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Hi Blonde Gypsy and welcome to mySwissAlps.com!
The Glacier Express travels from Zermatt to St. Moritz, but unfortunately there’s a maintenance break from late October to mid-December: http://www.myswissalps.com/glacierexpress/gettingthere. You can still follow this route if you choose local (nor panoramic) trains, but the route will be a bit longer than the one via Zürich.
Beginning of December the fastest route takes 6 hrs 32 mins, with 3 changes: Zermatt – Visp – Zürich HB – Landquart – St- Moritz.
Usually the ski season starts beginning – middle of December but it depends on the weather and snow conditions.
Perhaps you can also ski at Titlis, on the Glacier, but they haven’t announced the ski season start yet, due to the warm weather.
Close to Zermatt there is Saas-Fee, they usually open their ski pistes in November.
From Saturday 29 October 2022, several lifts will be open in Arosa Lenzerheide at weekends.
Davos – Kloster will olso open in November.
At http://www.myswissalps.com/wheretogo/winter you’ll find useful information about the different ski resorts (those above and also others).
I hope this helps,
Ildiko
MySwissAlps.com recommends reading this: Skiing in the Swiss Alps – Beginner’s guide
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It is worth looking at the map of Switzerland. Zermatt to St Moritz is one of the longest rail journeys in Switzerland, due to the shape of the country and the geography. Due to these factors, it essentially takes a whole day to get between the two.
The fastest way to get from Zermatt to St Moritz is to go in a large arc around the lower altitude parts of Switzerland. Even then the shortest journey time is 6 1/2 hours.
Also please note that there can’t be ‘no trains’ on December 1 and 2 as the main line railways in Switzerland run 365 days a year.
It is also worth noting that the ski area around St Moritz is very spread out, so I don’t really recommend it as an ideal skiing destination for a short visit.
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Hi Blonde Gypsy,
I agree with Ildiko’s suggestion to head to Saas Fee as an alternative to St Moritz. From Zermatt, you can get there by public transport in less than 2 hours so you won’t have to spend too much time in transit.
The ski season in Saas Fee starts end of October.
Regards,
Anna
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Thank you for the feedback. Yes, I looked at the map and saw the train route and I will check out the options. My friend that is joining me really wanted to see St. Moritz as well so I wanted to see how d0-able it or possible it was as well as offer an altenate itinerary. knowing that st. moritz is spread out is a good thing to know as well. I will look into Saas fee 🙂 St moritz was a wish list for him, but he can visit it another year. 🙂 We might spend more time in Zermat if we love it and maybe Saas Fee for a day since it is close by. (I’ll likely want less travelling time since I’ll be at course for 5 days already near Lucerne… hopefully i can see some sights near there also. – its actually in Wegis)
Thank you again,
Heather
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Wow – you’re in luck if you are on a course in Weggis! The lakeside hotels are lovely. Any spare time you have can be used to gaze at the lake. You won’t see the paddle steamers as they ‘hibernate’ for the winter, but there will still be 7 – 9 boats each way every day, including morning and evening ‘rush hour’ boats for commuters!
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cool! nice to know. Yes, my osteo course is a the monastery hostel education center. 🙂 I will love watching the boats!
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OK, I’m not aware of a monastery so you might not be staying in Weggis itself, but you will probably be near the lake for the views.