Glacier Express to St Moritz and onwards to Munich
A traveler is planning to ride the Glacier Express from Zermatt to St. Moritz in early October, aiming for the 08:52 departure. They need advice on whether they can transfer to their train to Munich just 24 minutes after arriving in St. Moritz and if the Glacier Express is usually on time.
- 24 minutes is enough time to transfer between platforms at St. Moritz, but purchasing a flexible ticket for the train to Munich is wise in case of delays.
- The Glacier Express is generally punctual, but plan your itinerary to avoid the stress of tight connections.
- Consider enjoying the Chur-St Moritz journey on a different trip to appreciate its unique beauty.
AI-generated summary-
Hi!
We plan to take glacier express from Zermatt to St Moritz in early Oct 2022, and onwards to Munich on the same evening.
We aim to get tickets for the earliest Glacier Express that depart at 08.52 hrs, and arrive at St Moritz at 16:38hrs. The train to Munich departs St Moritz at 17:02 hrs.
We will appreciate advice whether this is doable time-wise, i.e. getting luggage, moving across platforms and so on. Is Glacier Express likely to keep to scheduled arrival time?
Thank you!
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Hi Autumn dew,
I think 24 minutes is more than enough time to transfer from Platform 3 to Platform 1. It’s rare for the Glacier Express to be delayed, but if you are concerned about missing your connection, make sure you purchase a flexible ticket for your onward journey so you can always take the next available connection.
You can find information about travel and tickets to Germany here: http://www.myswissalps.com/traintickets/germany
Regards,
Anna
It is very unusual for someone to want to use the Glacier Express all the way to St Moritz and than back track north to get to Munich. Is it really not possible to adjust your itinerary so that this can be done some other way? I don’t know how enjoyable an experience it would be to have the stress of thinking about a tight turnround at St Moritz, only to return north by exactly the same route. Also, about 5 hours of your 6 hour journey from St Moritz to Munich would be in the dark
Alternatively, perhaps leave the Chur – St Moritz trip to another holiday some other time? The Chur – St Moritz railway (The Unesco Heritage Albula Railway) is an attraction in itself
Hi Anna,
Thank you for your reply. I’m not quite sure how the passholder fare work. Do I search for train tickets from St Moritz to Munich, and it will ask me to indicate whether I have a Swiss Travel Pass and deduct the fare from there?
Alternatively, I should buy a border ticket starting from St. MargrethenSG? The connection is St Moritz -> Chur -> St. Margrethen SG -> München Hbf.
Thank you!
Hi 1960man,
Thank you for your suggestion. We plan to base ourselves at Wengen for 4-5 nights right after landing at Zurich, before moving on to Zermatt for 2 nights. Since we are at Zermatt, we thought we could experience the Glacier Express. We deliberated whether to travel the entire Glacier Express route from Zermatt to St Moritz, or get off at Chur. We are aware it will be a backtrack from St Moritz to Chur, but we will be missing out the part from Chur to St Moritz if we don’t do so, and we don’t know when and whether we will be back to Switzerland again to do this part.
Hi Autumn dew,
That’s right. You just need a ticket from St Margrethen to Munich.
Let us know if you need further info.
Regards,
Anna
OK – its good to know the rest of your itinerary.
You are starting and ending your Swiss trip in the East but also want to visit Zermatt, much further west, which is bound to make your itinerary somewhat back and forth.
I have been to both Wengen and Zermatt many times – and both areas are wonderful of course, but as the whole world seems to want to visit Wengen these days (!), you might consider trimming some time off the ‘Wengen’ section of your trip and adding a bit of time in Graubunden/Engadine either in St Moritz or elsewhere. The mountains are just as good in that area as the Matterhorn and Jungfrau, but get much less attention…
Maybe everyone read the same online guide and forums, so the whole world head to Wengen 🙂 We are going there 1st week of Oct, hopefully the crowd has thinned
As it is now, we seem to already have a pretty packed itinerary for our days based in Wengen:
Day 1 – Morning flight from Belgium to Zurich, arriving at around 11am. Train to Wengen. Base in Wengen
Day 2 – Jungfrau; snow fun park; if possible, Männlichen playround – walk to Kleine Scheidegg
Day 3 – Schilthorn via Murren; Birg Thrill Walk; Ride Allmendhubel funicular
Day 4 – Grindelwald – cliff walk by tissot; Lake Bachalp. Toboggan run at Pfingstegg?
Day 5 – Backup day
Day 6 – Wengen to Zermatt. Overnight Zermatt
Day 7 – Zermatt (Matterhorn)
Day 8 – Zermatt to St Moritz on Glacier Express, onward to Munich
Our original plan was to stay over at St Moritz before taking the next morning train to Munich, but we subsequently decided to save a day on travelling and travel to Munich the same night. So now we have a spare day which we plan to either
(a) use as a backup day in Wengen, in case of bad weather and we can’t make it to the activities in Jungfrau region. If weather is good on all days, perhaps we can go Lake Brienz/ Lake Thun, or even Bern. My husband and I have been to Lucerne before, OR
(b) add another day to Belgium. We currently set aside 2 nights in Belgium, which is effectively only one full day. We will spend the evening visiting a family friend who stay about an hour train ride from Brussels, so we do not have much time there as well.
For Day 2, I understand that the recommended way is to first head to Männlichen, then walk to Kleine Scheidegg, before going up to Jungfraujoch. But I understand that we have to do Jungfraujoch early in the morning before the cloud comes in. I think my 6 year old girl will want to spend some time playing at the playground also. Is it a very big detour to do Jungfraujoch first then Männlichen? Or we should split that into 2 days.
For Day 4, any advice how we could pack in Toboggan run at Pfingstegg if time permits?
Graubunden/ Engadine looks beautiful! Perhaps we can go there a few years later when my daughter is older!
Thank you!
Hi Anna,
Thanks very much for your helpful reply as usual!
Hi Autumn dew,
You can do first Jungfraujoch then Mannlichen that is also OK. Only if you walk from Kleine Scheidegg to Mannlichen, then you need to walk up, it takes more time ( 2 hrs instead of 1,5) and more effort. Read more about this panoramic walk here: http://www.myswissalps.com/hiking/maennlichen-kleinescheidegg
You do not need any special for the Toboggan run, no high heel shoes, comfortable clothes, that’s all. At https://www.myswissalps.com/pfingstegg and http://www.pfingstegg.ch/index.php/en/item/23-candlelight-dinner-info you can read more info about it.
Take care,
Ildiko
Hi Ildiko,
Thank you for your advice!
For Day 4, do you think we have time to fit in the Toboggan run, and if so, how should the sequence be?
thanks!
If you get there in time start with the Cliff Walk so you can avoid the crowd. (Although I do not think that there will be a real crowd there in October). Then I would walk to Bachalpsee, so if the 6 years old needs some motivation, the toboggan can be a good cause – at least this kind of ‘trick’ works for my boys if they are bored with walking. 🙂
The toboggan at Pfinsteregg is open until 5 pm, so you should arrive there before 4 pm.
Ildiko
More about Grindelwald First and Pfinstegg: http://www.myswissalps.com/grindelwaldfirst/gettingthere and http://www.myswissalps.com/pfingstegg.
Hi Ildiko,
Got it! Thanks so much!
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