St Moritz to interlaken west
 

I need help to decide the best route from st moritz to interlaken (west)

I checked the Swiss rail website and there are no direct trains which I understand, but want to choose route that's most scenic


Thanks in advance

Not much choice here - take the train to Chur and change there for Zurich and get direct trains from there to Interlaken-West, first stop in Interlaken before the terminal station Interlaken-Ost - you may find alternate routes in these IMO superb sites - www.swisstravelsystem.com; http://www.budgeteuropetravel.com/id3.html (check this site's Swiss rail map with travel times for different routes that probably take longer and www.seat61.com and www.ricvksteves.com.

An alternate route would be to take the Glacier Express to Andermatt, swing down to the Gotthard main line and go to Lucerne and then Interlaken or from Adermatt hook up with Swiss postal buses that take a very scenic alpine route down to Meiringen from where you can take a train to Interlaken-Ost and change there for Interlaken-West - just about a mile away so can walk too.

The above are all good suggestions of course. There is a very scenic alternative - not fast (nothing scenic in the mountains is fast) but special.

Do you have to make the trip from St. Moritz to Interlaken in one day? You can do it with this alternative, but it would be best done in two days. Here’s how and why (pull up a map and follow along):

Take the postal bus from St. Moritz to Chiavenna, at 12:08 (arr. 13:51), or the earlier at 11:08 (arr. 12:51), have lunch in Chiavenna.

Take the 14:40 postal bus to Splügen (arr. 16:30), leave Splügen by postal bus at 16:51 for Chur (arr. 17:50), or take the later one at 17:53 (arr. Chur 18:45).

If you want to get to Interlaken that night, you can do so, getting there rather late.

But better, stay the night:

The next day, take the 07:56 train first as far as Disentis (arr. 09:11) and look around, it’s a special place - see www.myswitzerland.com/en/disentis-sedrun.html‎

Then carry on with the 11:14 train to Andermatt (arr. 12:22). Time for lunch - you are at the crossroads of all of Europe: Up here, on the roof of Europe, begins the Rhine that ends up in Holland, the Rhone that ends up in the South of France, the Reuss that feeds the Lake Lucerne before ending up in the Aare and then in the Rhine, the Aare that feeds the lakes of Brienz and Thun before eventually joining the Rhine, and the Inn that ends up in the Danube headed for Romania.

Now, as PalenQ wrote, from Andermatt the postal bus will take you through more splendid scenery to Meiringen where you take a regional train that follows the lake of Brienz to Interlaken.

Or you get off in Brienz and take a boat for the last leg. That’s really traveling Swiss style! Your camera will love it!

Another idea is riding the Glacier Express to Brig, than change to Spiez and Interlaken. If the longer stretch cannot be done on Glacier Express, it becomes an 8-9 hour trip with 5 or 6 changes (and the only place where a trip with 5 or 6 changes can be done is Switzerland).
The most scenic point is the descent from Oberalp pass to Andermatt. It is a train but at times looks like landing a plane.

And another routing - take the Maloja Pass bus thru the awesomely scenic Maloja Pass (same bus as for Chiavenna I think) to Lugano and a train to Locarno to change to the Centovalli - 100 valleys train) to Domodossola, on the mainline to Spiez - which is 20 minutes from Interlaken by train. Ideally split the day into two and stay in Lugano or Locarno!

Or you get off in Brienz and take a boat for the last leg. That’s really traveling Swiss style! Your camera will love it!>

yes the boat is an option if you are not too lake - there is always the frequent quick train service as well.

I've take the Splugen Pass busmichel talks about and it is a dandy and also Disentis is awesome - kind of out in the middle of nowhere but cows and Alps.

Scenic itineraries St. Moritz - Interlaken:

St. Moritz dp 9.15 -Glacier Express - Brig 15.40/16.36 - Loetschberger - Spiez 17.44/18.05 - Interlaken West ar 18.23
until Oct 27th

St. Moritz dp 10.02 - Glacier Express - Andermatt 14.54/15.59 - Susten Pass bus - Meiringen 18.10/18.21 - train - Interlaken Ost ar 18.55, train and bus to Interlaken West a few minutes later
until Sept 22nd

St. Moritz dp 10.02 - Glacier Express - Andermatt 14.54/15.39 - Furka Pass bus - Gletsch 16.45/17.16 - Grimsel Pass bus - Meiringen 18.39/18.46 - train - Interlaken Ost ar 19.24, train and bus to Interlaken West a few minutes later
until Sept 22nd

St. Moritz dp 12.20 - Palm Express bus - Lugano 16.20/17.12 - train - Lucerne 19.41/19.55 - Brunig train - Interlaken Ost 21.55/22.00 - Interlaken West ar 22.03
until Oct 20th

St. Moritz dp 11.22 - Bernina Express - Tirano 13.36/15.10 - Milano C 17.40/18.25 - Spiez 20.53/21.10 - Interlaken West ar 21.34
until Oct 20th

St. Moritz dp 8.02 - Chur 10.03/10.16 - Ziegerbrücke 10.59/11.05 - Linthal 11.47/12.05 - Klausen Pass bus (80 min lunch stop at Balm/Klausen)- Fuelen 15.23/16.00 - Lake Lucerne steamboat - Lucerne 18.47/19.55 - Brunig train - Interlaken Ost 21.55/22.00 - Interlaken West ar 22.03
until Oct 20th

St. Moritz dp 10.02 - Thusis 11.31/11.40 - Via Mala Gorge/San Bernardino Pass bus - Bellinzona 13.13/13.54 - train - Locarno 14.13/14.49 - Centovalli Express - Domodossola 16.36/16.48 - Spiez - 17.53/18.05 - Interlaken West ar 18.23

vaibs- how are you getting to St Moritz in the first place - from Italy?

Thanks for all your inputs.

Based on your feedback on other post, I took the Bernina express from Tirano. I am traveling with kids and 8 hr journey would be too much for them to Interlaken.I am taking the faster route to interlaken via Zurich and Bern. Hindsight I should have split my journey with a stop at Zermat. I checked with the hotel they were not able to change my bookings.

Again thanks for all your help

So you will leave St. Moritz at 8.02, 10.02 or 12.02. Have a nice trip!
BTW: I don't understand why you speak about Zermatt, now.

Yes Zedrmatt would be about the same time all told as going to Interlaken - you'd go via Centovalli from Locarno to Domodossola to Brig - change for Zermatt but may even take longer than to Interlaken straight.

the quickest St Moritz to Interlaken route takes about 5.5 hours and requires three changes of train - in Chur, Zurich and Bern - go to www.bahn.de/en and you will find the platform numbers in each change station to facilitate your change - Zurich is a huge station with dozens of tracks - though in Switzerland if you miss one train there will be another within the hour still if on a tight connection knowing the platform numbers may facilitate a change - especially with kids and bags...

Trains between Zurich and Interlaken run every 30 min. Change at Berne.
For journeys within Switzerland, it's usually easier to use http://www.sbb.ch/en/home.html

Do www.sbb.ch give platform numbers - I assume they do but not familiar that much with it if they always do like www.bahn.de/en seems to.

Yes the SBB site lists the platforms - after you click on the little + (plus) symbol on the left of the train listing, it opens up the detailed view that includes the platforms

thanks michel!