SWISS RAIL HOLIDAY June 2013 - Part 1

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jay-ell71
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SWISS RAIL HOLIDAY June 2013 - Part 1

#1

Post by jay-ell71 »

Part 1


We went on this holiday in June of this year. I wasn’t sure if anyone would be interested, but here goes. I will try to divide it into manageable parts.

We flew from London Heathrow to Zurich with Swiss ( used to be Swissair). Nothing remarkable about it, not much leg room, sandwich snack, but it arrived
on time. Hurrah!

We soon cleared customs and picked up our one bag.... and...here’s the good bit, we walked straight from the baggage hall onto the train station, all of this took 25 minutes from wheels down. We waited all of 10 minutes for the train to Interlaken where we were to stay for the first three nights of our seven night holiday.

Now, the secret of a successful Swiss rail trip is a Rail Pass. We had an eight day Rail Pass This entitled us to all train rides, all boat trips and some funicular railways. As well as this we bought a ticket for the Glacier Express train (the slowest express train in the world) and this included lunch. We used the TA whose name begins with a K to book all the hotels and tickets, but we planned the itinerary ourselves with the help of the TA.

Our itinerary was:
Day 1..London - Zurich - Interlaken Hotel Metropol 3 nights
Day 2..Boat trip on Briezersee Lake. Murengen Waterfall where Sherlock Holmes and
Moriarty lost their lives. Train to Brienz, lunch and return to Interlaken on the boat
Day 3.. Trains to Kandersteg, the ski resort where we spent our honeymoon 50 years ago!
Day 4.. Leave Interlaken and take the trains to Zermatt Hotel Schweizerhof 2 nights
Day 5.. Train to Gonergrat where the Matterhorn can be seen
Day 6.. Leave Zermatt on the Glacier Express, and all day trip finishing in St Moritz Hotel
Monopol. 2 nights
Day 7..More trains into the mountains, the route of the Bernina Express but on regular
trains.
Day 8..Trains from Mt Moritz to Zurich and the flight to London.


Day 1
On arrival in Interlaken, there were buses waiting and we took one of these to the hotel which was in fact only five minutes away and we could have walked! However it was 6.pm by now, and we had had a long day.
Everything was very pleasant in the Metropol and we had an adequate but plain room on the top floor with a view of the Jungfrou Mountain and a grassy park. The hang-gliders sailed past our balcony and we could wave and shout at the flyers! We had half board and the service and dinner in the hotel was very nice, but strangely it was only the Brits who were in the dining room and there were not many of us at all. Also the menu for half board was limited. The hotel was fine, but not special enough for me to recommend it with any enthusiasm.
Jay

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Manoverboard
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Location: Dorset

Re: SWISS RAIL HOLIDAY June 2013 - Part 1

#2

Post by Manoverboard »

If it involves beautiful Interlaken then I am interested, we arrived there by coach nearly 40 years ago ... I am hoping that it hasn't changed one iota.

:eh:
Keep smiling, it's good for your well being

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jay-ell71
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Posts: 892
Joined: January 2013
Location: Cotswolds

Re: SWISS RAIL HOLIDAY June 2013 - Part 1

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Post by jay-ell71 »

Manoverboard wrote:
If it involves beautiful Interlaken then I am interested, we arrived there by coach nearly 40 years ago ... I am hoping that it hasn't changed one iota.

:eh:

I think you will find the biggest change from 40 years ago is that fact that the greatest number of tourists now visiting Switzerland are from Asia. The restaurants and the Glacier Express menus now have to include Curry!

Interlaken is a great centre for visiting many interesting venues.
Jay

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