (not sure about this) but what i've read.

Reservations are imperative to guarantee seats on any GE in my experience. Tour groups book lots of seats on these trains - and even though they have special chartered GE trains for groups everytime i've been on GE it's mainly been tour groups and seats inevitably full. To reserve Google Glacier Express Switzerland - to book in US you go thru RE www.raileurope.com - i always advise checking BETS 800-441-2387 for any Swiss rail products as they are experts and don't have RE's ridiculous mailing fee for orders like this. If can't reserve yourself thru Swiss www.sbb.ch or Glacier Express Swiss site, which i suspect would be cheaper than in US, book when buying your Swiss Pass to save extra mailing fees.

PalenQ

RailGourmino SwissAlps AG
ph 081-252-1425
fax 081 250 0151
(don't use first 0 unless calling from inside suisse)
e-mail: [email protected]

a source i have to contact Glacier Express operators in Switzerland

kappa

> RailGourmino SwissAlps AG
ph 081-252-1425
fax 081 250 0151

In case anybody is wondering, above is dining car - mini bar service on Glacier/Bernina Express trains, not to reserve the train seats, I believe.

PalenQ

Kappa - right-o - i failed to read the heading about yes this is to reserve a seat in the dining car - reservations are compulsory.

Thanks for pointing my unexcusable error out!

But in retro may come in handy for some folks. Remember those tilting wine glasses - unique as far as i know on any train. Wonder if they sell these glasses?

kappa

> if they sell these glasses ..

They do for about CHF 10 or 15, am not sure about the price, not cheap but funny glass yes.

PalenQ

Kappa - thanks - please describe how these glasses tilt straight - do they have a metal swivel near the base? I really can't visualize them - thanks.

PalenQ

And Glacier Express info sheet that i wrongly concluded reservation phone does say that you can reserve up to 90 days in advance.

Dukey

Are you talking about those curved wine glasses?

They don't have any swivels..they simply have a slanted stem.

They also sell them from the cart (trolley0 which is rolled through the train periodically.

kappa

PlenQ, here is an image of the "famous" glass. My company bought once about a hundred of them to give to the clients. I should have kept one for myself.

http://www.glacierexpress.ch/caterin...es/railbar.php

trippster

Thanks for all the replies.

So reservations are a must. I was hoping to do it a day before in the train station. Will that be too late? If I need to do it from India (from where I am travelling) I'll probably have to do it when I book the Swiss Pass. Thanks for all the useful tips. And PalenQ thanks for the unintended tip ... the glass surely looks like a good memento to have

- Trippster

Barbara_in_CT

In off season you can book the day before. I think I would try and book earlier for the end of July.

The glasses are a hoot.

Suelynne

I agree that the Bernina Express is a wonderful train trip. Another one you can do from St Moritz is the Engadine Valley to Scuol-Tarasp - lovely unspoilt scenery. Even though I preferred Zermatt to St Moritz as a town, the latter offers you more options for side-trips by train. Yet another one is to the Graubunden capital of Chur and take the small train up to Arosa.