Does the coronavirus affect trips to Switzerland?

Thanks Steph

I would consider the age of the travelers and whether they have pre-existing medical conditions.

# of confirmed cases is actually very high given all of Europe has about the same population as the US. Even Switzerland's number is very high for a small country.

US is 700+

Switzerland. 500+

Italy 9000+

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Also I wouldn't trust the WHO recommendations as much as the CDC. I distinctly remembered t the CDC initiated travel bans to and from China way early on, but the head of the WHO said no problem. And Europe followed the WHO, which could possibly the cause of the high # we see now. US may be under testing as well and now battling with containment.

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I recently went ahead with a conference in Malta and on the way back had to connect in Rome when the travel advisory for Italy just came out. I have a few more days to monitor myself so hopefully I'll be ok. But the flight itself wasn't pleasant. I wiped down my tray and seat using gym grade wet wipes and was super careful about touching anything without clean tissues. But there were coughs going off everywhere like fireworks, so I had to put on my surgical mask (no more N95) although it might not be really effective. I also had an empty seat next to me which helped a bit.

Anyway, weigh the risks and good luck!

The WHO map shows that the graph is developing upwards, considering France, Germany, Switzerland and of-course Italy, together these countries the reported number of positive cases are just alarming. I am 60% convinced enough to cancel my trip to Swiss between April 10- 13 .

The important links provided in the start of the thread are very useful and will watch those closely for coming week.

Thanks

Hello again,

I decided to give the Johns Hopkins interactive map a rest for a few days, but this evening I decided to take another look. The number of confirmed cases in Switzerland has jumped to 652, with 4 deaths, 4 recovered, and 644 active. The numbers nearby have increased as well, with 12,462 cases in Italy, 1784 in France, 1908 in Germany, 206 in Austria, still just the 1 in Liechtenstein, and now 60 in San Marino and even 1 at the Vatican. A bit further away in Europe there are 7 in Luxembourg, 314 in Belgium 503 in the Netherlands, 442 in Denmark, 598 in Norway, 500 in Sweden, 59 in Finland, 1 in Andorra, 2231 in Spain, and 59 in Portugal.

Hello Vigneshlabam,

I have looked at your list of 15 locations that I suppose are places you are considering to visit when you come to Switzerland. Nobody knows with any certainty which places are more or less likely to be where you could pick up the Covid-19. I would suppose that the closer you are to other people in any of these locations, the greater the risk, and conversely, the farther you are from other people, the lesser the risk. Perhaps activities outside in the fresh air, such as cruising on Lake Brienz (your number 10), or paragliding in Interlaken (your number 9), or admiring the water jet in Geneva (I think this is your number 7), would be less risky than activities in closed areas.

I was going to suggest that if you were not in a big rush to visit Switzerland, you wait for a few weeks or months for the dust to clear, but I just looked at your first post to this thread and see that we are now in the middle of the dates you were considering. So if you did go ahead with your visit, I hope that all is going well, and that when you get home, you get yourselves tested.

Just took another look at the Johns Hopkins map, which shows up to 6:33 PM (Baltimore, USA time), and I notice that the figure for France has jumped from 1784 to 2284, Austria from 206 to 246, and that Denmark has jumped ahead of Switzerland, having increased from 442 to 706, a huge number. Numbers for Italy and Germany have not been updated.

My Swiss trip is for dates 7 - 15 April. I dont understand what to do!

Should I cancel or wait till say 20th March to assess the situation?

Any advise is really appreciated. Thanks!

Hi Rohit gavas and welcome to MySwissAlps!

It is very difficult to advise for sure as we do not know what will happen. Are your bookings refundable or nonrefundable? What is the last date you can cancel your reservations (like hotels)?

If I would be you, I would wait a bit longer, as long as I can. It can change a lot in 1 week. Meanwhile please keep checking the first post's updates in this thread (written by Arno).

Thank you,

Ildiko

Hi Peterli,

thank you for the updates.

I do the same like, "no, I am not going to check today the Johns Hopkins map, no, I am not going to check it" and of course I do check every day a few times. I think if you are not panicking it is still good to know the news.

Wish you a sunny day,

Ildiko

Thanks for your comments Ildiko.

I can still cancel most of my bookings with complete refund. I am incurring minimal loss though through one of my booking.

Currently I am waiting till 20th Mar to make my decision.

Fingers crossed..

Sorry to say many tourist railways and tourist trains in Switzerland are now closing down.

Do you know if previous purchased rail pass can be fully refund?

See www.myswissalps.com/forum/topic/swiss-travel-pass-refund-policies-sbbstc

Hi everyone,

This is the mail I received regarding my reservation of glacier express. It says the price would be refunded.

Glacier Express aufgrund des Coronavirus ab sofort bis 26. April eingestellt.

Aufgrund der Weisungen der Schweizer Regierung, wird der touristische Schienenverkehr ab 14. März 2020 bis mindestens 26. April 2020 eingestellt. Davon ist auch der Glacier Express betroffen. Ab Samstag, 14.03.2020 verkehrt kein Glacier Express Zug mehr zwischen Zermatt und St. Moritz.

Der Transport durch die öffentlichen Bahnen auf der Strecke zwischen St. Moritz und Zermatt ist weiterhin sichergestellt. Wenn Sie für die betreffende Zeit bereits ein Ticket und einen Zuschlag gelöst haben, stehen Ihnen folgende Möglichkeiten zur Verfügung:

1. Schicken Sie ihre Ticket-Dokumente an unser Railservice, dann können wir Ihnen den Preis für bestätigte Tickets und Reservationen zurückerstatten.

