Is the Voralpen-Express covered by the Swiss Travel Pass?
Yes, completely. The Voralpen-Express is an ordinary InterRegio service, run by Südostbahn, so your Swiss Travel Pass covers the whole fare between Lucerne and St Gallen. There's no supplement, no seat reservation, and nothing to buy in advance. You turn up, you get on, you sit down.
Most of Switzerland's famous scenic trains want something extra from you, whether that's a reservation fee, a panoramic-carriage supplement, or both. This one wants nothing. If you're already crossing the country between Lucerne and the east, the pre-Alps come free with a journey you were making anyway.
Voralpen-Express route: what you actually see from the window
The journey takes 2 hours 18 minutes, and it earns every one of them. Heading out of Lucerne, here's what rolls past, in order:
- Lake Lucerne, with Pilatus standing up behind it
- Lake Zug, then the climb to Arth-Goldau under the jagged Schwyzer Mythen
- The Rothenthurm moorland, the largest continuous upland moor in Switzerland
- The causeway across Lake Zurich, taken at the lake's narrowest point, running you straight into Rapperswil
- The Toggenburg hills, green and folded and quietly lovely
- The Sitter Viaduct, 99 metres up, the highest railway viaduct in Switzerland, right before you roll into St Gallen
Stops along the way are Lucerne, Arth-Goldau, Rapperswil, Wattwil and St Gallen. It runs hourly, year round, in both directions, so you don't need to plan around a timetable so much as decide roughly when you fancy leaving.
Voralpen-Express or via Zurich: which route should you take?
You've got two ways to get between Lucerne and St Gallen, and on a pass the maths works out differently to how it does for everyone paying cash.
| Voralpen-Express | Via Zurich | |
|---|---|---|
| Journey time | 2h 18mins direct | Faster |
| Distance | Shorter | Longer |
| Full fare | Cheaper | More expensive |
| With a Swiss Travel Pass | CHF 0 | CHF 0 |
| Changes | None | At least one |
| Scenery | Lakes, moor, viaduct | Mainly commuter lowlands |
Since both cost you nothing, the only real currency here is time, and you're trading a modest amount of it for one of the better window seats in the country. If you're coming up from Lugano or Locarno to eastern Switzerland, the Voralpen-Express is actually the quicker option, not the slower one. Routing via Zurich from the south is the long way round.
Is the Voralpen-Express a panoramic train?
No, and it's worth being clear about that before you board expecting curved glass. This is a comfortable regional express, not a Glacier Express rival.
First class did have panorama windows. The current Traverso stock has ordinary large windows instead. You also get a bistro car with vending machines and a family compartment. For a while the service carried the "Panorama Express" label, and the operator dropped it precisely because passengers turned up expecting something the train wasn't.
So set your expectations at "very nice normal train through very good scenery" and you'll have a great time. If you want proper panoramic glass on a pass, look at the other scenic routes instead.
How to ride the Voralpen-Express with your pass
- Pick any hourly departure from Lucerne or St Gallen. There's no need to check availability, because there's nothing to reserve.
- Turn up at the platform a few minutes early and look for the Südostbahn Traverso service, not an SBB InterCity.
- Board and choose your own seat. Nothing is reserved, so nothing is off limits.
- Show your pass if a conductor comes through. That's the whole transaction.
- Decide whether you're breaking the journey at Arth-Goldau or Rapperswil, or riding it straight through.
Should you break the journey at Arth-Goldau?
If you've got a spare half-day, yes. Arth-Goldau is the gateway station for Rigi, and the Swiss Travel Pass covers the cogwheel railway up there in full. You can hop off, ride to the summit, come back down and pick up a later Voralpen-Express, all without paying a franc extra.
Rigi isn't the only mountain that comes free with the pass, either. See the fully covered summits before you start booking cable cars you don't need to pay for.
Where the Voralpen-Express fits with the other scenic routes
This is the easiest scenic train in Switzerland to fit into a trip, because it asks nothing of you. Compare it to the Centovalli Railway, which is also covered but tucked away in the south, or the Lötschberg line, which does something quite different with its mountain crossing. Between them you can string together a week of remarkable window seats without a single supplement.
