Best route from Zurich flughafen to St. Moritz

Hi everyone

I have 2 possible travel plans from Zurich flughafen to St. Moritz and I am still struggling to decide which will be easier! We land at 11.30 a.m. and will make time for brief lunch break before continuing on our journey so I have researched trains leaving Zurich Flughafen after 13. 00 p.m.

Alternative 1. Depart ZF at 13.18 and arrive Zurich HBF at 13.27 on platform 32, depart from 11 at 13.37 to Chur. Arrive Chur on 9 at 14.52, depart Chur at 14.58 from platform 10, arrive St. Moritz at 17.03.

Alternative 2. Depart ZF at 13.47, arrive Zurich HBF at 13.59 on platform 5, departing from 10 at 14.07 to Landquart. Arrive Landquart on platform 2 at 15.11, depart Landquart at 15.20 from platform 8, arrive St. Moritz at 17.09.

Changing trains in Chur in alternative 1 will be very easy even with our large suitcases as the platforms are next to each other. However I am worried about the change in Zurich HBF for this alternative as platform 32 is at the lower level and looking at the station plan it seems a long way to reach platform 11.

The platform change in Zurich HBF is easier in alternative 2, from 5 to 10 which is not far and there are lifts to help with luggage or we can walk to railhead and along as I remember it but the change in Landquart is from 2 to 8 in 9 minutes and there is no map of the station for me to check for lifts to use.

So my questions are: does anyone have recent experience of changing levels at Zurich HBF? (we have changed trains there many times but not at different levels) or know anything about Landquart station and whether there are any lifts?

Maggie

Hello again folks,

I think I have found answer to my own question! I decided to look up trains from airport to main station only and found one at 13.10 which arrives at ZHB at 13.21 on platform 13 which gives us a much simpler transfer to platform 11 for the train to Chur at 13.37. I had forgotten that there would be frequent trains from airport to main station!! Problem solved. I usually trust sbb's transfer times but this one seemed tight with so much luggage!

I would still be interested if anyone has had experience with these lower level platforms as I believe they are new?

Maggie

Hi Maggie!

I think you've found the perfect solution indeed :-)! You should be able to make the change as in alternative 1 in your first post, even with quite some luggage. There are several escalators on each platform at Zurich HB, helping you to move you up and down quite quickly. Even so, I'd personally prefer a more relaxed change of trains too, and the frequent connections between Zurich Airport and Zurich HB present lots of options.

By the way, I'm not sure if you're aware of the SBB's luggage transportation facilities. If you're concerned about traveling with your suitcases, you may look into such options.

Hi Annika

Thank you for your reply.

I think We will be able to manage alternative 1 now that I have found those extra options to get from airport to Zurich HB, the change in Chur didn't present problems so that's the way we'll go. Our plane doesn't land till 11.30 a.m. so too late for same day transfer - we usually manage OK having the cases with us. On the way home to UK we usually use flyrail from Thun, taking cases down to station evening before we leave (our hosts take us by car) and we get our boarding passes at the same time. So we don't see cases again till we land in Birmingham! When we arrive in St. Moritz this year we will be able to use hotel's shuttle bus from the station. I intend to enquire about luggage transfer from St. Moritz to Thun to make that trip easier. I have booked our seats on the Glacier Express to Brig and received reservations by email. Our Swiss Travel passes have arrived by post so we are all set to go!

Hope you enjoyed your trip!

Best wishes.

Maggie

Hi Maggie,

You'll definitely be able to catch the train to Chur as in alternative 1. Right, I understand you'll be arriving too late to make use of the same day luggage delivery. Well, I think you'll be fine. You're an experienced traveler and picking relaxed train changes will work.

Sounds like your trip is pretty much planned by now. A trip report would be very welcome, of course. I'm curious about your experiences in the Engadine. It's very different from the Bernese Oberland, but gorgeous in its own way.

Yes, we enjoyed every minute of our stay in the Lake Geneva region. Weather was as its best, spoiling us with a surprisingly wintry scenery in the first couple of days, and gradually changing to summer-like circumstances.