kerouac

Here is some basic information about the opening and closing of Alpine passes: https://www.drive-alive.co.uk/driving/alpine-passes.htm

Nelson

Glad you liked my Aiguille du Midi photos, thanks. They were taken in mid-September last year. I'm going back next year!

For Google maps, at least on Windows and Firefox, there is a "Depart At" drop menu. Then you can change the date of your departure, like I did here to June 20, 2019. It might work differently on a tablet or phone.

neckervd

" Thanks, yes the price for La Meije was pretty attractive after I had been looking at the prices to go up some of the Swiss peaks like Schilthorn & Jungfraujoch! "
Jungfrau and Schilthorn are the most expensive (and most crowded) mountain railways/lifts of Switzerland, more popular with people from overseas than with Europens or even Swiss people! I showed you above, that others (rather popular with Swiss people) cost much less.
It's perfectly possible to visit Switzerland by car and to see places of unforgettable beauty (alps, lakes and midlands). But if you do so, don't waste your money with expensive railway tickets for Schynige Platte, Wengen - Maennlichen - Grindelwald, etc.

Galibier Pass will most probably be open in the second half of June. If not, you could just take the normal itinerary: Annecy - A41 - N 87 - D5 - D 1091 - La Grave.
For Swiss Alpine Passes, check https://www.alpen-paesse.ch/en/

neckervd

Here justs a copy of a older post:
SWITZERLAND BY CAR
It's perfectly possible to visit tons of gems in Switzerland by car, without boarding any train (between July and October, when all mountain roads are open).But if you want to visit Switzerland by car, don’t choose just the places that can NOT be reached by car (like Muerren, Gimmelwald, Wengen, Schynige Platte, Schilthorn, First, Kleine Scheidegg, Maennlichen, Rigi, Pilatus, Bettmeralp, Zermatt, Braunwald, etc). Otherwise you will have to pay for both: car rental, fuel (about 1,5 EUR/liter) AND mountain railways.
There are tons of beautiful places in the Swiss Alps which can be reached by car.
Some suggestions:
Drive from Martigny to Col de la Gueulaz on Lake Emosson (2000m/6600ft). You are then just in front of the Northern side of Mont Blanc, the highest mountain chain of Western Europe. The glaciers of Trient, Tour, Argentiere as well as the peaks of Aiguille d'Argentiere (3900m/13000fr), Aiguille Verte (4120m/13500ft), Grandes Jorasse (4210m/13800ft), Mont Blanc (4810m/15800ft) ar jus a few miles away.
Drive from Martigny to Grand St Bernard Pass (2470m/8100ft) and hike in 1 hr to La Chenalette (2800m/9200ft). From there, you have a stupendous view to the Southern side of Mont Blanc (A Neuve Glacier, Dolent Glacier, Pre de Bar Glacier, Triolet Glacier as well as a lot of 3800 to 4800m / 13000 to 15800ft high peaks). In the South, but farther away, you see the glaciers and peaks of the Gran Paradiso chain.A easy, but very scenic 6hrs circular hike goes from Col du Gd St-Bernard via Col des Chevaux - Lake Petit Le - Col de Bastillon to the 3 blue mountain lakes of Fenetre and then over the Col de Fenetre de Ferret back to Col du Gd St-Bernard.
Drive from Sion to Col du Sanetsch (2250m/7400ft) and hike in about 2 hrs to Refuge/Restaurant La Quille du Diable on Tsanfleuron Glacier (2900m/9500ft). You are there on the top of a perpendicular cliff and can look down to Lake Derborence, just 1500m/5000ft below your feet. Stupendous view to Mont Blanc chain, Grand Combin, Mont Collon and tons of other peaks.
Drive from Sierre to Grimentz and then up to the end of the road on Lake Moiry (2250m/7400ft) and hike then in aobut 1 hr to Moiry hut (Swiss Alpine club) and Moiry Glacier.
Drive from Brig to Ried-Moerel, go by gondola to Riederalp (5 CHF/one way), hike in 1/2 hr to Riederfurka (2070m/6800ft), visit the visitor's centre/museum of the Jungfrau-Aletsch Nature reserve, walk through the Aletsch Forest and have a look at the Aletsch Glacier (longest glacier of Europe) just below and in front of you
.Drive to Breuil-Cervinia (Italian neighbourhood, 2000m/6500ft) and go by cableway to Plateau Rosa (28 EUR/35 USD roundtrip). Plateau Rosa (3500m/11500ft) is close to Matterhorn Paradise /Kleinmatterhorn (1 mile away, same panorama). The roundtrip ticket from Taesch Parking to Matterhorn Paradise costs 107 CHF/112 USD
Drive to Grimsel Pass (2200m/7200ft) (or take the gondola from Grimsel Hospiz) and hike in about 1 1/2 hr to Sidelhorn (2800m/9200ft). Panoramic views to Unteraar Glacier, Oberaar Glacier, 6 mountain lakes around Grimsel Pass, Finsteraarhorn (4300m/14100ft) and dozens of other peaks. You may also hike from Grimsel Pass to Lake Oberaar (1 hr) and along this lake to Oberaar Glacier (another hr)
Drive then from Grimsel Pass to Furka Belvedere and visit the Ice cave in the Rhone Glacier.Another road in the same area goes to Nufenenpass/Griessee. The hike from the end of the road to Lake Griessee - Gries Pass - Gries Glacier takes about 1 1/2 hrs.
Drive from Davos or St. Moritz to Stelvio Pass (2800m/9200ft). Hike to the glaciers (1 hr or so) or enjoy the view to them from Piz da las Trais Linguas (3 languages peak; 2850m/9400ft).
Drive from Sion to viewpoint Thyon2000.
etc. etc.
But if you prefer to ride with Glacier Express, Bernina Express, Golden Pass Panoramic, etc. and if you want to visit Gornergrat and Jungfraujoch, you better look after rail passes.You may have a look athttp://www.myswitzerland.com/en/home.htmlhttp://www.swisstravelsystem.ch/en/SBB: Online timetable.

