Shrink

Good Morning All
One thing that I have noticed in your responses to others with trip questions is "Tell us when/where you will be and we will help you plan". Sounds good to me!!
First please know that I understand that 7 days is not nearly enough to be trying to cover this much territory. Also, Next March we will do a 10 day thing to Milan and north to Interlaken area. OK -- here goes.
We leave Dallas on Nov 19th. Arrive in Zurich at 8AM on 20th. Get on train and go down thru Switzerland for a couple of nights winding up in Innsbruck on nite of 22nd, Salzburg on 23rd and 24th, on to Vienna for 25th and 26th, flying out of Vienna on morning of 27th to make connections in Zurich for the return flight to Dallas on 27th.
The problem (or at least one of them) is Switzerland. Considering we will have the days and nites of the 20th and 21st to spend in Switzerland, and considering we would like as much mountain scenery as possible, where or what would you recommend to fill our two very short days in Switzerland so we wind up sometime on day three in Innsbruck?
Austria will include sightseeing, some shopping (maybe at Xmas markets?), perhaps a castle or two and general hanging out.
All I have been working with are your suggestions to other posters and a rather large road map for Switzerland. Any help and suggestions (other than stay home) will be appreciated. Thanx.
Shrink

clevelandbrown

First, if you haven't already bought your tickets, see if you can get an open-jaw (multiple destination) fare where you arrive in Zurich and return from Vienna. That could give you an extra day to explore.

With only two days and wanting to see a lot of mountain scenery, I would suggest you spend as much time on trains as possible. The Glacier Express runs from Zermatt to Brig to Chur to Davos to St. Moritz. Excellent scenery and a very comfortable ride. The last few stops take you south, away from you next destination, so you might want to disembark at one of them.

I don't know how tired you will be after your arrival; many people just want to sleep, but I always find the trains refreshingly comfortable after a plane ride. On your arrival, you might want to train to Lucerne, which has excellent scenery and is not far. The next day you could hook up with the Glacier Express, but that might be a lot for one day.

I'm sure more experienced travellers will have good suggestions for you.

Cicerone

I live in Switzerland. Bear in mind that by November, many of the scenic trains and cable cars, esp in the Lucerne and Interlaken area, will be closed for the winter. Therefore, pretty as they are, I would avoid those areas. (For your March trip, I don't believe the cable cars and funiculars around Interlaken open until April, you should check. March is not a great month to visit Switzerland generally, IMO, too foggy esp in the mountains.)

As you only have 2 days in Switzerland, you might be better off just staying in Zurich. It will be decorated for Christmas at that point and quite beautiful. As noted below, getting to the mountain areas of Switzerland will take you a bit out of your way in terms of getting to Austria.

If you don't mind a 4-hour train ride on your first day, you could think about areas in the east like St. Moritz. From here, you can explore the lake and mountains by cable, or do winter hikes or cross-country, etc. As St Moritz is a ski area, cable cars and trains are running at that time. It is also a bit before the real ski season and Christmas, so you should find pretty good hotel prices (but it is still Switzerland).

The Glacier Express, mentioned above, goes between St. Moritz and Zermatt/Saas Fe, and is a very beautiful ride. My only caveat is that the trip takes about 8 hours, so you will spend the entire day on a train. Not sure this is the best use of your time if you only have two days, esp as you either have to get to Zermatt by train on your first day (5 hours) or from Zermatt to Innsbruck on the second (9 - 12 hours).

From St Moritz, you can get to Innsbruck in 4-6 hours by train. From Zurich to Innsbruck will take 5 hours. For rail schedules within Switzerland and into Austria, go to rail.ch, the website for the Swiss Rails. For the Glacier Express and links to other scenic trains in Switzerland, go to http://www.glacierexpress.ch

Switzerland and Austria will be quite cold to very cold in November, but I assume you know that.

kappa

Even in Novermber-March major mountain transportations are open entirely or partially(Jungrau trains & Schiltohorn, entirely in Interlaken region). Of course the wheather is the most important factor but obviously there is no garantee for this anytime of a year. November can be cold but the wheather can be surprisingly beautiful + less crowdy.

