" “You can visit the old town of Sion in half a day but be aware it is a fair walk from the station and you have to climb a steep hill. Walk up the avenue de la Gare until you reach the place de la Planta. Turn right and walk along till you get to the rue de l'Ancien Pont. Turn left there. After a bit you will see the rue des Ch teaux going up to the right. Just walk up there. You can visit the church at the Valère and see the ruins of the castle on the Tourbillon. the church is fortified which is rare. Castle burnt down centuries ago and you can visit that too if you have the time.”

You can do so, if you like.
However, my preferred itinerary is:
railway sation - subway - Avenue de la Gare - Rue des Creusets - Banque Cantonaole du Valais - Rue des Creusets - Rue de la Porte Neuve - Rue du Grand Pont - Rue des Chateaux - Musee d'Art du Valais - Musee de la Nature - Musee de l'Ancien Penitencier - Musee d'Histoire du Valais - Valeria Church and Castle.

"We may have to consider a hotel in Sion, it will give us a place to rest a little and put down luggages, There is a hotel "Hotel du Castel, it's an average, basic but clean hotel, it seems centrally located".

Hotel Castel is not really in the centre. It's about 1 km from the railway station and not along the way to the sights. If you really want to sleep there, put your main luggagge in a locker at the railway station and take with you just the things you need for 1 night.

"We could also add Derborence lake if recommended".
There is no bus in low season. But you could reach Derborence by taxi. Count some 300 CHF/USD with 1 hr of waiting time at the lake.
IMO Derborence is by far not the most spectacular site in the area.

" The center hotels may not be the best"
You seem to know much more than local people, really!
Why should a hotel in the center be worse than one in the outskirts?

"Could anyone advice if the second stage cable car from Aiguille du Midi to Pointe Hellbronner- Entreves (Italy) will be open around June 10 2019?"

PANORAMIC MONT BLANC
Aiguille du Midi et Pointe Hellbronner dp from 8.00 until 16.00 (June 1st - July 5th)

SKYWAY MONTE BIANCO
Entreves and Pointe Hellbronner dp from 7.30 until 17.00 (June 1st - 28th)

I agree with dugi_otok, When travelling, on the first day of arrival , we rarely rest even sometimes we planned to take it easy, it just happened that way. You had a lot done on that day with excitement, it worked well because you will definitely have a good night sleep.

"The Castel is probably the best hotel in Sion. (I am amazed at how few hotels there are there!!) But Sion to Martigny is only 16mns and there are two really nice hotels near the station here - MARTigny Boutique Hotel and the Vattel. You could check your bags at the Sion station in a locker..." - Hambaghle

Yes, right.. so will store the stuff in a locker, and take time to do those sightseeing, will check about the two hotels at Martigny.

Thank you

[QUOTE=neckervd;16881993

Why are you talking about Zurich main station (Zurich HB)? Do you plan to leave the Visp or Lausanne bound train at Zurich HB, walk around the railway station and go on 1 hr or lo later with the next Visp or Lausanne bound train arriving from Zurich airport?

Immigration at ZRH and the walk from the baggage claim to the airport railway station shouldn't take a full hr.[/QUOTE]

Thanks @ neckervd for your responses and information, they are all spot on.
You are correct, I did not search enough, I thought we have to go to Zurich main station (Zurich HB) to take the train, that means we need to first go to another building to take an airport train to get to Zurich HB.

It's much better ! we can take the the train from Zurich airport directly to Sion?

Immigration seems very quick, without any checked in luggage it should be done in no time.

Thank you

“You can visit the old town of Sion in half a day but be aware it is a fair walk from the station and you have to climb a steep hill. Walk up the avenue de la Gare until you reach the place de la Planta. Turn right and walk along till you get to the rue de l'Ancien Pont. Turn left there. After a bit you will see the rue des Ch teaux going up to the right. Just walk up there. You can visit the church at the Valère and see the ruins of the castle on the Tourbillon. the church is fortified which is rare. Castle burnt down centuries ago and you can visit that too if you have the time.”

