Palenque's Scenic Swiss Trains
May 10th, 2008, 06:08 AM
#201
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A NOTE ON SWISS POSTAL BUSES
Like the ones that run this route - the distinct yellow buses like the Beatles put on one of their covers
the buses with the ooog-gah horns they sound when going around sharp curves to warm oncoming traffic to get the heck out of the way
These postal buses, yes run by the Swiss post office, used to carry mail and perhaps still do but they are also Switzerland's bus service, running from train stations to every burg in the country - if you can't get there by train you can by bus.
Swiss Passes are valid in full on the overwhelming number of postal buses, though in Alpine areas like with the Three Pass Bus thing from Meiringen there is a surcharge of SF10 called an Alpine Ticket levied on passes.
reservations are sometimes required but often not. Conflicting info on whether the three pass buses require reservations but in Meiringen at the bus depot i asked and they said reservations are not required and somehow they put more buses on, etc.
More on buses to follow
Like the ones that run this route - the distinct yellow buses like the Beatles put on one of their covers
the buses with the ooog-gah horns they sound when going around sharp curves to warm oncoming traffic to get the heck out of the way
These postal buses, yes run by the Swiss post office, used to carry mail and perhaps still do but they are also Switzerland's bus service, running from train stations to every burg in the country - if you can't get there by train you can by bus.
Swiss Passes are valid in full on the overwhelming number of postal buses, though in Alpine areas like with the Three Pass Bus thing from Meiringen there is a surcharge of SF10 called an Alpine Ticket levied on passes.
reservations are sometimes required but often not. Conflicting info on whether the three pass buses require reservations but in Meiringen at the bus depot i asked and they said reservations are not required and somehow they put more buses on, etc.
More on buses to follow
May 10th, 2008, 08:22 AM
#202
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THE THREE PASS BUSES - You can do it on your own or take special tours such as the one by:
Jungfrau Tours AG. Strandbadstrasse 3. 3800 Interlaken. Switzerland ... This yellow postal bus crosses three major Alpine passes (Furka-Grimsel-Grosse ...
http://www.jungfrautours.ch/index.ph...ns&lang=en
SUSTEN PASS
GRIMSEL PASS
FURKA PASS
USING AS WAY INTO OR OUT OF GRINDELWALD, MEIRINGEN - GLACIER EXPRESS, ETC.
OTHER GREAT POSTAL BUS RIDES IN SWITZERLAND
Jungfrau Tours AG. Strandbadstrasse 3. 3800 Interlaken. Switzerland ... This yellow postal bus crosses three major Alpine passes (Furka-Grimsel-Grosse ...
http://www.jungfrautours.ch/index.ph...ns&lang=en
SUSTEN PASS
GRIMSEL PASS
FURKA PASS
USING AS WAY INTO OR OUT OF GRINDELWALD, MEIRINGEN - GLACIER EXPRESS, ETC.
OTHER GREAT POSTAL BUS RIDES IN SWITZERLAND
May 11th, 2008, 09:51 AM
#203
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SUSTEN PASS PHOTOS
Switzerland / Susten Pass pictures from switzerland photos on webshots
Switzerland / Susten Pass pictures published by olebyskov.
travel.webshots.com/album/58549275cLcPCl
Photo of Susten Pass, Switzerland, travel stock photograph, photos ...
Gary Cook Photography - Photographs of Switzerland, Photo Susten Pass, Switzerland, Photos, Photograph, Stock, Image, Images, Travel, Picture, Pictures.
http://www.garycook.co.uk/Europe/Swi.../photo1-4.html
Switzerland / Susten Pass pictures from switzerland photos on webshots
Switzerland / Susten Pass pictures published by olebyskov.
travel.webshots.com/album/58549275cLcPCl
Photo of Susten Pass, Switzerland, travel stock photograph, photos ...
Gary Cook Photography - Photographs of Switzerland, Photo Susten Pass, Switzerland, Photos, Photograph, Stock, Image, Images, Travel, Picture, Pictures.
http://www.garycook.co.uk/Europe/Swi.../photo1-4.html
May 12th, 2008, 08:57 AM
#204
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May 12th, 2008, 12:17 PM
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FURKHA PASS PHOTOS
Furkha, Grimsel, Brunig Passes pictures from friends & fun photos ... pictures published by fergus_mcdougall. ...
good-times.webshots.com/album/552300497aoUOKv
HaloPhoto
Friday saw the grand exploration of the glorious nation of Switzerland ... Bahn where the route goes narrow gauge over the Furkha Pass to Andermatt and ...
www.markhewitt.fotopic.net/
Furkha, Grimsel, Brunig Passes pictures from friends & fun photos ... pictures published by fergus_mcdougall. ...
good-times.webshots.com/album/552300497aoUOKv
HaloPhoto
Friday saw the grand exploration of the glorious nation of Switzerland ... Bahn where the route goes narrow gauge over the Furkha Pass to Andermatt and ...
