Gotthard Panorama Express
It’s hard to imagine that a Swiss train ride through a spectacular and historic mountain pass can be underrated — particularly when it features what may be the last open-window coach on the Swiss Federal Railways system, specifically for the benefit of photographers.
But that may well be the case for the Gotthard Panorama Express, the seasonal train that operates between Arth-Goldau and Lugano, Switzerland (or, if you prefer, a steamship ride between Lucerne and Flüelen across Lake Lucerne, and a train trip between Flüelen and Lugano).
The all-first-class, reserved-seat train includes panorama coaches — with large, curving windows to better appreciate the surrounding mountains — as well as that photo coach, which is open to all passengers. I took two trips on the Panorama Express in 2023; blog posts on those trips are available here and here. (I also touched on the train in “Gotthard Pass Revival” in the the March 2024 issue of Trains Magazine.)
I renewed acquaintance with the Panorama Express during my September 2024 trip, and touched on that here, but it’s worth revisiting the topic once more — in case you’re starting to think about 2025 vacations — for a couple of reasons: the train is far less crowded than many of its tourist-ride counterparts, and there is a new feature since I last rode.
To address the new feature first: you can now book a cab ride across the pass. It’s not cheap, of course (the cost in 2025 will be unchanged from 2024: 760 Swiss francs, currently $876.46). But when you have extremely limited inventory (the cab rides is only offered on Fridays, except for two holiday in 2025: Good Friday, April 18, and Ascension Day, May 29), price is one way to address demand. And SBB includes an expert guide who accompanies the rider, explaining the locomotive technology and pointing out highlights. Good news: English is one of the three languages for which this service is offered (the others being German and Italian).
There are, of course, a few other rules and restrictions: the rider must be at least 16, must be in good health and capable of climbing into the cab, is strictly a one-person offer, and must be booked at least three days in advance.
Presumably, there were few last-minute bookings; the SBB website indicates all available trips sold out last year. (On the day of my trip, I happened to bump into the guide preparing a woman for her cab ride; she was clearly enthused.) The SBB web page on the cab rides indicates booking for trips in 2025 should begin in January (and if you’re thinking about a big-ticket Christmas gift, sorry, no vouchers are available).
The train itself is currently on its winter hiatus; in 2025, it will run Tuesdays through Sundays from April 18 to Oct. 19, including national holidays. Tickets and seat reservations will be available on line beginning in March. Lots of information, including ticket prices, are available here. Note that the price is discounted with a second-class Swiss Travel Pass, and with a first-class pass, the only price is the surcharge including the seat reservation.
As mentioned above, the train was lightly patronized when I rode this year. How lightly? Well, on this day, I briefly joined a small media group (eight or nine people, I think) on a tour organized by Travel Switzerland, the Swiss tourism organization. We had an entire coach to ourselves, and at least one other coach was completely empty. Admittedly, this was mid-September, after high tourist season, but I still found it surprising. At a time when the country’s best-known scenic trips, the Glacier Express and Bernina Express, are operating at 95% capacity or better, a lot of travelers are missing a bet by not working this route into their plans. At least in part, this is because it is simply not as well known in North America as those other trains. Gotthard Pass has a significant place in Swiss history, and presumably is at least fairly well known in Europe. The rest of the world? Not so much.
It’s not an expensive trip, the scenery is great, and SBB does well with the small touches that make this more than just a train ride. There are, for example, the postcards at each seat that, if mailed from Switzerland, are free to anywhere in the world. Write a short message while on the train, and the onboard staff collects the cards and mails them for you. There’s not full dining on the train — it’s not that long of a trip, and you’ll want to be up taking pictures, anyway — but the attendants do provide snack and beverage service to your seats, as well as providing excellent guidance about trip highlights and alerting you when you should be in the photo coach.
That photo coach, incidentally, showed this year how SBB continues to refine the experience. Between 2023 and 2024, several rows of seats in the photo coach had been removed, making it easier for photographers to get a space at the windows — and to move from side to side to catch the best shots. (This is particularly useful when spiraling around Wassen, when the train passes the community’s famous church three times at three different altitudes as it climbs or descends the pass, depending on your direction of travel.)
Having taken in three times in two years, I’m obviously a big fan of this trip. I just hope more people catch on — with or without a cab ride.