You can do so, if you like.
However, my preferred itinerary is:
railway sation - subway - Avenue de la Gare - Rue des Creusets - Banque Cantonaole du Valais - Rue des Creusets - Rue de la Porte Neuve - Rue du Grand Pont - Rue des Chateaux - Musee d'Art du Valais - Musee de la Nature - Musee de l'Ancien Penitencier - Musee d'Histoire du Valais - Valeria Church and Castle. " - neckervd

Do you mean there is a subway in Switzerland? In Sion? Are these the subway station names on route to Valeria Church and Castle at Sion? and subway at train station? How about in other city such as Montreux or Geneva?

Thank you

When I said said center hotels may not be the best, I indicated those hotels in Sion, not in general. I googled them online and read reviews, they should be OK for one night stopover, not for long time stay.

Understand most central hotels in Europe are the best ones. It also depends on location. Grindelwald, for example, I was surprised to find out that it is so hot and expensive due to its location, many hotels were already sold out for June, we had to secure one since it is the longest stay, which belongs to bb category, in central location, but the price is like 4 to 5 star hotels in elsewhere. I haven't looked at other towns yet.

Thanks for the information

Some comments on previous threads --

There is no subway in Sion. What the poster meant was the underpass from the station under the route cantonale to the avenue de la Gare. If you walk all the way up the avenue de la Gare to the place de la Planta and turn right you will see the Tourist Office - you can get a map there and detailed directions as to where to go and how.

Castel Hotel is one of (I think) only 3 hotels in Sion and it is not in the very centre but it is as good as you can do in Sion. As I said in an earlier post there are far better hotels in Martigny. The bus in town is excellent and it is very easy to move about. If you want to take the bus on the day of arrival and have bought a Saver Day Pass - no problem. Just get on the bus. If you have a point to point ticket then ask for a City ticket for Sion.
Will cost a couple of francs and covers the town buses. (Saver Day Pass will save you a LOT of money)

The "castle" on the top of the Valère hill (not "Valaria") is a church and has a wonderful organ. The castle on the top of the other hill - Tourbillon - is indeed a castle - or rather was a castle.

If going to Martigny do NOT take a train via Lausanne. It takes around 20mns longer. Since the new tunnel opened our connection to ZRH is via Visp. And getting off the plane in ZRH, taking the shuttle train, Immigration and then collecting luggage should take about 40-45 mins. The station is in the airport and will take about 5 mins walk to get to. You have to go downstairs and the luggage trolleys click onto the escalator. Just be sure to follow directions about how to put bags on them. There are also lifts.

Hambagahle is right: I meant subway in the British (not American) sense.
Valaria instead of Valeria was just a missprint.

As to the Bus sédunois (Sion city bus):
you may take citybus 2, 4 or 5 from the railway station up to Place du Midi. The length of the journey will be less than half a mile (about 600metres).

Hi Jane, we are from Australia and travelled around France for 5 weeks a few years ago, and found Chamonix, although an attractive small town, nowhere near as interesting as Annecy. We are heading to Switzerland in August and I think the small towns we will visit there are probably similar to Chamonix. Mont Blanc was clouded in the two days we were there. Annecy has a beautiful lake and cobbled streets in old town and a winding canal. Due to your time restrictions, I would suggest you devote all your days to Switzerland....give yourself some breathing space.

Thank you @ Hambagahle, @neckervd for your responses, updates and details, that will help us to navigate easily when visiting Sion, and get to the right direction at airport, all wonderful.

@glen16, thanks for your suggestions. I agree with you completely, that we could spend more time in Switzerland, so we can see more in a relaxed way. Our itinerary was finally fixed like this after back and forth several times, it seems to be workable, even though Chamonix is France, it's very accessible in the route we are taking, so we give it a chance. With the limited time ,we concentrate our sightseeings in Oberland area and western Switzerland, which is also near Chamonix. thanks again for your concerns.