www.markhewitt.fotopic.net/
May 13th, 2008, 11:39 AM
#206
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SWISS POSTAL BUSES OFFICIAL SITE
PostBus - Home
Swiss Post – Navigation and service unit. Go directly to home page ... Starting 9 December 2007, postal buses will leave every half hour from the Visp ...
www.postbus.ch
PostBus - Home
Swiss Post – Navigation and service unit. Go directly to home page ... Starting 9 December 2007, postal buses will leave every half hour from the Visp ...
www.postbus.ch
May 14th, 2008, 12:54 PM
#207
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TO DO THE GRIMSEL AND FURKA PASSES for schedules on the postbus.ch bus schedule part put in Meiringen Bahnhof and Andermatt as the destination and this should route you first on a bus to Oberwald, a stop on the Glacier Express train line where you change buses to go over the Furka Pass to Andermatt
From Andermatt the bus goes over the Susten Pass back to Meiringen
Note that postbus.ch search thing also gives train connections so if you put in Meiringen and Andermatt it will also give you completely rail routings via Spiez, Brig, etc.
Bus routes will have stops on the Grimsel, Susten passes, etc.
The site gives fares as well:
Meiringen-Andermatt via Oberwald = CHF 49.20 one way; double round trip - Swiss Pass covers the fare but there is about a CHF10 Alpine ticket passholders must buy.
postbus.ch indicates also which buses need advance reservations and which ones even take reservations.
From Andermatt the bus goes over the Susten Pass back to Meiringen
Note that postbus.ch search thing also gives train connections so if you put in Meiringen and Andermatt it will also give you completely rail routings via Spiez, Brig, etc.
Bus routes will have stops on the Grimsel, Susten passes, etc.
The site gives fares as well:
Meiringen-Andermatt via Oberwald = CHF 49.20 one way; double round trip - Swiss Pass covers the fare but there is about a CHF10 Alpine ticket passholders must buy.
postbus.ch indicates also which buses need advance reservations and which ones even take reservations.
May 15th, 2008, 01:22 PM
#208
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The post buses from Meiringen take two routes to Andermatt - one via the Grimsel Pass and (changing in Oberwald) then over Furka Pass and another one up the Susten Pass via Goschenen (a stop on the Zurich-Lugano Gotthard Tunnel main line) and from Andermatt another bus to Oberwald - so to do the whole Three Pass Spectacular you'd combine these two routes.
But there are loads of other options i'll present next time.
But there are loads of other options i'll present next time.
May 15th, 2008, 01:48 PM
#209
Dear Pal,
Thank you for this most informative guide. We are lucky to have you on Fodor's.
I have a question that I know is very subjective, but perhaps you can help.
I have a pretty good fear of heights but I'm usually okay in trains esp. if I don't sit by the window or don't look for certain steep passes.
I'm thinking of taking the William Tell Express in two weeks and am a little bit nervous about the swiveling seats and those breathtaking views, etc. I'm wondering just how steep and spectacular this is...
I did take the Gornergrat in Zermatt and did just fine and felt so silly for worrying so much...and I did fine on the train to Zermatt from Zurich although I did stop looking at certain spots...
Any thoughts? I do love a great Swiss train trip...sigh...
I hate to miss the trip and am actually thinking I'll take some pills I use for flying if I need to...
Sincerely,
determined, but a fraidy cat
AKA
gruezi
Thank you for this most informative guide. We are lucky to have you on Fodor's.
I have a question that I know is very subjective, but perhaps you can help.
I have a pretty good fear of heights but I'm usually okay in trains esp. if I don't sit by the window or don't look for certain steep passes.
I'm thinking of taking the William Tell Express in two weeks and am a little bit nervous about the swiveling seats and those breathtaking views, etc. I'm wondering just how steep and spectacular this is...
I did take the Gornergrat in Zermatt and did just fine and felt so silly for worrying so much...and I did fine on the train to Zermatt from Zurich although I did stop looking at certain spots...
Any thoughts? I do love a great Swiss train trip...sigh...
I hate to miss the trip and am actually thinking I'll take some pills I use for flying if I need to...
Sincerely,
determined, but a fraidy cat
AKA
gruezi
May 16th, 2008, 10:20 AM
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gruezi - thanks for your nice comments. Ingo is a real Fodor's treasure in posting about Switzerland and Germany - lives in Dresden i think.
anyway yes the Wm Tell train is a mainline broad-gauge train line and not the narrow-gauge tiny trains like the Gornergracht train
Broad-gauge means wider tracks and bigger mainline trains that just can't go over steep twisting routes as tinier gauge trains can and the Wm Tell really does not climb steeply as it has the long Gotthard Tunnel to burrow under the Alps and not over them. Where it does climb steeply, in loops, it's actually inside a tunnel.
anyway yes the Wm Tell train is a mainline broad-gauge train line and not the narrow-gauge tiny trains like the Gornergracht train
Broad-gauge means wider tracks and bigger mainline trains that just can't go over steep twisting routes as tinier gauge trains can and the Wm Tell really does not climb steeply as it has the long Gotthard Tunnel to burrow under the Alps and not over them. Where it does climb steeply, in loops, it's actually inside a tunnel.
