Philip

We have another post (Karen Brown itinerary) currently. We think we will establish a base in Grindelwald for at least 4 nights.

Because of potential "weather problems" (and your suggestions) we are thinking about making day train trip to Zermatt (allowing us to could pick a clear day). Is this doable? How many hours would we need in Zermatt to enjoy the city and Matterhorn?

Thanks!

swandav2000

Phillip,

Not easily. The quickest connection is 3h45, leaving Grindelwald at 06.39 and arriving at 10.24. Most other connections take 4h19. I limit my day-trips to two hours by train in each direction; otherwise, I'll only remember the train & the scenery passing by windows like a tv movie. You won't get much more from this as a daytrip than if you looked at a poster of the Matterhorn.

Plus, the weather worstens during the day so you won't know if you'll even be able to see the Matterhorn when you arrive.

Train schedules are at www.rail.ch.

s

Georgine

Philip,

By train, Zermatt is 4 hours and 20 minutes from Grindelwald (with 3 changes).

Roundtrip, you are talking 8 hours and 40 minutes of travel time.

You can walk through the village of Zermatt, take the cable car to the Matterhorn, and have lunch/supper in about 3 to 4 hours.

This makes for an exceptinally long day, and you still have no guarantee that when you get to Zermatt that the Matterhorn will not be shrouded in clouds---the weather in the Alps can change in a matter of minutes.

Philip

Uh-oh! We will have a car. How long to make driving instead of train tour of Zermatt? If doable, how are roads?

Thanks for information.

Intrepid1

I suppose you could there faster in a car BUT remember that you cannot drive all the way to Zermatt which is dar-free. You'll have to park in the large lot in Tasch a few Kms out of the village and take one of the shuttle trains into the village itself (takes about 10 minutes and the trains are frequent).

There is no guarantee you will see the peak, unfortunately, because even when it is clear in the village the peak itself can be shrouded in clouds.

Intrepid1

Sorry for the tupo..that should have read Zermatt is car-free.

Intrepid1

DUH..TUPO..TYPO..too early in the morning...

swandav2000

Philip,

Same story. Of course, you know that you can't drive into Zermatt, a car-free town. You drive to Taesch, then take the train.

The drive from Grindelwald to Taesch is 2h49, then wait for the next train, then the train trip is 12 minutes.

Still too much, imo.

Driving routes & times at www.mappy.com.

s

tom22

There is no direct road between Grindelwald and Taesch/Zermatt.

There is a short tunnel (Lötschenberg), where a train transport is required for your car. You have to consider long waiting times at the train-car transport during summer times (weekends).

Kalpana_Kar

Does anybody have information (websites/links) about the train that transports cars through the short tunnel (Lötschenberg)? Like to know train schedule and fares and if they take reservation.

Kalpana_Kar

Found it!!!

http://www.bls.ch/autoverlad/index_e.html

PalQ

The shuttle goes constantly and i've watched the operation at Goppenstein several times and the shuttles were never full so i guess you just roll up and roll on and through the Lotschberg Tunnel - this being a weird major north-south european thoroughfare that has to utilize the train to tunnel under the Alps - in the near future this Lotschberg tunnel will be much longer, from Frutigen all the way to Visp, where it will emerge at the Rhone Valley before plunging into another long new tunnel under the Simplon Pass to Italy. these two new rail-only tunnels will be amongst the world's longest as Switzerland seeks to move as much road traffic, especially heavy lorries, off the roads and onto the rails on this major northern Europe to southern Europe route. New tunnels in other parts of Switzerland will mean that in the future rail travelers from Germany to Italy will see little of this cute country except tunnels.

Cicerone

I think Zermatt is ambitious for a day trip from Grindelwald. Also, if it is really not good weather in Grindelwald, there is no guarantee that it is any better in Zermatt, and as noted above, while it could be great in the morning when you leave, by the time you arrive in Zermatt at Noon, it could be different weather. I always found Switzerland to be a place where if you don't like the weather, wait five minutes. If you have car and the weather is not good, you can go to Thun or even Berne in less than an hour for an afternoon to see the lovely old towns, or the outdoor museum at Ballenberg or even Lucerne.

Also, if you have a car and you want to go to Zermatt and you get a good day, IMO to take the tunnel is a complete waste of the absolutely magnificent drive up and over the Grimsel Pass and possibly the Furka (truly great) and Susten Passes if you really have the time to do passes both ways. From Grindelwald to Tasch/Zermatt via the Susten would TAKE THE SAME TIME AS THE TUNNEL, about 3 hours. The reason the tunnel is there is for the winter travel when the passes are closed (and possibly for people from Berne who are in a hurry), so I don't see any reason to take the tunnel which could have lines and which has a charge. In summer it will be light until almost 10 pm so really if you leave early enough you could drive the passes both ways and still see the Matterhorn. From Zermatt/Tasch to Grindelwald via the Furka and the Susten would take about 4 hours. While the tunnel is kind of a hoot in itself, IMO the drive up and over at least one pass and down through the valley into Brig is so interesting that it is much more worth doing than the tunnel. However, to do this as a day trip from Grindelwald is a lot. You might want to consider an overnight to Zermatt or the Brig area of Saas Fe.

I have "done" the Matterhorn by car from Zurich for the day in summer via the Susten and Furka Passes, and while doable, it is a long day in the car, it is very beautiful and the passes are fun, but it is a commitment to time in the car. As I said, the tunnel won't save you any time (and may add time) so it's all about whether you want to commit to that much driving in a day, at least 6 hours. If you are already in the gorgeous BO and already have good weather, you have to think whether this is worth it. IMO to really enjoy the Matterhorn you have to get out of the very crowded village and do some walking up in the hills above the town.

