Best travel pass for 6-day ski/train trip St. Moritz and Zermatt?
A traveler is planning a trip to St. Moritz and Zermatt from December 12-17. They need advice on the best travel pass for their itinerary, which includes skiing and traveling via the Glacier Express. Since it's their first visit, they're also looking to explore both towns as much as possible.
- Consider getting a Swiss Half Fare Card for reduced travel costs on public transport and excursions.
- Look into the Engadin Pass if your accommodation in St. Moritz offers it for free travel on local transport and ski lifts.
- Remember that there are no buses from St. Moritz to Zermatt, and regular train travel will involve multiple transfers.
- Check parking options with your hotel, as parking in St. Moritz may come with an additional fee.
AI-generated summary-
Hello everyone,
I’m planning a trip to St. Moritz and Zermatt from December 12-17 (6 days) with the following itinerary:
- 12.12 – We’ll arrive in St. Moritz in the evening by car.
- 13.12 – Ski day in St. Moritz.
- 14.12 – Travel to Zermatt on the Glacier Express (Excellence Class).
- 15-16.12 – Ski days in Zermatt.
- 17.12 – Return to St. Moritz on the Glacier Express (either 1st or 2nd Class) and then drive back home.
I’ve read a lot about the Swiss Travel Pass (Flex), Swiss Half Fare Card, and Saver Day Pass. Could anyone advise on which one might be best for our needs? There will be two of us, and we plan to stay only in St. Moritz and Zermatt without any trips outside these areas. This will be our first time in these towns, so we’re hoping to explore them as much as possible.
Thanks in advance for any help!
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I’m sure that some of the experts will answer shortly, but we were recently in St. Moritz and Zermatt and also caught the Glacier Express in Excellence Class. (https://www.myswissalps.com/activity/glacier-express/)
We had a Half Fare card (https://www.myswissalps.com/travel-ticket/swiss-half-fare-card/), and also purchased first class Saver Day Passes (https://www.myswissalps.com/travel-ticket/saver-day-pass/) for the Glacier Express day, as well as another couple of big travel days.
We bought those early though, six months in advance, which made them very reasonable. I’m not sure what the pricing would be like now.
St. Moritz (https://www.myswissalps.com/town/st-moritz/) has a deal where if you stay two nights in most hotels you get the Engadin Pass which gave us free travel on all trains, buses, cable cars, gondolas etc. I assume you could use that for skiing, but I am not a skier so don’t know. The Pass saved us a lot of money on our two nights there.
There didn’t seem to be any pass for Zermatt but our half fare card reduced the price of the Gornergrat (https://www.myswissalps.com/activity/gornergrat/ ), which was the only excursion we did there.
I do hope you enjoy Excellence Class. We thought it was amazing, particularly the food, so much better than we expected. Definitely an expensive experience, but one well worth doing.
Hi
Welcome to MySwissAlps.
One cost I hope you have factored in is the cost of car parking at St Moritz. Do you really need to drive from home to to St Moritz? (Where is home?)
I hope you also realise that the journey on what I call jokingly ‘The Gletscher Bummelzug’ takes eight hours and unlike real Swiss Bummelzugs (‘Bummelzug’ is German slang for a slow train) it will be very expensive.
As you are only doing two days travelling, I cannot see any benefit in getting any form of Swiss Travel Pass. I will be interested to see what the moderators of this forum say, but I would suggest getting half fare cards, and (if possible) saver day passes for 14 and 17 December. On top of that, you will have to pay for the reservations.
Best wishes
Roger
>>> One cost I hope you have factored in is the cost of car parking at St Moritz. Do you really need to drive from home to to St Moritz? (Where is home?)
We’re from Ukraine, and due to the war, flights aren’t available. Also, we have all our skiing equipment with us. If we were to fly from Poland, we’d have to pay for extra baggage, and renting gear isn’t ideal either, as it could also be quite costly. It’s a tough choice, but there’s a certain charm to traveling by car. 😊
Could you please advise on the best (and most affordable) places to park near St. Moritz? Thank you!
Hello again
Firstly, take very careful note of DebH’s reply. Reading other contributions she has made to this forum she is obviously a very experienced traveller! Note that she did what I am suggesting in reply 2; bought a Half Fare Card (https://www.myswissalps.com/travel-ticket/swiss-half-fare-card/) and then used Saver Day Passes (https://www.myswissalps.com/travel-ticket/saver-day-pass/) on the days which involved a lot of travelling. Her experience of the Glacier Express is very recent, early October this year.
Thank you for the extra information. In the circumstances, driving to St Moritz is clearly OK. I am afraid I cannot help with the question as to where you should park the car in St Moritz. I am hoping that others will be able to help on that point.