PalenQ

railpasses and the Half-Fare Card - good for folks driving but also taking expensive mountain conveyances.

twk

Yes, Montreux, Vevey, or somewhere on that end of the lake. When were there in 2016 we stayed in the Lavaux vineyards at Auberge de la Gare, just outside Grandveaux and loved it. This would be a good place to stay with a car; easy free parking, but the convenience of a train station 100 yards away if you want to take the train into Lausanne or Montreux

utedog

Thanks all for the various advice and links, etc.

@Nelson, Now why didn’t I think of that?! For 20 June it still actually uses a different route, but I skipped forward a month to July and it gave me the time for the most direct route. That’s great, at least so I have an estimate if it is open.

@neckervd, Thanks. I would love to go to every one of those passes and glaciers, and many more one day. Though it’s not likely to be this time around. I had already investigated Nufenen and Furka. And while we could obviously get to them if we really wanted to our route this time won’t be particularly close to any of the spots in your post from yesterday. On the other hand we will be right at La Meije. Thanks for the copy of the older post. I haven't read it all yet - will go through this in-depth later when I have time to Google all the locations and see where they are.

I do have a couple more specific questions for the experts here:

There seem to be Tolls everywhere in Switzerland, France and Italy in particular. While we can avoid some happily, there are some that we can't (or it's definitely not worthwhile doing so). That's all fine, but can someone tell me are these tolls usually paid at booths (on the highway) via cash or CR Card, or is there some sort of electronic tolling or what?... I have also heard of vignettes that you may have to buy but know nothing about where/when/how to do that if necessary?...

Secondly, is anyone very familiar with Lugano? It looks a nice place and we may even try for one last drive up into the mountains from there before we leave. Anyway, we have to head from there to MXP (Malpensa Airport, sort of near Milan). Do you have any idea of the best way to get from Lugano to MXP? When I search for tickets on SBB we have a change at Mendrisio but only 8 min to make that change. If we miss the change (quite possible since we’re not familiar with the station/trains, etc) the next train is 2 hours. So if we’re going via train we would have to leave 2 hours earlier to cater for that possibility. I am wondering if there is a bus or something we should catch instead?… Thanks

Michael

In France tolls are paid at the booth, cash or credit card with a chip. In Switzerland you need to buy a vignette unless the car is rented in Switzerland, at which point the vignette is included; but check with the rental agency.

kja

If you explore sbb a bit more, I think you'll find a map of the station at Mendrisio showing that it's a small station that you should be easily able to negotiate in 8 minutes. IME, if sbb says you can make the connection, you won't have any trouble doing so.

Yes, Lugano is lovely IMO.

For information about transportation that crosses borders, check rome2rio.com -- but be sure to follow through the links it provides to the source sites, as the main rome2rio site is not sensitive to seasonal variation in schedules.

utedog

Thanks Michael, I'll check with the rental company.