Departing from Zurich and with your limited time in November, you might like to consider the followings :

Closer desinations from Zurich :
- Pilatus (Kriens-Kulm telecabin/cable car remains open. Alpnachstad cogwheel train is closed.
- Titlis cable cars
- Rigi trains & cable cars (i don't know by heart if it remains open.)

A bit farther :
- Jungfrau trains
- Schilthorn cable car
(I know you will be in Interlaken in March.)

swandav2000

Hi Shrink,

As a bit of a contrast to the good suggestions above, I offer the town of Scuol at the northern tip of the Engadin Valley, on the same Inn river that Innsbruck sits on. Though I haven't been to Scuol itself, I have been to Guarda a few km south during a week's stay in Zuoz, far south in the Engadin Valley. I can say that the Engadin Valley is a spectacular place with a wide valley floor, steep and rugged mountains, and cozy villages of stone buildings. It is little known (at least among American tourists).

From Scuol, you can take quick excrusions to the villages and cities of the Engadin: Guarda (highly recommended), Zuoz (highly recommended), Zernez, Pontresina (recommended), St Moritz, Sils, etc. Do a text search here for these towns to see all they offer for hikes and viewpoints.

The trip from the Zurich airport to Scuol will be about 3h35, with changes at the main station and at Landquart. The trip from Scuol to Innsbruck will be about 2h30, starting with a bus up to Landeck in the Austrian Tirol and then a train to Innsbruck.

Let me know if I can help further!

s

Cicerone

I totally second going to Potresnia, a beautiful part of the country.

Kappa, I disagree about the easy ability to get up by cable and trains in Interlaken. I was looking to do this myself with my family at Christmas, and that is when I discovered that most are closed from end October (esp the Rigi trains) and the best parts of the trip are not possible. The guidebooks all say they are closed until April. I have my doubts about the accesibility to parts of the Jungfrau areas bewteen Ocotber and April as well.

kappa

Cicerone, I'm confused by your last post disagreeing with mine but did not name the transportations you think are closed. I clearly put them which are open. Insidentally Rigi was the only train I was not sure as I said on my previous post. Could you please clarify which transporations among those I mentioned are closed according to you? For example, do you know Jungrau trains are open all year round? Also I need to check with Rigi Bahn, they said they are open all year round. Since I live in CH (as you do) I don't much depend on the guide books but I check directly
with those I'm interested, actually I do that for many other European sites for that matter at this internet age.

Nidwaldner_Chris

I also live in Switzerland (near Luzern) and while several cable cars do have a few weeks maintenance in November and into early December most are up and running again by Christmas, not surprising considering most are in ski resorts. The only ones I can think of that are closed entirely from October-April/May are ones like the Brienzer Rothorn, Stanserhorn, the Schynige Platte, and the cograilway from Alpnachstad. Pilatus, Titlis, Jungfraujoch, Rigi (ski area and permenant village) and Schilthorn are generally open all year but do have scheduled maintenance from time to time. So check before you go.

For what it's worth, I think November is the absolute worse time of year to come to Switzerland...

kappa

Chris, thank you for clarifying.

Shrink

Chris
Why is November the worst time to come to Switzerland? Can you be a little more specific? We can always hang a left at Zurich and go on into Austria (which may not be any better). You are scaring me. I do appreciate the input from all you guys. With all the names mentioned above that I have never heard of, I am going to have to get out my map tonite. Thanks again.
Shrink

Nidwaldner_Chris

I've found that from mid-November into early January the weather is usually damp/wet and cold, short days, and lots of low fog and clouds to obscure much hope of actually seeing the mountains. So travel is more miss than hit that time of year. Of course there are the days when you can get above the clouds with a cable car ride and the views are really beautiful with clouds filling the valleys-but that generally seems to be most often in early Fall. I've been to Vienna in early November and it was pretty much the same story of cold and dark.