Very best wishes with your detailed planning.
Roger
One of my requirements for accommodation is the availability of free parking. Could you please let me know if it’s common practice to ask the property owners for permission to leave my car there for an additional four days for an extra fee? Thank you!
It seems that all seats in the Glacier Express (both First Class and Excellence Class) are already booked, so I’ll have to go with Second Class. Am I correct in understanding that there’s no bus connection between St. Moritz and Zermatt? And if I take regular trains, I’ll need to make at least three transfers, and it will only be about 1.5 hours shorter than the Glacier Express journey?
Hello
There are no buses from St Moritz to Zermatt.
On Saturday 14th December you might consider the following route from St Moritz to Zermatt. I have got it from the Swiss electronic timetable. (https://www.myswissalps.com/travel/public-transport/timetable/)
11 02 IR38 train from Sr Moritz to Chur, arr 13 04
At Chur an IC train will be waiting the other side of the platform, due to depart at 13 08. A lot of people will be wanting to make this connection. The IC train, very probably a 16-carriage double-deck, is bound for Geneva via Zurich and Bern. Travel on this train to Bern,.arr 1528. For the best views between Chur and Zurich, sit upstairs, on the right-hand-side in the direction of travel,
At Bern, use the pedestrian subway to get from track 3 to track 7. Catch the 15 34 IC6 train bound for BRIG. You get off this train at VISP, arr 16 31.
Through another pedestrian subway to track 3. Get the 16 41 RE42 train to Zermatt, arrive 17 51, nineteen minutes before the ‘Gletscher Bummelzug’ which left St Moritz at 09 42.
What are you planning for 17th?
Best wishes
Roger
Hi antagonist,
Thanks for sharing your travel plans.
Generally speaking, if you are here for over three days and a lot of travel is anticipated, then a rail pass is the way forward.
Looking at your travel plans, in addition to the replies already received, if you are sure of train departure times for example, you may want to look into Supersaver train tickets. These can be reasonably priced but do come with restrictions, they are time and date specific and should you miss the departure, you would need to purchase a new ticket.
More on Supersaver tickets below:
That said, most travellers who are here with a car, combine their trip with the Swiss Half Fare Card (https://www.myswissalps.com/travel-ticket/swiss-half-fare-card/)for their public transport travel. Of course, this will also depend on the amount of public transport planned. It may even work out, that the standard tickets are OK.
You may find this a helpful read too, scroll to “How to combine train and car”: https://www.myswissalps.com/travel/train-or-car/
The only way to be extra sure is to carry out some maths on all your anticipated train trips. We have downloadable spreadsheet you can use and thereon, the best rail pass will be displayed based on daily activities. Here’s the link:
In regard to your parking question, probably best to connect up with your prospective accommodation and ask if parking is included or subsidised. Some accommodation suggestions for St. Moritz and Zermatt can be found in the attached links below. Note, Zermatt is car free, so you won’t be able to drive directly to Zermatt. The nearest location is Täsch, thereon, you would need to take the train to Zermatt.
- St. Moritz: https://www.myswissalps.com/town/st-moritz/
- Zermatt: https://www.myswissalps.com/town/zermatt/
Below, you will find our parking guide: lots of useful information, including the option to search parking availability throughout Switzerland:
There is no bus between St. Moritz and Zermatt. Correct, taking the regular trains, yes, at least three changes will be involved. You can use the Swiss timetable to research the journey timings: https://www.myswissalps.com/travel/public-transport/timetable/
More on the Glacier Express ride in our guide below:
I hope this all helps, do reach out if you have additional questions.
Kind regards,
Yolanda
Thank you very much for all the advice. You’ve been incredibly helpful. Could you please suggest where it’s best to look for accommodation? Is booking.com and Airbnb the best option, or are there other platforms I should check? I looked on booking.com for December 14-16, and it seems that many hotels have no available rooms. Could it be that they just haven’t opened bookings yet?
And how much luggage is allowed on the Glacier Express? We’ll have two big snowboard bags and two suitcases. Is that okay?
I fear that trying to book only a month in advance during a very popular season in the skiing areas is challenging. I’ve usually used Booking.com or Agoda.com when searching for accommodations and am pleased with that process of booking rooms. I never use Airbnb.
Hi antagonist,
Storage space is limited on the on the Glacier Express. The Glacier Express suggest one piece of luggage per person and a hand luggage. Unfortunately it’s not suitable for large items such as Ski equipment, oversized luggage, bicycles / electric scooters. Best to send organise luggage transport. All explained in the link below, scroll to “Swiss luggage transport services”:
Accommodation search, did you manage to take a look at the Zermatt and St.Moritz links I provided in my reply (Nr. 8)?
Kind regards,
Yolanda
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