Thanks kja. I'll check both those things out.

neckervd

The local train from Bellinzona - Lugano arrives at the minute ..25 on track 2 and leaves at ..26 for Chiasso
The local train from Como - Chiasso arrives at the minute 28 on track 4, stays 5 minutes in the tiny station of Mendrisio and leaves at ...33 for Varese - Gallarate - MXP. The distance between the 2 tracks is about 100 metres (much less if you are in a wagon stopping just in front of the subway).
The MXP bound train leaves always a few minutes after the Chiasso bound train, even if the latter is late.

neckervd

Lugano is a gem. It's situated on and above the shores of Lake Lugano. Boats ply in all directions from there:
to Porlezza (Italy, close to Menaggio/Lake Como),
to Ponte Tresa, linked by bus with Lake Maggiore,
to Capolago, starting place of the famous Monte Generoso cog wheel railway,
to Melide Swissminiatur,
to the smuggler musuem of Cantine di Gandria.

2 rope railways and 2 gondolas go to surrounding mountains with fine views over 2 to 5 lakes and the Alps.
Tamaro park and the 3 medieval castles of Bellinzona can be reached in less than half an hr by car.
In less than 2 hrs, you can drive into alpine areas with blooming rhododendron fields (may be along the Lucomagn road).

PalenQ

I enjoyed taking a postal bus from Lugano up in the hills and seeing cows and nice walking paths.

neckervd

Well signmarked walking paths are omnipresent in the Lugano area, up to Lake Como and Lake Maggiore.

utedog

Awesome, thanks neckervd. I'm very glad I managed to schedule a couple of days for Lugano then, before we have to head back to the real world.

utedog

Hi @whitehall, Just wondering if you have been to the cycle path at Lake Garda? I found a blog post from July this year saying there was only 2km open (at the northern end of the lake) at that time and while it was lovely, it was pointless for riding as there were so many tourists walking along the 2km stretch. It sounds like most of the path won’t be open for years to come, but maybe there is more than 2km now? Do you know?... Thanks

Hambagahle

ALL cars rented in Switzerland have the vignette on them. And that is the only toll we have within the country. There is one tunnel going from Switzerland to Italy - Grand St Bernard - which has a toll and is very expensive. In late June the pass will be open and so you wouldn't need the tunnel should you be going that way.

Le Moléson - very low - about 1800m - and in the pré Alpes not in the Alpes themselves. Views are pretty but not stunning. Same goes for the villages in the area. Gruyères is probably the most interesting but if you go there get there early in the day because in summer it becomes wall to wall people by about 1100.

Going to the Aiguille du Midi is an excellent idea provided that no one in your family has vertigo. the last few minutes of the ascent the cable car runs vertically up a rock wall and it can scare the daylights out of those with fear of heights.

Two other comments - Interlaken is the biggest tourist trap in Switzerland. Tacky souvenir shops, litter in the streets and in general a place to avoid if you can. Plus there is nothing to see or do there. Everything worth seing/doing is in the area around it and not in the town itself.

And if you want to save money - use Youth Hostels. These can be surprisingly good. Have family rooms and often kitchens to use so you an cut food costs. some even have indoor pools and spas. Grindelwald has a very nice one for example. www.youthhostels.ch for more information.

kerouac

I was thrilled to be able to drive over the Grand Saint Bernard pass the last time I was in the area, although the pass itself was buried in freezing fog. I have to admit that I was surprised that there is actually a kennel for Saint Bernard dogs there. Poor things -- I'm sure they would be much happier at a lower altitude.

PalenQ

In addition to hostels older folks may more enjoy the Nature Friend's Houses like the one in Grindelwald with private rooms and self-catering facilities catering mainly to hikers of all ages.

https://translate.google.com/transla...n/&prev=search

utedog

Hambagahle, Thanks you so much for the info. Can you please explain the vignette to me (as tolls are very different in my country) - is this something that is already included in the price of the car, so you can drive wherever you like in Switzerland and there will be no extra charge for any highway (no toll booths on the way, or charges afterward when returning the car)?

If we need to stay somewhere in the vicinity of Gruyères in your opinion what what would be the best location - Gruyères itself or somewhere near the lake (maybe around Montreux) as an earlier poster suggested?

Aiguille du Midi looks amazing, but I do suffer from a fear of heights. I can push through it for most things but that might be a step too far. Will have to give that one some real thought!

I will be trying for Lauterbrunnen I think, or Grindelwald, for our stay in that area. Thanks for the info!