My plans for Switzerland

Old Mar 6th, 2012, 05:15 AM
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My plans for Switzerland

I will be entering Switzerland after 3 weeks in Italy - Milan to Spiez.

After much research on this site and reading Fodor's Switzerland (from the library) etc I think have put together a plan for my trip to Switzerland. My interests are art, museums, scenery and people watching, eating and drinking. Because of some physical limitations train travel is ideal for me - an interesting rest after art etc.. I also need a base whereby I do not have to battle often with luggage,

I think I shall base myself in Spiez. From Spiez I would be able to travel to Winterthur, Zurich, Berner Oberland, Basel, Laussane, Geneva, Bern, Luzern. When I leave Spiez I hope to use baggage service to Locarno. I believe I can travel to Luzern, William Tell Express to Locarno - relax for a few days. Baggage service to Chur. Train Locarno to Lugano, Palm Express to St Moritz. Train to Chur. Bernina Express the next day. Exit Switzerland from Tirano to Milano. Interesting that I suddenly become a senior citizen on train travel as I exit Switzerland (International Travel). Are they trying to get rid of me? I shall be in Zwitzerland for 21 days in June.
I hope then to spend a couple of days in Milan so I can commute to Stressa for a boat tour.
Then from Milano to Rome to fly home.
I have a few questions however- can anyone could help please?

I've done my spreadsheeting and I believe the Swiss Pass is the way to go for me. If I'm understanding Swiss Pass correctly Consecutive Pass wil allow me to travel daily? Can anyone confirm this for me please?

Also what temperature range will there be in Switzerland at that time?

I also had an ambition to get to Disentis/Muster by train, back to Andermatt and back to Interlaken via bus from Meiringen. I found I could get to Disentis/Muster on regular train but could not find a way back to Andermatt. Glacier Express runs through at an appropriate time but it's my understanding that it does not stop at Disentis/Muster and it appears there is no bus at that time from Disentis/Muster to Andermatt/Meiringen. Does anyone know anything about this please?

Hoping all those travelling are having a wonderful time and the rest of us have success with our planning.
Thanks all
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Old Mar 6th, 2012, 07:04 AM
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Hi 2012moving,

I think you still have some quirks in your itinerary.

You will be covering the same territory going from St. Moritz to Chur, then the next day going from Chur to St. Moritz on the Bernina Express.

Am I understanding you right that you want to do:
Spiez-Disentis-Spiez in one day? It will take you 3h to get from Spiez to Disentis, then about 4h to get back again. That's an awful lot of train travel just to go sight-seeing.

And, actually, the trip is faster from Chur. The trip from Chur to Andermatt only takes 2h40 each way.

If you want to keep your schedule and find a way from Disentis back to Spiez, just use the Swiss rail site:

www.rail.ch

and enter

From Disentis
To Spiez

It will show you all the available options. There is a train at 13.14, 13.44, 14.14, 14.44, etc.

Have fun as you plan!

s
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Old Mar 6th, 2012, 09:38 AM
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Some observations: Did you check where exactly your accommodation in Spiez is? The train station is up on the hill, the village stretches down toward the lake. There are a few hotels near the train station but also some down by the lake. (Just because you mentioned physical limitations.)

Agree with Swandav on Chur/Bernina Express. Makes no sense to me, better stay in a village near St. Moritz. The Palm Express stops in Sils e.g. Bus connections from there to St. Moritz train station for the Bernina excursion are timed.

Yes, the Swiss Pass for x consecutive days will allow you to travel daily.

The weather is not predictable. June can be rainy and cool-ish, with snow in the mountains, or really hot. Usually it is somewhere between +20 and +25 Celsius in the cities and a mix of sun and clouds with some rainy days.

Believe me, Disentis is not really spectacular and worth such a long trip. There are other sights near Spiez that are worth your time. Castles like Oberhofen, Spiez, Thun. Towns like Solothurn, Fribourg. What about Montreux and castle Chillon? Or add a day to your stay near St. Moritz and see the Benedictine convent Müstair, an UNESCO world heritage site.

I.
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Old Mar 6th, 2012, 02:48 PM
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Thanks for your suggestions. It's 07:20 where I am here in Australia. I'm off to German classes this am so shan't be back to this forum until tonight.

In the meantime can you please tell me whether Glacier Express trains on timetable would stop for boarding/disembarking at Disentis/Muster and Andermatt? This appears to be critical to my planning. I'm not looking for Panorama just transport.

