Holidays to Switzerland Travel Podcast Episode 168 Transcript

What to Book Early for Your Trip to Switzerland

You can see the full show notes and listen to this episode > here.

Welcome to the Holidays to Switzerland podcast. If you’re planning a trip to Switzerland, this is the podcast for you. I’m your host, Carolyn Schönafinger, the founder of holidaystoswitzerland.com, and in each episode, my expert guests and I share practical tips to help you plan your dream trip to Switzerland. You’ll get helpful advice about traveling around Switzerland and hear about the most popular destinations as well as some hidden gems. And we’ll introduce you to plenty of wonderful experiences that you can enjoy as part of your Swiss vacation. Each episode is packed with expert tips, itinerary ideas, and inspiration to help make your Swiss vacation planning easy. So let’s dive in.

Hello, and welcome back to the podcast. This episode is episode number three in our special four-part series, “Four Steps to Planning Your Swiss Vacation.” In episode one of the series, I covered choosing your travel dates, flights, and getting your travel insurance sorted. And in episode two, I offered some tips for building your itinerary. If you haven’t listened to those episodes already, I suggest you go back and listen and then come back here for step three.

Today, we’re getting into something that can make or break your trip: what you really need to book well in advance. Switzerland is an incredibly popular country to visit, and while it is still absolutely possible to plan last minute, there are a few things that you’ll want to secure early to avoid stress and disappointment.

The first thing to think about is accommodation. If you’re not too fussy, you’ll usually find something. But if you have particular preferences or needs, then booking well ahead is essential. Some of the things that you might need to consider are if you need air conditioning, because not every hotel in Switzerland has it. If you need to rely on an elevator, most older buildings don’t have them, so you’ll need to book in early to make sure your hotel has an elevator.

If you need a specific room type or perhaps you want a particular view, like a balcony overlooking Lake Lucerne or a room facing the Matterhorn, you’ll want to book those early as well. And if you need a family room, that’s another reason to book early because there aren’t all that many of them in Switzerland. If you’re dreaming of staying in a famous hotel and you’ve seen pictures on Instagram of magical hotels with infinity pools and the most incredible views, you can almost bet that they book out well in advance. So you will want to book these types of accommodation with special requests early to guarantee that you’ll get the room type that you need.

This is especially so in summer and around Christmas. And so booking early really does give you the best chance of getting exactly what you want. And even if you’re not very, very picky and you’re happy to stay somewhere, securing your hotels early just gives you peace of mind and lets you be comfortable in the fact that you’ve actually got your accommodation sorted for your trip.

Next up, we’ll talk about one of the biggest highlights for so many travelers, and that’s riding on Switzerland’s panoramic trains. If you’re a regular listener to the podcast, you’ll know that normal trains. Everyday trains that run between cities and towns throughout Switzerland don’t require you to make seat reservations. But those very popular panoramic trains do. And the reason being is that they offer far less frequency than the regular trains. In some cases, there’s only one service a day. So you need to have seat reservations to guarantee your place on the train.

So the trains that are affected that do require seat reservations: the Glacier Express, the Bernina Express, and the Gotthard Panorama Express. If you’re planning on traveling on the Golden Pass Express and would like to travel in the beautiful Prestige Class, you’ll need a reservation for that as well. On other trains, including the Lucerne-Interlaken Express, you can actually book a seat if you want to guarantee that you’re sitting by the window or you’re sitting with your fellow travelers, but it’s not compulsory. But for those three panoramic trains that I mentioned and Prestige Class on the Golden Pass Express, seat reservations are mandatory and there is a cost involved.

A few things to remember about booking seat reservations: most of the trains open reservations around six to nine months in advance, sometimes a little more. But the Glacier Express is the exception. You can only book seats three months ahead, even though it’s probably the most popular panoramic train of all. Each panoramic train has its own booking website. There’s no one single place to reserve all of them. So if you’re traveling independently, you will need to go directly onto each of the individual train operator’s websites and book your seat reservation there. If you want specific seats, like on a certain side of the train or getting seats together for your group that you’re traveling with, booking early is definitely the way to go, regardless of whether those seat reservations are mandatory or not.