Here is the first part of itinerary

June 8 ZRH to Sion, overnight at Martigny*
June 9 Martigny, overnight Chamonix
June10 Chamonix gondola ride to Aiguille du Midi- Pointe Helbronner –Entreves (Italy)
- Courmayeur (leaving Chamayeur at 16:00 or 18:00) - Chamonix)
June 11 Chamonix
June 12 Chamonix to Montreux
June 13 Montreux Chillon Castle, Lavaux vineyards
June 14 Montreux day trip to Geneva, to Geneva by boat back by train
June 15 Montreux to Grindelwald via Interlaken stop over for SCHYNIGE PLATTE

* In Martigny, we would like to see Lac d' Emosson, and either Fondation Pierre Gianadda or Amphetheatre, any suggesions?

Thank you

Are you doing a day trip to Annecy on June 11? Are you planning the Golden Pass Train Montreux to Interlaken? Schynige Platte is a good stop over. "Take the Bernese Oberland Bahn ( BOB) train from Interlaken Ost to Wilderswil, a 5 min run. …..At Wilderswil station you will see the little red Schynige Platte Bahn (SPB) train across the track.. A small electric engine pushes the two-car cog train up the winding track to the summit (< one hr). ………………..Schynige Platte ………...sweeping view of the mountains and the lakes- one of the most scenic views of the area." Check private messages.

The first part of this is very rushed and I suggest you make it 2 nights in Martigny and 2 in chamonix... Only one night in a hotel is not great especially when you have jet lag. As another poster says Chamonix is not a pretty town. But the views from there are stupendous.
The Lac d'Emosson is on the way from Martigny to Chamonix. To visit it you have to get off the train at le Châtelard, check bags somewhere (I am not sure if the station has lockers...) and walk to the bottom of the funicular. (Maybe 10-15mns). Then funicular (a very steep one...) up and change to a little "train" to another funi (small) up to the dam. Personally I think that unless you have the time and are capable of a more than 2hrs hike to the dinosaur tracks (not such an easy hike either...lots of shale around the lake and the last bit is quite steep) I would not bother with just going to the lake. Plus you really need good weather for this.
In Martigny you can see both the Fondation Gianadda (Roman museum, art museum, vintage car collection and sculpture garden) as well as the Roman amphitheatre because they are right next to each other. In fact you have to walk over the Roman road from Rome to London to get from one to the other!
And in Sion -- the hill on which the church is located is the Valère. Not "Valaria". The name of the church is Notre Dame de Valère.

You have received so much fantastic information, as we all have, that I can only add one fine point regarding your Aiguille du Midi day (no pun indented). It's usually best to get as early a start as possible, be on line before the 8:10 opening. You'll be ahead of some of the crowds but also mountain weather tends to be clearer in the morning, with afternoon cloud build up. No guarantees of course.

Also, it may be cloudy in Chamonix but the sun is shining brightly on Mont Blanc. This happened to me twice on my visit in 2017. Both times on the Midi I got dramatic photos of the Mont Blanc range rising out of a sea of clouds that had blanketed the town. I can post one if you are interested.

Have a great trip.

Thank you for your responses, good suggestions and nice tips @dugi_otok, Hambagahle, Nelson, all very helpful!

@dugi_otok yes we will take those scenic routes, did not put Annecy, because don't know which day will be better going up to mountain top on our two days in Chamonix.
It will be nice to add one night at Martigny, but with the time restraint we probably can't, if going to emossion dam is too time consuming, we don't have to go, it's not a must see @ Hambagahle
@Nelson, thank you for sharing your experience, so we will give it a shot even with imperfect weather, the key is to go up early. We will try it. You are more than welcome to post your photo at leisure.

Thank you

Here's two photos for the price of one. On the left the view is mostly east towards the Grandes Jorasses and Dent du Géant. When it's clear you can just see the Matterhorn on the horizon. The right picture is looking mostly west at the summit of Mont Blanc. In both shots Chamonix is covered by the layer of clouds.

Also, it could be cloudy at the Midi but you'll ride out of it and into Italian sun as you cross the glacier. Anything goes! Good luck and have a great trip!

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...898ec2e1bb.jpg


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