[Anonymous]

9 April 2017 at 17:27:13 #811334

I am planning a trip to Switzerland in June. We will be staying three nights in Grinderwald and then heading to Andermatt. I have a couple questions and was hoping someone can help.

1. Originally the plan was to leave Grinderwald Friday, June 2 via the gotthard Panorama Express and stay in Andermatt (we are wanting to stay here with the plan to get on the glacier Express on Saturday)for two nights before heading to Italy Sunday June 4 via following leg of Gotthard Panorama Express . However I read in a website that the Gotthard Panorama Express only runs on the weekends in June. Is this the case? And if so, would it be possible timewise to leave Grinderwald on Saturday the 3rd of June and combine parts of The Gotthard Express and Glacier Express in one day ending in Andermatt. So we can head out on June 4th to Italy?

2. What route would be recommended? Also is there a link where it tells you what the abbreviations on SBB website stand for? I tried looking at the timetable through an advanced search as recommended on the website but I didn’t understand what the abbreviations stand for.

Thanks in Advance

[User]

Reply 1 of 3 • 10 April 2017 at 11:56:11 #861182

>> Originally the plan was to leave Grinderwald Friday, June 2 via the gotthard Panorama Express and stay in Andermatt.

I don’t understand how you intend to do this, as the Gotthard Panorama Express route is not anywhere near Grindelwald. Perhaps this map of the panoramic routes might help you:

http://www.sbb.ch/content/dam /sbb/en/pdf/en_bahnhof -services/en_am-bahnhof/en_unsere-bahnhoefe/panoramic-routes.pdf

(On this map, the Gotthard Panorama Express is shown under its former name of Wilhelm Tell Express.)

>> Also is there a link where it tells you what the abbreviations on SBB website stand for? I tried looking at the timetable through an advanced search as recommended on the website but I didn’t understand what the abbreviations stand for.

Which abbreviations in particular don’t you understand? If you can be specific, you will get better information.

Alpenrose

[User]

Reply 2 of 3 • 10 April 2017 at 13:27:07 #861183

Thanks for sharing the link of the map. I ended up booking a hotel in Lucerne for Friday. We plan to head out on The Gotthard Panorama Express on Saturday morning to Andermatt. We will be staying the night there before heading to Italy the next day. Ideally I would like to make the following connections on Saturday. Lucerne to Andermatt on Gotthard Panorama Express, then Andermatt to Zermatt and back to Andermatt on Glacier Express. I am not sure if this is even possible, but if not we will just have to skip getting on any leg of the Glacier Express. I tried to see possible schedules on SBB website and choose specially to travel certain legs of my route on the panoramic trains but I see the following abbreviations on attachment under “transport type” and I am not sure what they mean. Any idea where I can find that information?

Thanks in advance!

[User]

Reply 3 of 3 • 10 April 2017 at 15:12:09 #861184

>> Ideally I would like to make the following connections on Saturday. Lucerne to Andermatt on Gotthard Panorama Express

The Gotthard Panorama Express does not stop at Andermatt. You would have to get off at Göschenen to connect to Andermatt.

Another thing to keep in mind is that the Gotthard Panorama Express doesn’t leave Luzern until 11:15. You would get to Andermatt around 3:00 pm and Zermatt after 6:00 pm. Then it’s another 3 to 3.5 hours back to Andermatt from Zermatt. If you really want to do this, consider leaving Luzern earlier and using regional trains over the Gotthard Panorama route instead of the special train. Also consider catching a train instead of a boat from Luzern to Flüelen. It depends on what your priorities are.

>> then Andermatt to Zermatt and back to Andermatt on Glacier Express.

If you are only going to do a short sector of the Glacier Express route from Andermatt, I would prefer the sector over the Oberalppass to Disentis/Mustér rather than to Zermatt. This takes much less time (a bit over an hour each way) and I like the scenery better (but that’s just my personal preference). Use the SBB (Swiss Railways) timetable to see whether your plans are feasible, and whether the Glacier Express train is an option – it might only be possible using regional trains.

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

>> I tried to see possible schedules on SBB website and choose specially to travel certain legs of my route on the panoramic trains but I see the following abbreviations on attachment under “transport type” and I am not sure what they mean. Any idea where I can find that information?

Explanations of those abbreviations are in the document I have linked to below (English explanations start on the second page). However, they are not relevant to whether a train has panoramic windows or not. The symbol for trains with panoramic windows is a triangle (see attached screenshot).

http://www.fahrplanfelder.ch/ fileadmin/fap_explanat ions/pdf-Dateien/2017/Zugcharak teristik.pdf

Alpenrose