I'm interested in Andermatt-Disentis/Muster piece of Glacier Express route because it sounds the most interesting section to me. Have also considered an overnight at Andermatt. Tossing up whether to do from Chur (extra overnight at Chur) or from Spiez with an overnight at Andermatt.

Big question: would a 22 day Swiss Pass cover my travel from for example 1 June to 22 June? Probably a silly question but just double checking.

As regards Spiez and its hill - good comment. I had a vision of it's being on a hill (lake views!) and had hoped that I had chosen a hotel that was close enough to the station. Does anyone know if Seestrasse has reasonable access to train station? Also are there many stairs to negotiate at Spiez train station?

Also forgot to mention that I will be travelling to Montreux from Spiez (ie not from Luzern) using Golden Pass route). I shall be "doing" Golden Pass Spiez to Luzern on another day. Also may travel to Zermatt depending on how much time my art days take.



Thanks for comments.
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Old Mar 6th, 2012, 08:13 PM
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Hi again,

I'm not sure how to phrase this so that it's clear.

There are lots of trains that allow boarding/disembarking at both Disentis and Andermatt. Just use that town name as your destination/departure point. Use the Swiss rail site to find the trains that are available. As you say, it doesn't have to be a GE train, right? Just any train that will take you to that point and bring you back. Use the Swiss rail site and enter

From Spiez
To Disentis

and then

From Disentis
To Spiez

As I stated above, there are four trains departing Disentis just within two hours

s
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Old Mar 6th, 2012, 08:49 PM
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<swandav2000> Thanks - I agree that there are trains from Disentis to Spiez at those times. My confusion is that when I look at the timetable the Glacier Express appears as the connection Disentis to Andermatt. When I look at the timetable for Glacier Express itself it has asterisks denoting boarding and disembarking stops. If I'm interpreting this correctly it seemed to me to say there is no boarding or disembarking at Disentis or Andermatt. I'm obviously missing something here. I appreciate your patience.
Thanks
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Old Mar 6th, 2012, 09:05 PM
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Hi again,

Ah! Ok, I see what you mean now.

However, I'm assuming that it doesn't matter if the train is a Glacier Express or not . . . is that right? Remember, there are lots of trains that go over the same tracks, so the trains that best fit your schedule may not be GE at all. In fact, in the SBB scheduler, the trains for that query are regional trains or InterCity trains and not GE.

I don't think you need to have the GE experience to see the landscape. When I took it, I turned off the speaker with the monologue -- it just wasn't that interesting. The lunch onboard was awful. If you are doing this as a day-trip and not carrying luggage, I think you would be fine with the regular trains.

But. I so agree with Ingo above. There are spectacular things to see that are much closer to Spiez, and it seems like a bit of a waste of time to see the landscape through a tv-sized window -- !

Hope you get it worked out!

s
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Old Mar 6th, 2012, 10:16 PM
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(ingo> how would I transport myself and my luggage to villages outside St Moritz? - seems to me that this could create problems for me.
(swandav2000) I agree - I'm not into the total Glacier Express experience. But I'm not seeing IC trains, I'm seeing only Glacier Express trains. I think I may have just figured out why you and I are seeing different things. I'm looking at the timetable in June. And at the times I am looking it appears that all trains are Glacier Express. It seems that the regionals (IC) commence again at 14:14. Are you looking at the current timetabling? Anyway I may give up on the whole idea.
Thanks for input
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Old Mar 6th, 2012, 10:26 PM
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Hi again,

For instance, the train that leaves Spiez at 08.36 and arrives at Disentis at 12.36 on 9 June is a combination of InterCity & Regional.

The train that leaves at 08.25 is a combination of InterCity and GE.

The return trains seem to be all GE from Disentis.

But I'm not sure why that matters. If the SBB says it is a valid connection, then they will stop to pick you up.

Here's the website for the Fast Baggage service:

http://www.sbb.ch/en/station-service...t-baggage.html

Click on the link to see which stations offer Fast Baggage.

If you just want regular (two-day) service, here is the link:

http://www.sbb.ch/en/station-service...itzerland.html

s
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Old Mar 6th, 2012, 10:37 PM
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Thanks. I shall decide on whether to bother with Disentis and Andermatt when I get there. I already had the info on baggage services and it appears it will do what I need.
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Old Mar 7th, 2012, 01:43 AM
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For the benefit of others who (unlikely) have ambitions for Disentis/Andermatt.
I emailed Glacier Express.
Their response:
"Thank you for your mail and your interest.
You can board and deboard in Disentis. From Disentis to Andermatt you can travel with regional trains because the journey is to short to travel with Glacier Express train. You can travel from Disentis to Brig or from Thusis to Andermatt."

