lincasanova

anyone know prices of transport options geneva airport - zermatt for 4-5 passengers?

swandav2000

Hi lincasanova,

The train trip will be about 3h57 and these are the fares (per person): 178 chf 2nd class roundtrip (89 chf with a half-fare card) or 296 chf 1st class roundtrip (148 chf with a half-fare card).

The trains leave Geneva airport every hour at .27 after, and you change trains at Visp.

You can check it yourself at www.rail.ch.

Hope this helps!

s

lincasanova

thank you very much.

does anyone know any other options.. regular van or bus service?

brookwood

With 5, why not rent a van and drive it it?
Much more flexibility. The road after Sion slows up a bit, but you have autobahn type conditions along the route until you go past Montreux.

You turn south at Visp and drive to Täsch where everybody I know of parks for Zermatt and takes the shuttle train. The general public is not permitted to drive into Zermatt.

It is a pleasant drive along the Valley of the Rhone. The road follows the general path of the rail line.

Generally you can rent in one location and drop in another within Switzerland at no drop fee. I have done that with Avis a couple of times: pick up in Lausanne, return in Zürich or Interlaken, or vice versa.

lincasanova

am just trying to help find out tranfer options for kids going skiing. i am not sure they /or we parents are interested in the possibility of driving through snow there.

there must be bus or van service. it was just in case anyone had used a reliable one.

Ingo

Why *must* there be a van/bus service? The rail connection is so excellent, a parallel van/bus service would be a waste.

I know that Air Zermatt offers a helicopter service - just in case you can afford it

lincasanova

sorry..didn't mean MUST so strongly.. i had heard of buses to other ski areas, ( they must be a lot closer), and private vans also... (chamonix) assumed there might be other options to compare, but if there aren't.. there aren't.

i have not had luck trying to google this.

Ingo

I think there are no van/bus services to Zermatt. Maybe one of the five star hotels offers one - but not a public bus/van service.

Reason might be that the road ends in Täsch, some miles before Zermatt and you have to go the rest of the distance by train.

Ingo

PalQ

The train ride is so scenic and seamless - i really don't see the hassle on what is one of the world's finest train systems. If you drive to Zermatt you must park three miles away at Tesch - the train takes you right into town. The Swiss Transfer Ticket costs i think about $95 in 2nd class for a round-trip to Zermatt from any airport or border pt, like Geneva - that's much cheaper than regular train fare quoted above (178 Swfrancs would be about $160! - so if going by rail the Swiss Transfer Ticket (not sold in Switzerland according to sbb.ch Swiss rail website; buy here through RailEurope or Budget Europe, who i have bought many passes from and who are Swiss rail experts and don't charge RailEurope's $15 order fee) is a no-brainer. Or the Swiss Card ($132 in 2nd class) which gives you the round-trip ticket the transfer ticket does but then also gives you 50% off all Swiss trains, postal buses, lake steamers most pricey cable cars and mountain trains, of which there are many in Zermatt area - so this card could give you huge benefits. Both these passes come in first class for about $40 more. Swiss trains can accommodate your luggage easily and you can leave right from Genevea airport. The train ride Brig-Zermatt is one of the most scenic in Europe.

PalQ

I should add that Swiss Cards can be bought at stations in Switzerland - Transfer tickets cannot. But these cards are about $30-40 higher now in Swiss for the same card due to the $'s devaluation. All Swiss Passes are now much cheaper thru Raileurope than in Switzerland whereas previously the opposite was true.

kappa

Ingo is right, no regular bus/van service GVA APT to Zermatt (nor to Taesch) while there ARE many bus lines for French ski resorts. If you want to avoid the trains for whatever reasons, other option (besides the helicopter or renting a car) will be chartering a taxi-van service coming from Zermatt. You hotel in Zermatt can arrange a such which will take you till just outside Zermatt village(Zermattspiss parking? I forget the name, where only the authorised vehicle can go)and from there a elecric hotel coach or a electric taxi. I'm not sure which costs more for 4-5 persons, the train or a charter van. Your hotel can answer this.

mikemo

Swissrail pass purchased in the US for whatever time frame is a great deal, especially in the Alps in winter when drving is over the top.
I have done it both ways.
M

Intrepid1

I am sorry that I must disagree with Ingo..there are all KINDS of transfer possibilities through private companies from Geneva to Zermatt.

Go to Google and type in Geneva Zermatt transfer and you'll get the entire list of companies more than happy to take your money..and it will COST you plenty.

The rail connections are fast, easy, and MUCH cheaper. However, be aware that if you DO decide to go by rail you should steer clear of Cisalpino services as they do NOT stop in Visp and you will be forced to journey a few Kms further to Brig where you would transfer and backtrack to Visp and on up to Zermatt.

Ingo

Intrepid, of course you can rent a taxi (sort of van or mini bus or whatever) at ANY destination to ANY destination in Europe - as you mentioned they do cost a fortune. None of them is reasonably priced. (and mentioning the helicopter was obviously a joke)

I thought we were talking about sort of public transportation.

