Switzerland

[eddie]

Here are a selection of the photos as promised. This is the first time I used a photo link so I hope it works.

http://www.shutterfly.com/lightbox/view.sfly?fid=7b995573236ce7cb5b2f2841c4d4a52e

It does work. Try the Play Slideshow feature!

 

[peakn]

Posted by DougPaul:

IIRC, the Swiss Rail pass did cover all the way to Zermatt.

We were there last summer and the Swiss Rail Pass did in fact cover the trip from Saas Fee to Zermatt and back.

Harry

 

[Rick]

OK, So We plan to stay at my wife's cousin's farm in Luzern and do some 2-3 day trips to Szermatt, Chamonix and other places.

From the folks who have been there,...
Please tell me about staying in Zermatt. Since we have a a 7 year old and a crawler (11 month old) that we have to carry everywhere along with Luggage, how difficult is it to get from the carpark to downtown and to the gondolas/train stations?
Should I just skip Zermatt on this trip and focus my efforts in spots that might be a little more family accomodacious? We can always come back to Zermatt when the kids are a bit older....
Thanks

 

[yvon]

We were there in 2001. We will be back one day. At that time we did not start yet to hike. Here is a photo, from our balcony in Zermatt.

 

[cbcbd]

From the folks who have been there,...
Please tell me about staying in Zermatt. Since we have a a 7 year old and a crawler (11 month old) that we have to carry everywhere along with Luggage, how difficult is it to get from the carpark to downtown and to the gondolas/train stations?

Are you taking trains or driving from Luzern to Zermatt/Chamonix?
For Zermatt I drove to Tasch and took the train from there. The station is close to the lot, no more than 1/4 mile I'd think. In Zermatt I think the only public transportation might be horse buggies that I recall. Depending on where you stay there, they might have a shuttle available. Zermatt is mostly a walking town. The gondola that takes you to the base of the Matterhorn is at the far end of town.

If driving around, with mountain passes/vistas I'd give yourself a full day for getting to Zermatt and Chamonix from Luzern. The driving isn't fast and there is too much to stop at and to oooh and aaah about.


edit: actually, some good info here:
http://wikitravel.org/en/Zermatt
And they do have taxis there... didn't remember that.

 

[Rick]

Yes, We are driving, which will save us $$ over the 3 country rail pass.
However, as I start to consider the luggage (I carry a backpack, but my wife and son insist upon Roller bags) and the kid carrier (I can't well carry my backpack with the kidcarrier on) and accessibility, I am starting to think we will try to go see some more easily accessable places (Inlcuding LegoLand or whatever it is in Switzerland) and leave the more dificult accesses for a later trip when all of us will be walking , unless we leave every thing at a cousins and bring one overnight bag (I am still thinking....)

 

[cbcbd]

When I was there it was more affordable to rent a car in order to see what we wanted to in the days we had. It is a gorgeous drive towards Zermatt, but it will just be an excuse to return to CH!

My recommendations:
If you are in Luzern and going towards France you can easily drive through and check out the Bernese Oberland - go through Interlaken and into Lauterbrunnen (check out the Trummelach falls at the end of town!). From Lauterbrunnen, which is a gorgeous little town on its own, you can easily take a train to Wengen and/or keep on going to the train station at Jungfraujoch, way up in the mountains. Interlaken is a big city, so you could find places to stay there easily.

 

[Rick]

Well, We just got back. Life is so much more complicated with an infant and a sailing 7-years old (Game boy left by dad's orders in the US), but we got to Grindalwald and walked around a bit as well as Interlaken, some sailing on the Bodensee (courtesy of wife's Cousin), stayed for 3 days in a 200 year old farmhouse at 3300' on the shoulder of Mt Pilatus (another wife's cousins) and hiked around up there, and then down to the creme de la creme - Chamonix where we did touristy stuff for a couple of days. Nice to see everyone walking around in hiking boots with crampons and ice axes festooned to their pack!!!!!
We are definitely going back to Chamonix!!!