[Removed user]

17 November 2017 at 7:22:50 #813688

Morning All,

I would appreciate some assistance as to the best route/Train to use to do the following. My husband and I will be arriving in Switzerland on the 21st January 2018 to enjoy 5 days seeing your beautiful country that we fell in love with when we had our summers holiday there in June 2017. This is what we are planning on doing but not to sure about the best route that allows us time to enjoy each area.

Itinary

Monday 22nd Jan 2018 -Zurich to Mt Pilatus – spend the night

Tuesday 23rd Jan – Mt Pilatus to Zermatt – Spend the night

Wednesday 24th Jan – Zermatt to St Moritz

When looking at the travel times it seems that a most of the day is spent in the train and not much in exploring the different areas. I am open to suggestions, maybe there are other areas worth visiting that can be recommended that maybe has shorter travel times…. These places are the common tourist areas, but am very happy to go to non tourist areas as it is always beautiful to see other places.

We are not skiers, so seeing the above places is just for the beauty and possibly getting involved in non skiing activities.

Thanking you in advance for your suggestions and ideas

Regards

Cheryl

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[Removed user]

17 November 2017 at 16:14:36 #872116

Hi Cheryl and welcome to MySwissAlps!

I’d be tempted to not visit those 3 destinations in just 5 days. For such a short stay I would limit myself to two destinations max. Otherwise as you note you spend most of your time in a train – use the timetable to see exactly how much.

You don’t say where you were last June but I’m assuming it was a different region(s) of the country that you don’t need/want to see again?

Where are you planning to stay on the 21st and 25th?
Luzern and Zermatt, If you haven’t been there before are, I think worth 2 nights for sure if you can. Then you could take the Glacier Express up to Chur and back to Zurich. I might choose between Zermatt and St. Moritz & not necessarily try to do both on such a short trip – they are similar, both being high-end ski resort towns but Zermatt also has the Matterhorn…

[Removed user]

18 November 2017 at 1:45:32 #872117

Hi Cheryl,

>> My husband and I will be arriving in Switzerland on the 21st January 2018 to enjoy 5 days seeing your beautiful country … Monday 22nd Jan 2018 -Zurich to Mt Pilatus – spend the night

Do I understand correctly that you will be staying up on top of the mountain? If the weather is clear, that will be wonderful. If the hotel is in the clouds – not so much.

As the cogwheel railway will not be operating in January, you will need to ascend and descend by cable car, and might like to consider the following:

• When there are high winds, the cable car is shut down. This might not happen at all while you are there, but if it does, it might throw a spanner in the works in terms of getting to Zermatt the following day at a reasonable time.

• You will need to get a bus from Luzern railway station to Kriens, and then walk to the Pilatus cableway valley station. That is a 10-minute uphill walk. If you don’t fancy the walk with luggage, a taxi from Luzern railway station to the Pilatus cableway valley station might be worthwhile.

>> Tuesday 23rd Jan – Mt Pilatus to Zermatt – Spend the night

The earliest departure from Pilatus Kulm to get you to Zermatt will be 9:45, and you would reach Zermatt at 14:14. Sunset is around 17:15, so you won’t have a lot of time in Zermatt during daylight hours if you are leaving again the following morning.

To maximise sightseeing in daylight, you could think about putting your luggage in the lockers at Zermatt station, and going straight up to one of the mountains, leaving hotel check-in until after sunset.

>> Wednesday 24th Jan – Zermatt to St Moritz

This will be a lovely trip in the snow, taking the best part of 8 hours. If you take the Glacier Express, reservations are compulsory, and you will arrive in St Moritz not much more than half-an-hour before sunset, so you won’t see much of the surrounding scenery in St Moritz.

While St Moritz Dorf is an attractive town, the best thing about the area (in terms of sightseeing) is taking the mountain transport up to one or more of the mountain tops in the area. If you arrive shortly before dark and leave again the next day, you will miss so much.

If you stay more than one night, you can get a special deal on mountain transport:

http://www.myswissalps.com/fo rum/topic/discounted-st-moritz-ski-pass-with-hotel-bookings

http://www.engadin.stmoritz.c h/winter/en/hotel-and-skipass/

Alpenrose

[Removed user]

20 November 2017 at 6:04:40 #872118

Morning Lucas,

Thank you for your reply, and all the information given. We have decided to go to Murren and Zermatt and spend 2 days in each…This way we can at least enjoy both. Then on the Friday travel from Zermatt to Zurich.

Regards

Cheryl

[Removed user]

20 November 2017 at 6:11:00 #872119

Morning Alpenrose,

Thank you for all the useful information given, this will really help us, it is much appreciated.

Regards

Cheryl

[Removed user]

20 November 2017 at 9:27:11 #872120

I’m sure you’ll enjoy yourself – happy travels!