Planning a second trip to Switzerland
LeVoyageur is planning a return trip to Switzerland next summer, focusing on an east-west journey using the Glacier Express to explore Zermatt and St. Moritz. They seek advice on where to base themselves for 7 to 10 days, with a preference for quiet mountain towns that are convenient to public transport and offer good hiking opportunities.
- Consider basing yourself in towns like Samedan, Pontresina, or Davos near St. Moritz for a great experience.
- Don't miss staying in Zermatt for a few nights to enjoy stunning views of the Matterhorn.
- Look into the Swiss Travel Pass to make train travel more convenient and cost-effective during your journey.
AI-generated summary-
Bonjour,
After having fallen in love with Switzerland with a first trip that took us to the Jungfrau region (based in Wengen for 2 weeks), Ticino (4 days), Luzern region (4 days), Zurich and Basel (2 days), we are considering to go back next summer. Since we have greatly enjoyed the fact that we had train passes and that we liked mountain towns, we would like to maintain these aspects.
This time, we would like to do an east-west trip that would take us to both ends of the Glacier Express, Zermat and St-Moritz. The transit between both sides, obviously on that train. My question is essentialy related to where should we base ourselves on both ends, for 7 to 10 days. We love hiking, exploring little towns, and stay in apartments or cottages in quiet towns that are convenient to public transport.
All suggestions are welcome!
Merci!
-
Hi LeVoyageur,
Excellent, glad to hear you’re planning your next trip! The Upper Engadin area would be your obvious starting point, with various possible base towns besides St. Moritz: Samedan, Pontresina, Bever, Celerina, La Punt-Chamues-ch, Zuoz, etc. But, Davos would be an option too.
http://www.myswissalps.com/up perengadine
The Glacier Express takes you to Zermatt. I’m not sure how many bases you’d like. You can stay in Zermatt for a few nights, then proceed to Lake Geneva to really end your east to west your. Please see:
- http://www.myswissalps.com/gl acierexpress
- http://www.myswissalps.com/ze rmatt
- http://www.myswissalps.com/la kegeneva (I’d recommend the Montreux/Vevey area)
Hi LeVoyageur,
While near St. Moritz, you might find that the other end of the valley…near Scuol…would appeal for the lower tourist density and unique architecture. Nice walks at various levels in and above the valley. One that we enjoyed is to take the cableway from Scuol,near the rail station, up to Motta Naluns, then walk to the lift station over Ftan, take the cable way down to Ftan, and ride the bus back to Scuol station. Nice views over the valley.
There are some trip reports posted by Alpenrose about the area.
Here are a few random images.
We like to stay in Guarda, at Piz Bun, but have not been there since the new management took over a few years ago.
When I was there a couple of years ago, the Morgan Club based in Pontresina was running a group excursion to S-Charl. Never saw so many Mogs in one place.
Slowpoke
Attachments:
Hi LeVoyageur
I have also seen some trip reports that raved about Sils Maria, about 30 min away from St Moritz. There are many fine( and expensive) places to stay in Zermatt. We really liked the Riffelalp Hotel at the Riffelalp stop just above Zermatt on the Gornergratbahn. I think it has the finest views of the Matterhorn in the area, see my thumbnail photo taken from my room just after sunrise. Mark
<<“see my thumbnail photo taken from my room just after sunrise. “>>
Great picture. Wonderful timing.
Slowpoke
Merci! Thanks for the good advices!
Bonsoir,
Si tu es au Québec, il est toujours l’après-midi là-bas. Arno mentioned the Montreux/Vevey area if you plan to spend some time in the area of Lake Geneva (Lac Léman) and this area and some of the villages up from the lake and the Phône River in the Valais are really nice. I think you would enjoy some places up in the smaller valleys to the south of the Rhône.
However, the main reason for my posting to this thread, is to tell you that from July 18 to August 11, 2019, la Fête des Vignerons will be taking place. You usually get one or two chances in a lifetime to go to this (the last ones was in 1999 and the one before that was in 1977). I’ve given you the link to the French website but if you check at the top of the home page you will see that English, German, and Italian are also available. Vevey will definitely not be a quiet mountain village (it never is) but perhaps you might be interesting in seeing another side of the country. Here in Romandie the official language is le français, and you will have fun listening to the various Swiss versions of it. The people there will notice your Québécois accents and you may be surprised how many of them have relatives or friends in Québec.
Hello Slowpoke,
It’s too bad somebody couldn’t come up with some software to eliminate power lines from photos. More and more often they are having their effect on the landscape. And the new challenge will be the aeolian emplacements.
Nice composition in your photo of Scuol (0532).
Hi Peterli-
<<“It’s too bad somebody couldn’t come up with some software to eliminate power lines from photos. “>>
Nice composition in your photo of Scuol (0532).”>>
Photoshop can do it, but it takes so0me additional clean up after the power lines are removed.
<<“Nice composition in your photo of Scuol (0532).”>>
Thanks. It gives a good feeling for the scene and the high mountain sunshine with hard shadows.
I think I like 597a a small bit better, because the street gives the eye something to follow into the scene.
Slowpoke.
Attachments:
Hej Slowpoke,
597a is very nice as well; I like the way some of the scene is in sunlight and other parts are in the shade, creating nice contrasts.
You and Photoshop did a nice job of getting rid of those power lines.
It’s almost midnight so time to leave this site and to faire do-do.
- The thread ‘Planning a second trip to Switzerland’ is closed to new replies.