Intrepid1

The last thing I intended was to trash anything you said and if it came across that way I apologize.

Personally, I cannot imagine anyone wanting to spend the kind of money this particular transfer would take through a cab company, etc.

However, I do understand some folks' reluctance to take the train. Many people in the USA have little, or no, experience with train travel at home; or they are afraid of getting lost, etc.

I'm not sure we do enough sometimes to allay THOSE kinds of fears for people who post. The other ones who feel it is somehow beaneath them to get on a train you cannot do much about I'm afraid.

swandav2000

Hi Again lincasanova,

Well if you haven't already done this, I googled as Intrepid1 suggested, and these are some fares I found:

402E to Zermatt, 442E return (Transfer Intelligence)

371E to Zermatt, 390E return (Geneva Airport Transfer Service)

679E round trip (Thompson Ski)

Of course, you'll still have to get onto the train at Tasch.

The train, in addition to being the cheapest, is very convenient. The train station is next door to the Geneva airport, and as I noted above, you only have to change trains once, at Visp.

If you're concerned about luggage, Raileurope (www.raileurope.com) sells a product that transfers your luggage from your US departure airport to your Swiss destination. They send you the customs forms, which you fill out and put into clear plastic tags that you put onto your bags. When your bags get to GVA, they are transferred to the train station and then on to your destination. It used to cost $15 per bag. I've done this twice, and it works flawlessly.

However, I also pack one or two day's clothes in my carry on when I use the Fly Rail Baggage service.

Let me know if I can help further.

s

lincasanova

fears i post? and , BTW, i do not live in the USA., nor is it beneath me to travel on a train.

anyway... only concern would have been my kids driving in snow, but 1) have NO AVERSION to trains AT ALL.. was just WONDERING about other options.

after reading the helpful info i understand that the train is fabulously simple.
so thank you all for helping out.

especially about buying the train pass BEFORE they leave. will look into that.

other times they have taken a transfer service to ski resort hotel even though it was a LITTLE more expensive, (60 Euros/each RT) but LOTS more convenient, which seems NOT to be the case going to zermatt. (also, i think another time their plane got in at a horrid hour).

thanks again for all your help.

swandav2000

Hi Again again . . .

lincasanova, I think Intrepid1 was referring to brookwood's post and to some few others here who always prefer to drive.

Sorry I assumed you were from the US.

s

Andre

lincasanova,

There is NO scheduled bus service to/from Täsch (the road to Zermatt cannot be used by buses).

Here's a list of cab companies in Zermatt:

http://www.zermatt.ch/e/trade/62.html

Most if not all of them offer on-demand van service from Geneva airport and provide door-to-door service (you change from a van to a small electric cab at the entrance to the town of Zermatt).

HOWEVER this type of service is NOT commonly used and will probably cost significantly more than taking the train. But why not price it? Perhaps it's competitive for 4-5 people.

The costs for train travel can be reduced by purchasing a Swiss Transfer Ticket before departure. It covers roundtrip travel to Zermatt from any Swiss airport and costs CHF 120. Details at:

http://mct.sbb.ch/mct/en/reiselust/i...fer-ticket.htm

Depending on where you live (US, Canada, you may find better prices for Swiss Transfer Tickets at RailEurope.

Hope this helps,
Andre

brookwood

I agree, train is easy. A wagon to hold 5 is fairly expensive and it would be sitting in the Täsch lot on a deadhead basis.

The original post did not say teenagers were the only travelers and would therefore one of them would be driving.

Nor did it specify length of stay.

I do wonder about a situation where 4 to 5 sub adults are allowed to go flying down a mountain on skis and stay unattended by an adult in Zermatt and yet they are not capable of driving a vehicle.

I for one would not ever have allowed my 17 year old son to go off on a ski trip with only 4 of his buddies of similar age. It was bad enough when he went camping at age 21. Still darned little judgment.

Now that he has teenagers of his own, I get to a much different level of communication with him. He sounds like I do!! Except he is smarter than I was, having chosen his mother wisely. I often congratulate him on the quality of his choice.

My wife forewent her career for several years to make sure she was home during a critical time.

By the way, I do NOT always perfer to drive. Who got that wrong idea?
E.g. Munich to Lauterbrunnen by train last year, and from there to Stuttgart.
Paris to Switzerland several times, and always Salzburg to Vienna because a car is of limited use in Vienna. I can think of a few other examples, too.

Also, I was not exactly what you would call chomping at the bit to drive from Dublin to Munich!!
So I said "Hello, Aer Lingus," with my mouse.

For the record, an inclusive price for a 5 person wagon rented from downtown Geneve (to avoid airport taxes) is about $485 for a week. Can 5 people ride that cheaply on the train?
The Swiss card is 174 chf and 5 of them costs 879 chf. The car would be what?
About 600 chf? It could sit deadhead and you still come out cheaper on the to and fro cost.