[Removed user]

13 July 2019 at 18:20:30 #822828

Good day, I would like to take the boat from Flüelen coming from Zermatt, but did not necessarily need to take the Gotthard Express. Is that the best way or can I just go to Flüelen and take a boat from there?

The Express seems to take twice as long as a regular train to Lucerne is that due to the boat leg?

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[rockoyster]

13 July 2019 at 20:52:46 #917709

To do that you would want to go from Zermatt to Andermatt to Göschenen to Flüelen to Luzern.

You are only on a short leg of the Gotthard Panorama Express route from Göschenen to Flüelen so just take a regular train.

See “Gotthard Panorama Express and Glacier Express route in one day” at http://www.myswissalps.com/go tthardpanoramaexpress/ gettingthere.

The boat trip takes 3.5 hours so does add to the trip. That is definitely not the fastest way to get from Zermatt to Luzern.

Use the timetable on the SBB website (bit.ly/2HH1U7B) or the highly-recommended SBB Mobile app (bit.ly/2ICIUHi) to plan your travel.

http://www.myswissalps.com/ti metable

[Removed user]

13 July 2019 at 23:53:45 #917710

This all rather depends on what your actual plans are. Are you doing a two-centre trip spending time in Zermatt, then in Luzern? If so I would treat the transfer day** as just that, then do the lake activities around Luzern as separate excursions once you are in the area. I think it would be more relaxing for you that way.

** I posted the text below for another forum visitor thread on here, so you need to reverse the steps:

I would advise you to limit your journey Luzern – Zermatt to the ‘regular’ route. You will see more than enough scenery going that way and it is not always a great idea to go ’round the houses’ on a ‘link’ day.

Step 1

Take a Luzern – Interlaken express hourly train from Luzern

Route: Brünig railway line

Views: various lakes, steep incline sections, fields, forest etc

Step 2

Change at Interlaken Ost into any train Interlaken – Spiez

Route: BLS railway Interlaken branch

Views: Thunersee (Lake Thun). Sit on the right hand side of the train on leaving Interlaken

Step 3:

Take the BLS Lötschberger unit train Spiez – Kandersteg – Brig

Route: Lötschberg mountain route

Views: spirals and loops at Blausee-Mitholz on the ‘north ramp’ between Frutigen and Kandersteg; famous view of Rhone valley on descent from Goppenstein to Brig (sit on the right hand side of the train to get this view)

Step 4:

At Brig, make your way out of the front of the station to the station forecourt. The Zermatt railway line platforms are situated in the street. Take the hourly Brig – Zermatt regional train

Route: Brig – Visp – Zermatt railway operated by MGB (Matterhorn Gotthard Bahn)

Views: Mattervispa river valley, river rapids, hillsides, valley, chalet gardens backing on to railway, smallholdings with goats and other animals, rack sections

[Removed user]

13 July 2019 at 23:54:57 #917711

If you are travelling from Zermatt to Luzern you should ignore the Gotthard Panorama Express completely.

I have some personal views on the GPE as follows:

Gotthard Panorama Express – a personal view

This is ‘take it or leave it’ advice:

Personally I am sceptical of the attraction of the Gotthard Panorama Express. It is an attempt to keep some tourism going on the Gotthard ‘mountain route’ since the rest of the fast trains now go through the base tunnel. However, you see mainly valleys not high mountains. Also it is reservation obligatory and first class only.

Also, the train gets rather lonely – part of the ‘romance’ of the Gotthard route previously was that your train competed for space on the line with huge long international long-distance trains carrying 000s of passengers a day between northern and southern Europe, and those passenger trains interacted and weaved in between dozens of heavy freight trains lumbering back and forth across the Alps.

The curiosity was seeing another train high above you one minute then a few minutes later passing by your train on the same level, then perhaps seeing it again below you a few minutes after that. It is this that no longer happens as there are so few trains left on the line.

[Removed user]

14 July 2019 at 11:46:48 #917712

Hello Tbone1311,

Apart from all the valuable input already received here a quick answer to your question about “just boarding a boat in Flüelen”. This is of course possible, providing you have a valid ticket. To find out the best timing for that I recommend you do two searches in the timetable provided above by Rockoyster.
1. Zermatt – Flüelen See
2. Flüelen See – Lucerne, you can change the transportation to “only boat”, in order to see the connections.

Also see:
– http://www.myswissalps.com/bo atlakelucerne