Closures in Switzerland

Posted by Carrie (Chicago) on 03/14/20 12:05 AM

Hi Everyone—

Can anyone confirm if there are new closures in Switzerland? It’s difficult to determine which reports are accurate sometimes.

It looks like the Schilthorn might be closed. The website says cable car from Brig to Schilthorn and the restaurant now closed. I assume that’s accurate. Doesn’t say until how long though.
https://schilthorn.ch/en/Infos/News

And I also read, on lenews website the following: “Border controls have been reintroduced. People can no longer automatically enter Switzerland. Only Swiss citizens, those with residence permits, cross-border workers and those making deliveries will be allowed in. Asylum seekers are required to stay put. None can enter and none will be transferred to other countries under the Dublin agreement.” Does anyone know if this is accurate?

Thanks!! Stay safe everyone!!

Carrie

Posted by Jazz+Travels

Chicago

03/14/20 02:16 AM

8164 posts

That is the official site of Schilthorn

Posted by Irv

Beverly Hills, MI

03/14/20 02:21 AM

813 posts

Regarding the Schilthorn, I would go through the contact page of their web site and inquire about the closing. This is their maintainance season so that could be the reason for the closure.

Posted by Continental

New York, NY

03/14/20 03:07 AM

4071 posts

No, I had been in contact with the people who run the Schilthorn official website and they told me in writing that the cable car would be closed April 20-26 for maintenance. This was a few months ago.

Carrie, thank you for sharing this information.

Posted by Beth

Boulder, Colorado, USA

03/14/20 05:04 AM

437 posts

All the Swiss ski areas were closed today.

“The Federal Council of the Swiss Confederation decided on March 13 that the ski areas in Switzerland should be closed immediately. This will take effect immediately and will
expire on April 30, 2020. The 2019/20 winter season will also end early in the Aletsch Arena.”

From Aletsch Arena website.
I also saw it on Matterhorn Paradise and Saas Fee websites, not on Jungfrau but I bet it’s just a delay updating their site.

I didn’t fly yesterday, a very last minute decision to not take a long awaited ski trip. It seems we wouldn’t have gotten to ski Switzerland anyway.

Edited to add:

Also schools were closed and they lowered the limit of people in groups and restaurants to 50.

I read about it on the swissinfo website dated MAR 13, 2020 - 18:27.

Stay healthy!

Posted by Beth

Boulder, Colorado, USA

03/14/20 04:08 PM

437 posts

The Jungfrau website has been updated. Closed after today.

Stay healthy!

Posted by Carrie OP

Chicago

03/14/20 07:37 PM

3125 posts

Thanks for the replies!! We made the decision to cancel our late April trip today. ☹

Posted by Chris F

Basel, Switzerland

03/14/20 10:07 PM

8889 posts

People can no longer automatically enter Switzerland. Only Swiss citizens, those with residence permits, cross-border workers and those making deliveries will be allowed in.

Not quite. That only applies to the Italian-Swiss border, the other Swiss borders are unaffected. Or possibly that quote was out of context.
And since you are only allowed to travel in Italy for work, health visits or emergencies, the only people allowed to get to the border are the 68,000 Italians who commute into Switzerland to work every day.
"and those making deliveries will be allowed in." - not quite, all goods traffic is exempt. "Deliveries" implies somebody us taking goods across the border and returning. There is a lot of transit goods traffic between Germany and Italy via Switzerland, for example Frankfurt to Naples; this is all still running.

I went over from Switzerland to Germany and back again today. A friend came over from France to Switzerland yesterday. In both cases perfectly normal, no border checks.