2. Sie treten die Reise auf der gebuchten Strecke mit der öffentlichen Bahn an. Dann erstatten wir Ihnen entsprechend den Zuschlag für die Sitzplatzreservierung im Glacier Express

Für Gruppenreisen: Alle Gruppenreservationen sind storniert.

Unser Railservice hilft Ihnen gerne weiter. Bitte schreiben Sie eine Mail an info@glacierexpress .ch. Aufgrund der Anzahl erwarteten Fälle, bitte wir Sie um Geduld. Die Beantwortung Ihrer Anfrage kann länger als die üblichen 24h betragen

Glacier Express traffic will cease due to the corona virus until 26th April.

Due to the instructions of the Swiss government, the tourist rail traffic in Switzerland will cease from March 14, 2020 till at least April 26th , 2020. The Glacier Express is also affected by this measure. From Saturday, March 14th, 2020 no more Glacier Express trains will be operating.

Transport by public rail on the route between St. Moritz and Zermatt continues operations according to the schedule. If you have already purchased a ticket and a surcharge for the relevant time, you have the following options:Alternatively, you can go to the departure train station and let confirm your cancellation on your tickets. We can then refund you the confirmed tickets and reservation.

1. Send your travel documents to our rail service and you will receive a complete refund

2. You start the journey on the booked route with the public train (same train ticket is valid). You still will get a refund of your seat reservation on the Glacier Express.

For group tours: All group reservations are cancelled.

Our rail service will be happy to help you. Please write an email to info@glacierexpress. ch. Due to the number of expected cases, please be patient. Answering your request can take longer than the usual 24 hours.

Informations importantes en raison de la situation Coronavirus (Covid-19)

Sur la base des instructions du gouvernement Suisse, les services ferroviaires touristiques cesseront du 14 mars 2020 au moins jusqu’au 26 avril 2020. Le Glacier Express est également affecté.

A partir du samedi 14 mars 2020, aucun train Glacier Express ne circulera entre Zermatt et Saint-Moritz (ou vice versa).

Les transports par les chemins de fer publics sur la ligne entre Saint-Moritz et Zermatt continuent d’être assurés. Si vous avez déjà réservé et décidez de ne pas voyager comme prévu, nous serons heureux de vous proposer de modifier votre réservation :

1. Envoyez-nous vos documents de voyage, puis nous vous rembourserons les billets confirmés et les réservations

2. Vous commencez le voyage sur la route réservée en train public. Ensuite, nous vous rembourserons le supplément pour la réservation de sièges dans le Glacier Express

Pour les visites de groupes : Toutes les réservations de groupe sont annulées.

Notre Railservice sera à votre disposition info@glacierexpress. ch. En raison du nombre de cas attendus, s’il vous plaît être patient. Répondre à votre demande peut être plus long que les 24h habituels

Hi Pererli,

Thanks for your response. Considering the flight cancellation situation in place, I have preponed my departure by two days and am now back in India.

However, while I was in Switzerland from Mar 6 to Mar 13 my itinerary was as follows,

Mar 7- Zurich City tour. Visited Fraumünster Church, Museum of Design and National museum. These weren't closed.

Mar 8- Visited Maison Cailler (Chocollate Museum) and La Maison du Gruyère (Cheese Museum). Weren't closed.

Mar 9- Visited Zweisimmen and Rindenburg. Both were open. Ski activities were still active.

Mar 10- Travelled from Fribourg to Interlaken. Trains were active.

Mar 11- Visited Jungfraujoch. Wasn't closed.

Mar 12- Visited Grindelwald First and cruise in Lake Thun. Weren't closed.

Mar 13- Paragliding in Interlaken. Wasn't closed. Returned to India.

Planned activities that were cancelled-- Glacier Express.

Hello the latest news from SBB on travel restrictions and cancellations

news.sbb.ch/artikel/96331/coronavirus-restrictions-to-swiss-rail-travel

Also current status shows that the service between wengen/Grindelwald to Junfraujoch is interrupted!

Hello MySwissAlps members!

Here is excerpt link from the Swiss Federal Office of Public Health regarding the coronavirus and recommendations for travellers:

www.bag.admin.ch/bag/en/home/krankheiten/ausbrueche-epidemien-pandemien/aktuelle-ausbrueche-epidemien/novel-cov/empfehlungen-fuer-reisende.html

Take care everyone!

Suzanne

It is good to hear that you are back in India and it sounds like you managed to fit in quite a few memorable activities before your early departure. If you are continuing to read about the coronavirus situation in Switzerland you will realize that you were extremely lucky with your timing, as the number of confirmed cases is growing every day, along with more and more closures, cancellations and postponements (too late for preponements) and now the Swiss Government (FOPH) is saying that people should "not use public transport for tourist or leisure trips". As you know, most contributors to this forum very actively promote public transport instead of private vehicles. However, the pros and cons of each is another discussion, for another time.

When this will all come to an end, I don't know, but I fear it will get worse before it gets better. It would be nice if you could come back to Switzerland sometime in the future to fully enjoy it without all the restrictions and preoccupations and fears about Covid-19.

Hi Peterli,

Thanks for your comments. It is a warm feeling to know that I'm welcome in Switzerland. I would definitely plan and come back to the beautiful country in the future.

Thank you very much for this thread and your helpful information. I very reluctantly cancelled planned holiday mostly in Switzerland in May, and am in process of asking for refunds. Some were easy, still in the free cancellation period, but some had passed the time and become ‘firm”. I hope to make the trip perhaps next year, as we still want so much to come.

just wanted to say thanks for all the help and up to date information and links available via this forum.