Kalpana_Kar

Cicerone,

About your suggestion of driving via mountain passes(which btw is very enticing I should say):

I am picking up car in Taesch on 9/6 @ 5pm and driving to Stechelberg enroute Murren.

Is there daylight enough during that time of the year to justify doing the mountain pass(es) instead of the Goppenstein-Kandersteg auto-train tunnel?

How much additional time should we expect? Which pass route do you suggest we take? Also do we need to upgrade car (I have rented a Ford Focus C-Max which will be pretty loaded)?

Also appreciate your input on my other post titled "Zermatt to Murren" about whether "to GPS or not"

PalQ

No and if it's Sep 9th you're talking about then the pass could also be snowed in. I was going to take the 3-Pass bus tour from Meiringen a few years ago about that time, may a week later or so and the bus was cancelled for three days because the passes were snowed in. But should be open but seems surely would be dark by 7pm and can't see you getting there by them - the two-lane sinuous Tasch-Brig road can be slow-going as can the pass roads.

bob_brown

I drove that same trip via the tunnel in one day without much trouble.

I seem to recall that travel time to Täsch was under 3 hours.

Not a bad trip at all.

But, with only 4 nights in Grindelwald, why distract yourself with a day in Zermatt. There is plenty to do around Grindelwald-Lauterbrunnen-Wengen-Kleine Scheidegg.

Kalpana_Kar

PalQ,
I guess we will have to play it by the ear and decide depending on weather and time till sunset etc. And yes 6thSep it is, sorry for confusion.

bob_brown,
I got sold by a photo of the first light hitting the top of Matterhorn and another reflecting on Stellisee.
So we decided to drag our jetlagged selves on a 4 hour train ride from Zurich upon arrival to Switzerland and crash into the Hotel Daniela, Zermatt (actually spouse thinks we will do Gornegrat for sunset; too optimistic!) with view of the Matterhorn from room.
Next day we start early, go visit Kl.Matterhorn/RothornParadise/Stelliseeand then in the afternoon go to Taesch, pickup car and head out to Murren. Rest remains same.

Cicerone

For daylight hours, go to sunrisesunset.com. In September, days are still somewhat long, and sunset is not until 8 pm, but twilight is at 7 pm and in the mountain areas it may be dusky a bit earlier. It is hard to say how this would be for the drive, you could actually have a clear day and catch the sunset and it would be quite pretty. You are still in the first week of September, so while many Swiss feel the summer is over it is still good weather. Pass closures are very rare in September in my experience, they stay open until October for the most part. Your trip is on a weekday so traffic should be quite light. If you decide to do this, I would drive just the Grimsel Pass as this is a bit faster than going the Furka/Susten Passes, and you would most likely be able to see all of this in daylight. You can see the Furka Pass right in front of you as you are climbing up the north face of the Grimsel, so it makes for a good site as well.

However, leaving at 5 pm from Tasch will mean you will most likely be in darkness for the last bit, as you arrive into the Jungfrau valley. Even going via the tunnel you will be in darkness as you approach the Interlaken area. I am not sure this is such a great idea for people working on jetlag, on roads they don't know, and where signage is somewhat minimal. It will certainly be dark as you get into Lauterbrunnen, where you will have to find the carpark,, make your way up to Murren in darkness by cable car with all your gear and then find your hotel on foot.

I would not worry about upgrading the car for the passes, I had a Toyota Rav 4 and it did just fine on all of them. Not worth paying any more for a more powerful car unless you want to have more fun I suppose.

Do NOT use GPS as it will show you only the fastest way, IMO, not the most scenic way. If you used GPS to plot the drive from Zermatt to Murren, it would undoubtedly show you the tunnel way, which may be about 20 minutes faster overall (assuming there is no line at the tunnel), but is much less scenic. The only way to do scenic drives in Switzerland is to get a very good detailed map and plot it out yourself. Then when driving, you have to follow signs for each town along the way, as roads are not numbered.

For sunset on the Gornegrat, go have a drink at the lovely outdoor bar at the Rifflealp Hotel and watch the sun sink behind the mountain. However, I actually think that if you arrive into Zermatt by 2 pm or so, you could easily drop your stuff at the hotel, do a quick change, and then take the Gornegrat train up to the Rifflealp station and have a late lunch or snack at the Rifflealp hotel with that tremendous view, and then continue up the train to the trop of the Gornegrat and spend the rest of the afternoon there if you wanted, stopping down again for a drink later. You do have a good bit of daylight in September. There is nothing to see in the town itself beyond some watch shopping and ski gear and you don't need that. You could then do the Kleine Mattehorn the next day which would let you leave a bit earlier.

Rifflealp 222m Hotel is at www.zermatt.ch/riffelalp.

There are restaurants at the Riffleberg and Gornegrat stops as well, but I am not sure they serve all afternoon, they may only serve at set times, see if there is info at http://www.matterhorn-group.ch/en/go...ants/index.php

Kalpana_Kar

Thanks Cicerone.

I think I will check the weather and if it is fine then go via Gimsel pass.

Your suggestions for Riflealps is duely noted. All depends on what time we get there (and in what shape !)

Budman

Cicerone puts out some great information about Switzerland, but I disagree with her characterization of not to use a GPS. We just returned last month, and the GPS was invaluable.

You can program it (which we did) to avoid toll roads. Set us on secondary roads. You can also program it to avoid highways. You can program in point-to-point cities to take you the route you want.

I wouldn't go back to Europe without driving with a GPS. Never had to worry about signage, missing a turn, or arguing about which way to go on a map. If something went wrong, we shouted at the GPS.