May 17th, 2008, 04:03 PM
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gruezi - when we were in Swizterland last July - it rained the trains on the route we were taking got washed out. Dh still felt we should go up to the chocolate factory and cheese factory. I said we should pass.
Noo... dh insists on going on a bus to someplace we have no idea we are going..the roads were very wet - very twisting... the bus was CRAMMED full of smelly people -I have an ultra senstive nose a horrible thing to travel with,
We get dropped off at a store - bus driver has NO idea where we need to be - just lets us off (not kidding) we ask around, hike up a giant mountain, the entire time dd is being a HUGE whiner - It is raining, I am mutter under my breath -
One must recall dd was sick, and that is how we ended up in Swizterland anyway - we were suppose to be in South Africa! She is coughing up a storm.
We finally end up in walking about 30 minutes and finding an every so lame cheese "factory" - trying to get a train back is not working either - never make it to the chocolate factory.
I so feel your pain...how a xanax would have helped that day on the bus. I was surely going to plunge to my death off a cliff.
Noo... dh insists on going on a bus to someplace we have no idea we are going..the roads were very wet - very twisting... the bus was CRAMMED full of smelly people -I have an ultra senstive nose a horrible thing to travel with,
We get dropped off at a store - bus driver has NO idea where we need to be - just lets us off (not kidding) we ask around, hike up a giant mountain, the entire time dd is being a HUGE whiner - It is raining, I am mutter under my breath -
One must recall dd was sick, and that is how we ended up in Swizterland anyway - we were suppose to be in South Africa! She is coughing up a storm.
We finally end up in walking about 30 minutes and finding an every so lame cheese "factory" - trying to get a train back is not working either - never make it to the chocolate factory.
I so feel your pain...how a xanax would have helped that day on the bus. I was surely going to plunge to my death off a cliff.
May 18th, 2008, 02:14 AM
#215
Dawn,
I can really empathize!!
I learned an important lesson in Spain. My husband by his own admission, isn't good with maps, planning, or vacationing, yet somehow whenever he is along we all defer to him. I have no idea why. I have decided I will be in "charge" on future family trips and speak up a bit more. After 20 years you start to figure a few things out I guess
I am going to try the William Tell Express as it is an outing with a women's group and we gab so much I'm sure I'll be distracted for the tunnel and the heights - yes, I don't like long tunnels either. OTOH, I hate to miss anything so I try to forge ahead despite my little phobias...
I'll have my "mother's little helpers" along just in case.
g.
I can really empathize!!
I learned an important lesson in Spain. My husband by his own admission, isn't good with maps, planning, or vacationing, yet somehow whenever he is along we all defer to him. I have no idea why. I have decided I will be in "charge" on future family trips and speak up a bit more. After 20 years you start to figure a few things out I guess
I am going to try the William Tell Express as it is an outing with a women's group and we gab so much I'm sure I'll be distracted for the tunnel and the heights - yes, I don't like long tunnels either. OTOH, I hate to miss anything so I try to forge ahead despite my little phobias...
I'll have my "mother's little helpers" along just in case.
g.
May 18th, 2008, 06:12 AM
#216
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gruezli - i suggest you instead of doing the William Tell go to Interlaken and Murren and do the Schilthorn cable - this is one of the less chilling rides in europe and you'll love every inch of the trip
May 18th, 2008, 06:16 AM
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Well - we have only been married 11 years - going on 12 - perhaps by 20 dh will learn to defer to me too.
I too "refuse" to permit my phobias for moving forward - but it can cause a bit of a panic at times.
I am sure you will enjoy your trip.
I too "refuse" to permit my phobias for moving forward - but it can cause a bit of a panic at times.
I am sure you will enjoy your trip.
May 18th, 2008, 07:39 AM
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gruezi - i was fooling by recommending what to me would be one of the very scariest for you cable ways in Europe - the longest one that goes over desolated terrain to the icy outpost in the Alps - the Schilthorn, of James Bond fame.
these are tiny gondolas of a few persons each and often they stop for a minute or so and leave you dangling over the ground from a few hundred feet up - i myself do not really like heights and feel comforted everytime the gondolas start moving again.
No you are NOT ready for gondolas, yet, but there is always hope.
these are tiny gondolas of a few persons each and often they stop for a minute or so and leave you dangling over the ground from a few hundred feet up - i myself do not really like heights and feel comforted everytime the gondolas start moving again.
No you are NOT ready for gondolas, yet, but there is always hope.
