[Anonymous]

27 May 2019 at 13:42:21 #821864

We begin/end in Zurich with 4 days travel. Looking to do the Bernese Overland trip & the Glacier Express trip. From reading forum threads Swiss Travel Pass recommended. Am not finding how to begin in Zurich and where we would connect to these two geographically different rail systems. Want to maximize the short time that we have with best suggestions for these two routes. Suggestions.

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[User]

Reply 1 of 2 • 28 May 2019 at 0:46:21 #913398

Bernese Oberland (not Overland) is a geographical area not a ‘trip’ There are hundreds of travel possibilities within the area, the best known being the Jungfrau railways.

Berner Oberland and the complete end to end Glacier Express don’t sit together too well, as you seem to have ascertained. You need to decide for yourself what aspects of the so called Glacier Express route you prefer to see.

Take care with the hyped-up marketing of the Glacier Express. It is not always the best way to ‘see Switzerland’ You can see equivalent scenery from many trains trip around Switzerland without setting foot near the Glacier Express.

It is not particularly practical to travel on the Glacier Express from a base further north (such as Interlaken or Luzern) ‘just to be on the Glacier Express’.

The Glacier Express runs roughly on an East – West axis in the southern part of Switzerland, so trying to access it from further north is falling into the trap of being lured by the hyperbolic marketing of the Glacier Express. In practice the Glacier Express is just an ‘exclusive’ train on a normal railway route with plenty of other normal – non supplement , reservation-free trains on it.

To understand the above, it is worth taking a moment to understand the Glacier Express and its history:

It was created (as one train each way daily) with the notion that well-healed travellers taking long holidays in Switzerland in the ‘Belle Epoque’ era (1930s) would stay in Zermatt and then also go and stay in the other fashionable resort of the time, St Moritz. The train was named (mainly) after the Rhone Glacier which has now melted so much that you don’t see it from the train and in any case the train runs under the Rhone Glacier in a base tunnel which replaced the Furka mountain section in 1982.

Points to bear in mind about the Glacier Express:

Although the whole journey is in the mountains, a lot of it is in valleys – where you get some good views of bubbling rivers but not all the time – there are some mundane sections.

in truth there are only 4 really spectacular sections – in order West to East:

the loops around Grengiols and Fiesch;

Andermatt – Oberalppass – Disentis;

Ruinaulta (Rheinschlucht aka Rhein gorge);

Albula north ramp loops and spirals Tiefencastel – Filisur – Preda

The trip is a long one – tourists can frequently be seen sleeping rather than watching the view and missing the spectacular bits anyway!

the same railway lines can be travelled using ordinary local trains which are no slower in practice due to the single track infrastructure

[User]

Reply 2 of 2 • 28 May 2019 at 11:36:16 #913399

Hello JandA and Welcome to MySwissAlps,

Nice to hear you’re coming along to Switzerland.

As 1960man says, the Bernese Oberland is a region, and there’s lots to see and do there. Are you by any chance talking of the Jungfraujoch?!
– http://www.myswissalps.com/ju ngfraujoch
– http://www.myswissalps.com/be rneseoberland

For details on the Glacier Express please use below link, incl. a route tab to show what 1960man explains.
– http://www.myswissalps.com/gl acierexpress

You could, theoretically, travel from Zurich to Chur, start the Glacier Express there and head to Zermatt.

OR

Visit the Bernese Oberland first, head to Zermatt from there and head back towards Zurich via Glacier Express, in both cases not doing the short Chur – St. Moritz leg of the train.
– http://www.myswissalps.com/ze rmatt
– http://www.myswissalps.com/st moritz

In both cases these will be quite long days. Use the timetable for details and make sure you read how it works, it’s a superb tool for planning.
– http://www.myswissalps.com/ti metable

Happy planning and get back to us for further details.

Best,
Steph