Next up, I always suggest booking or purchasing your rail pass or train tickets in advance. This often surprises people because, generally speaking, train tickets and rail passes don’t get any cheaper if you buy them early. They’re the same price regardless of whether you buy them six months in advance or the day before you travel. The exception here is Supersaver and Saver Day Pass tickets, but these are available on a very limited basis and require you to nominate the specific day that you want to travel and sometimes even the exact time that you will travel on that day. And you’ve got to do that when you buy them. So this gives you far less flexibility than regular tickets or rail passes.

Now, if you do want to know more about those Supersaver and Saver Day Pass tickets, we covered those back in episode 137, so go back and have a listen to that. So if tickets and rail passes aren’t any cheaper by booking early, why would you do that? Well, in my opinion, it’s a big expense, and therefore paying for it ahead of time helps you spread out the cost of your group holiday. And it also means one less thing to worry about once you arrive. And if you’re sorting out panoramic train seat reservations early, why not have your rail pass or rail ticket ready as well so that everything is done and dusted well ahead of time?

Now, some people love trip planning, and some don’t. Or maybe you’re simply too busy to spend hours comparing hotel room types and prices and figuring out which train reservation, which train goes where, and which ticket you should buy. So if you don’t have time or you’re just feeling quite overwhelmed by the whole planning situation, there is an easier solution. You can book a rail package, a small group tour, or a private tour with one of the Holidays to Switzerland partners. And I’ll quickly explain the differences.

Rail packages are perfect for independent travelers who still want everything organized for them but want to travel at their own speed. The accommodation, train tickets, and seat reservations are arranged in advance for you, but you still travel independently at your own pace and without a guide. So if you like structure and having everything organized, especially those seat reservations, but you still want freedom, a rail package is a great way to travel.

Small group tours are great for people who enjoy traveling with others, meeting new people, or having a set itinerary with a guide who handles all the logistics, including again those tricky seat reservation bookings. It’s a social, easy way to travel with everything taken care of.

And if you like the idea of a guide but want a more personalized experience, or perhaps you’re traveling as a family or a small group or two couples traveling together, then a private tour is ideal because it’s flexible, really comfortable, and everything is tailored to exactly your requirements and your interests. If you want to include the rides on those panoramic trains, again the seat reservations can be taken care of for you.

Now, the bonus with all these different travel options is that as a listener of the Holidays to Switzerland podcast, you can save 5% with the promo code HTSWISS when you book with one of our partner operators. You can find more info about each of these different vacation styles and the discount offer in the show notes for this episode.

So to recap today’s episode on what you need to book well in advance: accommodation, especially if you have specific needs like air conditioning, a lift, or a certain view, make sure you book it early. Panoramic train seat reservations open at least six, often nine months or more ahead, and seat reservations for each train must be booked on the individual train’s website. So if you’re traveling on multiple panoramic trains, you’ll need to go to each of those websites to make the booking.

Rail passes and train tickets don’t get cheaper by booking them earlier, but buying ahead gives you peace of mind and spreads out the cost, so it’s always a good idea to get those well ahead of time too. And if planning isn’t your thing, consider a rail package, small group tour, or private tour, and don’t forget to use that promo code to get 5% off with the Holidays to Switzerland partners.

Next week is the final episode in this four-part series, and I’ll be talking about what to pre-book after you’ve done all those core itinerary bookings that we’ve just talked about today. So next week we’ll talk about things like mountain excursions, activities, restaurants, and other things that you might need to arrange before you leave home. Thank you so much for listening. I hope you’ve found this episode helpful. If you haven’t listened to parts one and two, please go back and listen to those, and I’ll see you again next week. Until then, tschüss!

You can see the full show notes and listen to this episode > here.