Trips to Zermatt, St. Moritz, Lucerne from Zurich?

  • Junejoanb
    Participant
    2 posts
    18 August 2017 at 16:22:08 #813001

    Good day. Can you help me with my itinerary?

    Im traveling to switzerland for 3 days and leave on the 4th day.

    I’d like to go to zermatt and st moritz and lucern

    My entry point is Zurich and booked airBNB there.

    Is this feasible?

    Sept 20: zurich to zermatt

    Sept 21: zurich to st moritz (or should i not go back to zurich to go to st moritz?)

    Sept 22: zurich to lucern

    Thank you and id really appreciate your help.

    Other details:

    Sept 19: arrival @9pm Zurich from vienna

    Sept 23: 3pm flight out of zurich

    I prefer my base in zurich. Thank you and hope you could help me…

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    Peterli
    Participant
    1206 posts
    19 August 2017 at 2:39:16 #868555

    Hi.

    Are you arriving in Zurich on the 19th or the 20th ?

    Junejoanb
    Participant
    2 posts
    19 August 2017 at 5:21:11 #868556

    19th at 9pm.

    rockoyster
    Participant
    8889 posts
    19 August 2017 at 5:43:01 #868557

    Hi Junejoanb and Welcome to MySwissAlps,

    If it was me I would go Zurich to Zermatt, Stay overnight then take Glacier Express (http://www.myswissalps.com/gl acierexpress) to St Moritz (or Chur if you want to get back to Zurich at a sensible time that night).

    Is there some reason to have Zurich as a home base? Maybe you have already booked your AirBnB for 4 nights?

    If you are not locked into Zurich then a better plan might be to go direct to Luzern on 19th and have a day in Zurich. 21st go to Zermatt. 22nd Glacier Express to St Moritz. 23rd St Moritz to Zurich to catch your flight.

    I guess it all depends on what it is you are looking to see/do in the three location you mentioned and how much time you want to spend each day going backwards and forwards on trains.

    You should check the Swiss railway timetables to help work out if your itinerary is viable. See http://www.myswissalps.com/ti metable and be sure to read the instructions before starting to access the timetable.

    Peterli
    Participant
    1206 posts
    19 August 2017 at 5:56:38 #868558

    Oops, now I see that you did mention arriving on the 19th from Vienna. Sorry about that ! So that gives you a total of three days (and four nights) in Switzerland. I assume you will be staying in Zurich the night you arrive (the 19th) and the night before you depart (the 22nd). So that only leaves two other nights (the 20th and the 21st) to think about where you might stay. Thus you are thinking of fitting in three destinations in three days. If you go back to Zurich each evening you will be eating up more travelling time that you need to. I would consider doing your trip in a triangle, going first to St. Moritz (and staying there on the 20th), then straight over to Zermatt and staying in that area the night of the 21st, and then on the 22nd go from Zermatt to Lucerne and then back to Zurich in the evening. Have you researched how long it takes to go by rail from Zurich to St. Moritz ? I read that the average time is about four hours. Same question for travel between Zermatt and Zurich ? I read that the average time is 3 hours 43 minutes. The trip from Lucerne to Zurich is very quick., but those other two will take some time, and if you run back to Zurich each day, double each of those times. Do you really want to spend over seven hours of each of those days on a train ? The train ride from St. Moritz to Zermatt is not super fast but it is very beautiful. Check up on the Glacier Express. If you decide that you are trying to fit too many places into only three days (and I think you are, with all respect) consider removing either St. Moritz or Zermatt from your plans. Personally, I would drop the former.

    Slowpoke
    Participant
    7567 posts
    20 August 2017 at 0:40:56 #868559

    Good day Junejoanb –

    All of the previous replies have addressed how to accomplish your desires, with rearrangements of itinerary to make it possible.

    As noted, use of the timetable – hopefully, with this map to get a sense of where things are – will let you understand your routings:

    map.search.ch/

    That will confirm that it is not advisable to go back and forth to Zuerich, but, rather,make a circular route.

    Peterli, in his usual gracious and thoughtful style, has discussed these issues.

    He has pointed out that you are trying to fit a lot of travel into a short time.

    I am far less graceful than the previous posters. Perhaps too blunt.

    I think that you are trying to fit in too much, and will have very little time to do anything but experience the very nice train rides. Peterli has offered a good suggestion. Skip St. Moritz. My own suggestion is that you check out the information available on this website under the tab”Where to Go” and then use the timetable as noted by Rockoyster, and the map I linked, and put together an itinerary that will allow you some quality time in the places that you suggest.

    Based on transit times, I’d skip St Moritz. It is out of the way. But, that is up to you.

    You could also consider a night in Luzern and a night in Interlaken ( or a nearby villages closer to the Jungfrau). Either that or Zermatt would take a lot of travel time. Weather might drive your choices.

    Slowpoke

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