[Anonymous]

6 December 2022 at 7:38:58 #828718

Hi,

We are family for 4 adults planning to travel to Switzerland in April 2023.

We would like to stay 3 nights each in Lucene and Interlaken, 2 nights in Zermatt and last night in Zurich, total 9 nights. We will take the night flight the next day so that we can have sufficient time for a day trip in Zurich.

We know what are the places we want to visit, our main issue is the ride for Glacier express. We wld like to take Glacier express and we understand the highlight of this ride is the scenic view in St Moritz. The ride took 8 hours and we don’t plan to spent our night in St Moritz. We try to minimise changing of hotels as it is troublesome for us to bring our luggages around. We are also opened to travel via Bernina express, as long as it can covers St Moritz. We plan to buy STP or half fare once we finalised our itinerary.

Can someone or the admin advise us how should we plan our route from one point to another and the means of transports, if we want to cover the ride for St Moritz?

Thank you very much!

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[Anna]

Reply 1 of 12 • 6 December 2022 at 10:01:44 #948763

Hi R leen,

Welcome to MySwissAlps.

That’s right, the Glacier Express from Zermatt to St Moritz takes about 8 hours. The Glacier Express route is explained in detail here: http://www.myswissalps.com/glacierexpress/gettingthere. The earliest Glacier Express train from Zermatt departs at 8.52am and arrives in St Moritz at 16.37. St Moritz is fairly small and I think you will have enough time to explore it before catching a connecting train to Zurich. Bear in mind, the journey from St Moritz to Zurich will take about 3.5 hours but there are regular train services so you should be able to find a connection that suits you. You can check train schedules on the SBB timetable.

Information about the Swiss Travel Pass and the Half Fare Card are available from the following links:

• Swiss Travel Pass: http://www.myswissalps.com/swisstravelpass
• Swiss Half Fare Card: http://www.myswissalps.com/swisshalffarecard

Let us know if you need further info.

Regards,

Anna

[User]

Reply 2 of 12 • 6 December 2022 at 13:25:55 #948764

Hi Anna,

Thank you for your reply.

Is the train station just next to each other? If not how far away?

Thanks (:

[Anna]

Reply 3 of 12 • 6 December 2022 at 19:40:12 #948765

Hi Rleen,

The Glacier Express train departs from the same station as regular trains.

Regards,

Anna

[User]

Reply 4 of 12 • 6 December 2022 at 21:34:47 #948766

You have a few choices for your trip after 2 nights at Zermatt:

1) Zermatt – Chur by Glacier Express, stay overnight Chur, Chur – St Moritz – Chur – Zurich Airport

2) Zermatt – Zurich by direct inter city train, stay Zurich, Zurich – St Moritz – Zurich airport

3) Zermatt – St Moritz by Glacier Express, stay overnight St Moritz, St Moritz – Zurich airport

[User]

Reply 5 of 12 • 7 December 2022 at 7:58:05 #948767

That’s great, Anna.

We will check out the departure time in SBB timetable.

Cheers! 😄

[User]

Reply 6 of 12 • 7 December 2022 at 8:05:01 #948768

Hi 1960man,

Noted your suggestion.

For me I prefer shorter train ride like 3-4 hours and spent the rest of the time on foot sight seeing. However for Glacier Express, the highlight is St Moritz and we just don’t want to missed it..

[User]

Reply 7 of 12 • 8 December 2022 at 0:39:31 #948769

I agree. That’s why I suggested the alternatives. Unfortunately Zermatt and St Moritz are at either end of a geographically challenging ‘direct’ route hence the Glacier Express takes 8 hours. This is why I have suggested an inter city route ( a long way round but much faster) Zermatt – Zurich, which is possible in just 3 h 21 min with just one change of train at Visp.

You don’t need to be on the Glacier Express to see the UNESCO World Heritage ALBULA railway Chur – St Moritz as the regular hourly trains have large windows and photography carriages. Zurich – St Moritz via Chur can be done in 3 h 20 min. You can return from St Moritz to Zurich via a different route (St Moritz – Zernez – Vereina Tunnel – Klosters – Landquart) in 3h 2 min.

[User]

Reply 8 of 12 • 8 December 2022 at 9:09:28 #948770

Hi Rleen,

Just a short addition to this topic: you can read about the details between Glacier Express and other, local trains here, under the title ‘Regular trains versus Glacier Express’: http://www.myswissalps.com/glacierexpress.

Take care,

Ildiko

[User]

Reply 9 of 12 • 9 December 2022 at 3:03:16 #948771

Hi 1960man,

We shall discuss and look into that option. Thanks a lot!

[User]

Reply 10 of 12 • 9 December 2022 at 3:07:42 #948772

Hi IIdiko,

Thanks for the link. Very useful indeed (:

I am so glad to find this forum and will recommend to friends who are travelling to Switzerland 😊👍

[Mark]

Reply 11 of 12 • 9 December 2022 at 14:04:36 #948773

Hi Rleen

I’m not exactly clear what a long train ride to St Moritz will add to your trip. If you just want a long scenic train ride then thats fine. However I’m not sure just a few hours in St Moritz would be worth the effort. St Moritz is basically a ski town on the side of a hill. Certainly it has a plethora of expensive shops and a large variety of hotels and restaurants, much like Zermatt but more spread out and very hilly. To me the town itself is not nearly as scenic as Zermatt, Wengen, Lauterbrunnen, Murren, or Grindelwald. You could ride the nearby cable cars to a mountain top. The views of the Upper Engadine are of course very nice from the nearby summits but not as dramatic as the Matterhorn or Gornergrat or the Jungfrau area. I definitely wouldn’t want to discourage you from visiting the Upper Engadine as I stayed nearby for several days this past September and we thoroughly enjoyed our visit. But I don’t think I would recommend a long travel day trip to spend just a few hours in st Moritz.

If you mostly want just a scenic train ride I think the moderators or 1960 Man could give you some suggestions that fit you itinerary.

Any way that’s just a personal opinion for what it’s worth.

Mark

[User]

Reply 12 of 12 • 23 December 2022 at 6:12:24 #948774

Thanks Mark (: