COKim
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COKimin reply to: Lake Thun boat ride on the way to Montreux to Gare Routiere GeneveParticipant6 posts2 June 2025 at 16:19:12 #2643264
You may have your luggage with you but I would highly recommend spending at least an hour in Thun and walking down to see the covered bridges. It was a beautiful area. We did a day trip from Interlaken and had lunch in Thun and very much enjoyed that town.
28 May 2025 at 16:57:53 #2630905Last year we took the train to Meiringen and then walked to the funicular for Reichebach Falls, maybe 20 to 30 minute walk. Then we had lunch at the base of the funicular and then walked to Aare gorge entrance. This was a good 30+ minute walk. At the far end of the gorge we caught the train back to Meiringen and then on to Interlaken. Meiringen is a small town and the busses and trains don’t run as frequently so walking was the best option. It was a full day without the extra waterfall.
COKimin reply to: Bernina Express and Glacier Express are overrated (in my opinion)Participant6 posts13 June 2024 at 22:48:55 #1675808I do kind of understand what you are saying. We did the Bernina Express (https://www.myswissalps.com/activity/bernina-express/) and unfortunately it was a cloudy day and actually snowing at the top where they let us out (which actually thrilled some of the folks from warmer climates on the train). Stopping at the pass for 10 minutes in my opinion is the only advantage over a regular passenger train. I wouldn’t do it again and probably would not do the Glacier Express if we go back sometime. I ‘was’ disappointed that some guy stood by the only window you could open for photos in between the cars the ENTIRE trip and wasn’t very nice about letting anyone get to the window to also take some photos. Photos from your seat are bad because of the reflections.
COKimin reply to: Discounts on travelling to/from Italy with my Swiss Travel Pass?Participant6 posts2 June 2024 at 19:36:31 #1619941We just encountered this on our trip a week ago. The Swiss Travel pass will only cover you as far as the Swiss border. Getting to Switzerland from Como would be relatively cheap to get to Lugano and then you could use the pass from there (although I don’t know the best train route from Lugano to Zermatt). We traveled from Lugano to Milan and paid only the fee from the border, maybe $20.
We liked the Swiss Travel Pass and in hindsight we wish we would have gotten the 15 day pass rather than the 8 day Flex Pass. It wasn’t that much more and would have paid for itself. I believe it would cover Wengen too. It goes up a certain way in the Lauterbrunnen valley (Murren, etc) and then you get a discount for any gondolas above some of the towns above these towns, etc.
COKimin reply to: Should my Bernina Express ticket automatically appear in the SBB app?Participant6 posts1 June 2024 at 16:06:11 #1619368We just got back from two weeks in Switzerland and my best advice is to just have the printed copy. It gets to be a mess finding things on phones and not everyone in the group was using their phone when not on wifi. We had to figure out a system with the activated Swiss Pass Days as well as they would not store in a Google Wallet. We ended up activating them and then texting them all to me. Since I had the international phone plan, I could always show the tickets from the text. It was a little tricky figuring out a system. 😁
COKimin reply to: Where can I buy oxygen canister for altitude sickness at Jungfraujoch?Participant6 posts31 May 2024 at 22:55:48 #1616781I did some research on this ahead of time and I don’t believe the canisters are very readily available in Switzerland. I have some lung issues and can’t handle high elevations. We looked in a few stores in Interlaken for anything similar to the Boost brand found in the US and did not see anything while we were there. For that reason, we chose not to go to Jungfraujoch which is over 12,000 feet. Some say the view from Schilthorn (https://www.myswissalps.com/activity/schilthorn/) is better anyway, so we chose to go there as it is only about 10,000 feet. Also, I talked to my pulmonologist ahead of time who told me those little cans are essentially useless anyway and are just a gimmick. Being from Colorado, the best advice for possible altitude sickness is lots of hydration ahead of time and take a Tylenol for headaches. If symptoms are worse than that, you just need to go to a lower elevation.