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Need Advice: Swiss Alps to Dolomites Trip is Difficult to Build

Posted by on

I'm looking for trip advice and some help with a couple of tricky issues. We are 2 people planning to hike near the Matterhorn and the Dolomites, trying to get a taste for these somewhat different landscapes..

Our current plan is to fly into Zurich from California in September, go to Zermatt, hike for a few days, go to Castelrotto -- hopefully by Glacier Express-- hike for a few days in the Dolomites, then fly out of MIlan back to California. (We chose Castelrotto mainly on Rick's suggestion and good information, but we might be willing to change to some other place with easy access to hiking, good lodging and food in the Dolomites.)

We were planning to take the Glacier Express from Zermatt to St. Moritz. Unfortunately, car rental appears to be very expensive and something to minimize, but trains are a slow way in some of these routes, especially St. Moritz to Castelrotto.

What can you suggest to simplify and optimize the cost of this trip? Some specific items:

  1. We'll fly into Zurich and make our way to Zermatt, but that is a car-free city. The trains to Zermatt seem to require multiple changes and it doesn't seem to make sense to rent a car for the trip between. What is the best approach?
  2. We are especially surprised about the difficulty of getting from St. Moritz after arriving by Glacier Express, to Castelrotto. Car rental was around $300/day; local trains were 10 hours long. Ughh. And the 1 car rental place in St. Moritz has few open hours.
  3. I think going to Milan from the Dolomites using the Milan/Bolzano train is a good idea, but does this mean we need a car starting in Moritz and dropping in Bolzano?

Thanks for your help!
Larry

Posted by
21883 posts

SBB suggests 6 1/2 hours from St Moritz to Bolzano, then the bus to Castelrotto.
Train to Samedan
Train to Scuol-Tarasp
Bus to Pfunds
Bus to Landeck-Zams
Train to Innsbruck
Train to Bolzano

www.sbb.ch/en

One way rentals to other countries are extremely expensive as the car has to be transported back to its home country before it can be rented again, and you pay for that and then some.

You could do a bit better if you got off the Glacier Express in Chur and proceed to Buchs and get the train to Innsbruck from there.

Posted by
6128 posts

You don't mention if you've been in Switzerland before, or how many nights (not days) that you have. Is this your first Swiss trip? There are so many unknowns....
There's just so much spectacular hiking in Switzerland, it seems a shame not to explore more of this one incredible country. Perhaps look at u-tube videos of the Berner Oberland, (Wengen and Murren). If you're near St Moritz, there's Pontressina at about 6,000 ft., and it's spectacular.
Then you could ride the Bernina Express to Tirano, Italy, and maybe on to Lake Como (Varenna) and perhaps fly out of Milan? So many possibilities ....
Would you consider putting the Dolomites off until you plan an Italy trip?
September is a great time to be in these mountains, so whatever you decide, have a great trip! Safe travels.

Posted by
2809 posts

An interesting route from st. Moritz to Bolzano is to go via Mals. This is also the fastest route.
So it will be st. Moritz - Zernez by train, then bus to Mals, then on to Meran and Bozen. Currently part of Mals - Meran is still by substitute bus. Don't know yet what it will be in September. The works on the line should be finished eventually...

This is an interesting and scenic route. Certainly possible, and it is not necessary to break you head over it, as none of the buses or trains need to be booked in advance.

Will take you about 4 1/2 hours to Bozen. That route runs about every hour. Don't worry about the many changes, as these are coordinated. And you are hikers, so should not have an issue moving on your legs :-)

Then from Bozen another hour or so by bus to Kastelruth.

You can use the following sites for planning:

Posted by
1831 posts

The shortest path is the itinerary via Zernez and Mals as already suggested. But the real reply is that the best overall way to get from Zermatt to Bolzano is Zermatt-Brig-Domodossola-Milan-Verona-Bolzano. Alps have a few high capacity itineraries and you should better take advantage of them; all other itineraries are hopelessly slow.

Posted by
2 posts

Thanks to all for the great info! And you weren't kidding on the cost for dropping a rental car in a different country -- the quote I received was only $150/day, but also this short note, "One Way Fee of 2955.28 CHF VAT not included, paid locally" Crazy!

Consequently, I'm revising my trip to Switzerland only, this time, and save the Dolomites for the future.

Larry

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