We will be traveling by bus from Como to Basel in September. The only issue is my wife is claustrophobic and has issues with tunnels. I assume the Gotthard road tunnel will be part of the route. What other tunnels might we expect to encounter? If we know in advance she can prepare herself. I looked into air from Milan to Zurich but that leaves us with getting from Como to Milan and Zurich to Basel by car service which seems to be a costly alternative.
Thank you in advance for your responses.
Posted by
Wengen
2488 posts
September next year as a long time away to worry about ground transportation. Why not take a train? Or a combination of train and bus routes? Avoiding tunnels is however going to be a real challenge. And how does your wife cope with flights? I can't imagine that there is something more claustrophobic than a plane.
By road there are going to be a lot of tunnels involved. Not only the Gotthard tunnel, but also several tunnels near Luzern, and between Luzern and Basel.
Posted by
Uppsala, Sweden
6968 posts
And since it's September, one option is simply to take an evening train. If it's dark outside, you won't notice the tunnels.
Posted by
Seattle, WA
17417 posts
I suffer from claustrophobia as well, but it is mild and fairly manageable. I do avoid tunnels on trains in Europe as much as possible. A bus ride through the Gotthard Tunnel would be my worst nightmare, actually—-traffic can be bad and come to a complete halt. I personally would not take that bus.
I suggest you take the train, on one of the two possible routes:
The Treno Gottardo goes over the Gotthard Pass instead of the rough the Gotthard Basistunnel. From Como town, you can meet it at Bellinzona. There are some very short tunnels, and one about 8 minutes long near the top, but nothing like the long Gotthard Basistunnel (or the Gotthard road tunnel). This train ends at Zurich, entering a tunnel as it approaches the station (as do most trains coming into Zurich).
Or consider the Bernina Pass route, which has no tunnels on the section between Tirano and St. Moritz; one short tunnel on the Abula line after that. You could reach the starting point at Tirano by either the Bernina Express bus from Lugano to Tirano, or train up the east side of the lake to Tirano.
You can see all these routes, and the tunnels in Switzerland (marked with dashed lines), on this map of the Swiss rail system:
Posted by
Green Bay
21137 posts
If you want to fly to Zurich, you can take a train direct from the airport. not many tunnels, except that you start in a tunnel at the underground platforms at Zurich airport and the stop at Zurich HB is underground.
Posted by
Bern, Switzerland
1043 posts
If you are claustrophobic then you do not want to be in the Gotthard road tunnel! If there is a bad accident or traffic delays you could end up sitting in the tunnel for a period of time. I have seen the police having to come in and take people out, then drive their car out and so on because of panic attacks, so think long and hard about doing that.....