Hello,
We will be going to Dresden in March for an orchid show. Before the show we will visit friends in France and then are taking the opportunity to do the Glacier Express between Zermatt and St Moritz (ticking off our list of train trips in Europe). We have on a previous trip spent time in Zermatt so we are looking forward to exploring the Engadin area (we have a week for this part of our trip).

I've been trying to work out the best way to get to Dresden. We love trains so would appreciate help on the best connections. We don't mind making lots of changes and even having a stopover somewhere.

Please could you advise whether it would be best to leave from Zermatt or St Moritz to Dresden. I've tried putting in the various connections on the train sites but keep getting bus connections (possibly I am not doing something right).

Once we know the best connection we can plan the rest of our trip which will include some wonderful recommendations for overnight trains given previously on this forum.

Our trip has to end in Dresden as we will buying orchids to take home to New Zealand.

Many thanks for your help.

Hello,

funny coincidence, I went to St. Moritz from Dresden many times (for skiing in winter and hiking in summer)! My choice was car - every single time. Frankly, public transportation between both is close to a nightmare. It is doable if you plan an overnight, not recommended at all in one day.

My suggestion would be (no idea if that will work after the timetable change in December):
8.45 dep. St. Moritz RE 3 train
10.43 arr. Landquart
10.48 dep. Landqart IC 770 train
12.53 arr. Basel SBB
(or dep. 9.02 with a change in Chur, arr. Basel 13.28)
overnight in Basel, gives you enough time to explore the old town, check out the Minster church and maybe one museum
next morning
9.06 dep. Basel SBB IC 76 train
11.52 arr. Frankfurt Hbf
12.14 dep. Frankfurt Hbf ICE 290 train
15.10 arr. Leipzig Hbf
15.31 dep. Leipzig Hbf IC 2441 train
16.47 arr. Dresden Hbf

I got this from bahn.de with one stop in Basel SBB for 19 hours. You should be able to get a decent saver fare for this one if you book soon - right now for a random day in March they start at 59.99 Euro.

Hello Ingo,
Thank you so much for your suggestion. We love Basel and so your suggestion works very well for us. I would never have thought of this route so thank you. I know it sounds weird but having no trains to speak of where we live means we love all the hustle and bustle of hopping on trains.

We used to drive a lot more but trains mean we both can enjoy the scenery.
We are looking forward to our first visit to Dresden.

Kind regards

Overnight connections (timetable valid form Dec 15th 2024 until Dec 2025):
Zermatt dp 16.06 - Visp ar 17.19, dp 17.27 - Basel ar 19.32, have dinner at Basel
another train runs 30 min later
St. Moritz dp 15.07 - Chur ar 17.04, dp 17.08 (same patform) Zurich ar 18.22, have dinner at Zurich
Zurich dp 19.59 - Basel dp 21.13 - Dresden ar 07.08am (overnight train with sleeping cars

Day connections (timetable valid form Dec 15th 2024 until Dec 2025):
Zerrmatt dp 7.37 - Basel ar 11.01 and then everyy hr until 18.37; change at Visp and for somee connnections at Bern too)
St. Moritz dp 7.07 - Basel ar 11.28 and then every hr until 19.07; change at Chur and sometimes at Zurich too
Zürich dp 7.59 -Basel dp 9.06 - Frankfurt ar 11.52, dp 13.18 - Dresden ar 17.39
Zürich dp 9.59 - Basel dp 11.06 - Frankfurt ar 13.52, dp 15.18 - Dresden ar 19.39
Basel dp 13.06 - Frankfurt ar 15.52, dp 17.18 - Dresden ar 21.39
I proposed a long layover at Frankfurt, because actually alll German trains run with big delays.

neckervd
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