Our family (American) will be arriving in Zurich on a flight from Florence. We will have one hour to catch our train to Zermatt (if the flight arrives on time). Will we have to go through passport control when we arrive? We'll also need to collect luggage for 6 people. Are we cutting it too close? Thank you in advance, travel experts!
Posted by
Green Bay
20987 posts
No. Get off the plane, get your luggage, head to the airport train station. There is a departure to Zermatt every hour at 45 past the hour. If you miss your train, just wait an hour and there will be another.
Posted by
Sweden
6865 posts
If your plan is to get from Florence to to Zermatt, just take the train. Flying to Zürich to get to Zermatt is quite a detour and a waste of both time and money.
Posted by
OP
2 posts
Thank you Sam! Exactly what I needed to know. And thank you for your input Badger.
Posted by
Nashville, TN
594 posts
When you go between Schengen Territory countries via plane, train, bus, etc. you don't go through Passport control. Italy & Switzerland are both in the Schengen, so it's like flying from New York to Florida....it's a "domestic" flight.
I do agree though, it actually doesn't make sense to fly to Zurich from Florence if your intention is to go to Zermatt. You can train to Zermatt from Florence in under 6 hours. It takes 3.5 hours to train to Zermatt from the Zurich airport + all the time flying/being in the airport, so you're going to spend way more time flying than just taking the train in the first place. If you've already bought a plane ticket, perhaps you can use the credit for a different flight, as you're going to double your travel time and complication doing it via plane.
Posted by
Green Bay
20987 posts
One mitigating factor in flying is that if travel is after June 8, the rail link between Milan and Brig will be interrupted. No trains are showing now, but will by June with a replacement bus service between Arona and Stresa.
Trenitalia is now showing a replacement bus from Milano Centrale to Domodossola. 3 per day.