So you would need to wait until Glacier Express trains had passed through and then get on a Regional.



If you have furthur questions do not hesistate to contact us again.





Best regards



Francine Hurni

Rail Center



Matterhorn Gotthard Bahn
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Old Mar 7th, 2012, 02:07 AM
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Oh, I'm sorry; I thought you had a question about getting to one of the smaller villages around St. Moritz. I was rushing out to catch a bus to go skiing, so my answer was even less comprehensible than usual.

Anyway, depending on which village you would chose, you would just take the train/bus there, and the SBB will transfer your luggage. If it were me, I would base in beautiful little Sils or maybe larger Pontresina. Just use those names in the SBB scheduler to see the connections.

s
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Old Mar 7th, 2012, 04:11 AM
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I also liked Samedan very much as a potential base with good rail connections.
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Old Mar 7th, 2012, 09:37 AM
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> (ingo> how would I transport myself and my luggage to villages outside St Moritz? - seems to me that this could create problems for me.

How do you transport yourself and your luggage to St. Moritz? I told you the Palm Express bus stops in Sils, didn't I? About 10 minutes before the bus arrives in St. Moritz it reaches Sils. It's just the same procedure as in St. Moritz. An advantage of Sils is that the village is much smaller and not up on a hill compared to St. Moritz. There are some nice hotels right next to the bus stop.
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Old Mar 7th, 2012, 01:08 PM
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Geneva didn't do a thing for me. Lausanne is nicer but still a fairly large and spread out city. I'd suggest visiting Vevey/Montreux instead for that little part of the trip. All four places are right along Lac Leman and on the train line.
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Old Mar 7th, 2012, 02:09 PM
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Big question: would a 22 day Swiss Pass cover my travel from for example 1 June to 22 June? Probably a silly question but just double checking.>

Yes my calendar says that if you start it on June 1 the pass would expire on June 22 at midnight - you could use it all day on the 22nd. Again like in other threads many questions about Swiss Passes and check out these fine sites for answers - www.budgeteuropetravel.com; www.swisstravelsystem.com; and www.ricksteves.com.
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Old Mar 8th, 2012, 07:40 AM
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Geneva, Lausanne, Zurich, etc are all swell spick-and-span clean modern cities that I do love putzing around but they are large cities and folks who want to see the dreamy Switzerland etched in their minds' eyes will not find it in those places - cities which are also extremely expensive for hotels, restaurants, etc.

The Alpine resort areas actually IME have a much wider scale of accommodations including often many budget ones that just do not exist in large cities.

So for a first-time Swiss visitor I would say head for the hills as a priority - to the Interlaken area or Zermatt, etc. to fulfill what you are expecting to see in Switzerland.
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Old Mar 8th, 2012, 09:22 AM
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Ah yes Palenq - I shall be spending some days in Interlaken and a trip to Zermatt.
The cities are simply me chasing art and museums. That is important for me.

Off topic somewhat but I am fascinated to learn tonight that is cheaper to buy a Swiss Pass through Rail Europe USA website than it is through the Australian website. Very perplexing when you consider that $1.00AUD =$1.06USD (actually yesterday I believe it was $1.10) and $1.00AUD=0.96683CHF and $1.00USD=0.9089CHF.
Any thoughts?
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Old Mar 8th, 2012, 01:08 PM
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But will RE send the pass to you in Australia? I think not since their operation in Australia will lose out - but yes for much of the past several years Swiss Passes have been significantly cheaper if bought in the U.S. thru RailEurope or their agents than for the exact same pass bought in Switzerland - why I do not know but I have tracked it constantly. This is not always true however and at times the Swiss prices were cheaper and if so just wait until landing at a Swiss airport and buy the pass then at the airport train station - keep in mind the 3% many cc's charge for foreign transactions and in comparing costs never take the official rate from the paper or online as that is the inter-bank rate and you always get a slightly worse rate in Europe.

So go to www.swisstravelsystem.com and check on prices for your pass in CHF - Swiss francs and see if it is cheaper than buying Down Under.

And put another shrimp on the barbie, mate and tie that kangaroo down and watch out for those nasty dingo dogs!
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Old Mar 9th, 2012, 09:21 AM
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2012- Yes I see why you are doing cities like that and you are staying at least 22 days so lots of time for cities too - I especially enjoy Bern - to me the nicest large city in Switzerland - one with real character and lovingly set on a roaring river - check out the new Paul Klee Museum, much raved about, and the Bear Den - the bear being the symbol of Bern.
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