Switerland transportation question
 

I posted earlier today about a trip to Switzerland (see: "a week or a few days in Switzerland?").

My husband and I were not planning to rent a car, so I am wondering if areas with great hiking, etc are accessible by some other form of transportation. Train? Bus?

If we need to rent a car, I need to find one ASAP.

Thanks so much!--MP :)

Trains go virtually everywhere and where they don't go from train stations the fabled Swiss postal buses fan out to every little hamlet - no place in the country is inaccessible by transport and good modern reliable usually ontime trains and buses. And if a bus can't get you there there is a mind-boggling number of telepheriques, aerial gondolas, funiculars, etc. to take you to higher climes for higher climbs. This is one country you do not need a car in. And if traveling much look strongly at a Swiss Pass.

Switzerland's public transportation system to me, an American, is unbelievably good. Trains, busses, and boats all interconnect, and are remarkably timely and clean. Many train stations rent bicycles, also.

It is fairly common that the scenic towns up in the mountains ban cars, so I think you would have a better opportunity to reach a scenic hiking area on public transportation.

Some people say they like to have a car so they can just pull off the road when they want to hike. My very limited experience in cars in Switzerland is that there is no edge to pull off on where I would want to stop.

If you anticipate daily use of public transportation, it may be advantageous to get a half-fare card, or one of the many passes available, but it takes a lot of planning and calculation to see what is the best deal. Try doing a forum search for Switzerland and see some of the detailed threads explaining the passes.

Hi MP---all of the places I mentioned earlier are accessible by train and/or cable car---which are part of the transportation system in Switzerland. You will not need a car, even to get to the trailhead for hiking. Any town you pick will have trails, or lifts to trails, starting right from the town.

You can view the routes and schedules for Swiss trains (and lifts) on the Swiss rail website:
www.sbb.ch

As I recall, you will be starting in Geneva, where you depart from your family. All of the hiking areas would be between there and Zürich, or slightly off that path. So you might consider doing that first, and then heading to Zürich to see your friends.

Try puting in Geneva to Zürich in the website search area (you can pick random dates in July if you don't know the exact ones). Then play around with Geneva to Wengen; Geneva to Zermatt, etc. Or try Geneva to Bettmeralp, and it will show you the cablecar up to the high village.

>It is fairly common that the scenic towns up in the mountains ban cars,

Mostly it is not a "banning" as per a law. It was often simply not considered expedient to build a road. Like in "why waste money, the train does it just as well"...

IMO good advice from those above. You do not need a car to reach a wealth of places in Switzerland including towns like Zermatt which offer hiking and are car-free anyway (there actually is a road into the town but you and I cannot access it).

And if you get one of the Swiss <b>passes</b> you also have access to the local transport networks in many Swiss cities and towns. I am not sure the Half Fare Card includes these although for your purposes it may be a moot point.

&gt;I am not sure the Half Fare Card includes these

It does - but on short distances the discount is less than 50% (e.g. 2,60 instead of 3,60 Fr for a tram/bus ticket in Z&uuml;rich).

I have done Switzerland both with and without a car. Yes, the transportation system is all that people say it is. You can reach even remote places by bus, places where the terrain is too steep for trains or the building of a rail line is not economically feasible. (I think the Swiss can put a train just about anywhere except straight up.)

The issue boils down to one of timeliness and convenience. With a car, you can often reach some destinations quicker, but when it comes to the inner cities, a car can be a liability because of the cost to park it.

Also, with a car, you can come and go when you want to particularly if the destination is more remote.

Let me give you an example of how I used both means of transportation last summer.

We arrived in Lauterbrunnen from Munich by train. We departed by taking the train to the airport in Geneva. In between, we used a mixture - some car, some train and a few cable lifts. The choice depended on where we wanted to go and when.

One day we decide we would drive to the Rhine Falls at Schaffhausen. I could have gotten there by public transportation, but the timing was a little slow. As a result we drove it, and returned via Luzern.

At another time we drove to the top of the Grimsel Pass, and then to the Susten Pass the next day. We also drove to Kiental where I deferred to the bus to take me up the road to Griealps because some of the route is very narrow, winding, and inclined 28% from the horizontal.

For driving the two passes, having a car let us go when we wanted to and return after the last bus had departed from the top of the pass.

As the old saying goes, you pays your money and you takes your choice.

If I go back again this late summer, I am sure I will rent a car for a portion of the trip. Otherwise, around Lauterbrunnen, a car is useless for going up the valley sides to Wengen, M&uuml;rren, Kleine Scheidegg and Sulwald.
I don't even bother with one for Grindelwald unless I am going to be later than 6 pm leaving. (the schedule becomes much less favorable early in the evening)

So I think you need to review carefully where you want to go and when you want to travel. Then check the bus/train schedules to see if they are favorable for your travel plans and ambitions.
If public transportation fills the bill, then I say a car is not needed.

I think it is a personal choice.

I spent two weeks last summer and had the best results using the trains, buses and trams / funiculars / ski lifts, etc.

It was a complete relief not having to rely on a car, find a place to park and paying forthe gas. Without the car, you can enjoy towns like Wengen and Zermatt even more!

My only recommendation is when returing to the airport, even though swiss rail runs like clock work, the unexpected can happen. We were stuck on the tracks less than 5 miles to the airport with 2.0 hours before the flight...we missed the flight...the results to the credit card were not pretty! Leave early, early, early and enjoy the international flavor of the airport!

Oh. . . my. . . gosh! A Swiss train was late? The one time we were on a late-running train (by 2 minutes), the conductor came through the car to apologize and warn us that we would have to hurry to make our next connection (we did and made it just fine).

Sorry you missed your plane---that would be very distressing.

That Swiss trains run like clocks to me is a myth - at least in my many Swiss trains rides - though trains are unlikely to be much late they often are a few minutes late. And usually the connecting train seems to be held up for the late arriving train - trains are clockwork-like in the sense that connecting trains (and buses) are coordinated to kep connection times to a minimum. Swiss trains are fantastic but not always punctual to the minute - as Switzerland is an extremely small country trains shouldn't be too late anyway - in France the Paris-nice TGV covers some 600 miles or so and is much more likely to be a few minutes late.

Last June there was a major &quot;bust&quot; in the Swiss transit system. As I understood it, the main computer system had a major hiccup and trains were shut down in mid course.