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Zermatt and/or Chamonix

Hello, I’m planning my itinerary for a first-time 3-week trip to the Alps, traveling by train and bus since I’ll be solo. My dates are June 14 – July 5. I’m going mainly to hike (moderate) and for the views. I’d love your suggestions, comments regarding 5 nights of my last week, or any of my trip for that matter. Specifically though, I read the weather can be iffy at Zermatt/The Matterhorn in late June, I’d only have 2 nights, and wondering if I should skip Zermatt this trip and instead focus on Chamonix and perhaps a night in the Lake Geneva area. I fly out of Zurich so my last day will be traveling to Zurich where I’ll spend the night for a morning flight. My itinerary so far is:

3 nights Venice where I’ll arrive June 15

4 nights Dolomites staying in Castelrotto or Val Gardena area

1 night Innsbruck, since train from Balzano, Italy goes thru Innsbruck on way to Luzern

2 nights Luzern (Mt Pilates or Rigi)

4 nights Murren

5 nights - Zermatt? Chamonix? Lausenne?

1 night Zurich

Thanks so much for your help!

Posted by
23162 posts

I am not that sure Chamonix is any better than Zermatt as far as weather. If one is raining, the other probably is as well as they are not that far apart as the crow flies.

Posted by
5 posts

Well, if I'm in Chamonix for 4 nights was thinking I'd have a better chance of it clearing at some point. Just not sure if i want to travel to both. Thanks for pointing out their proximity.

Posted by
1264 posts

While Chamonix is not superb in this regard, I would say that Zermatt does not have all
that many lift/gondolas, so depending on where you might want to hike, how to get there
by something other than foot power is worth researching (I assume moderate hiking does
not always include 3000' vertical ascents or descents).

Chamonix has oodles of hiking trails and the access to them is well documented.

You also have some options for sightseeing as well as hiking (Panoramique to Italy,
Mer de Glace, Aiguille du Midi).

If you want to avoid Geneva, there is a ferry that goes from Thonon or Evian over
to Lausanne.

Posted by
5 posts

Thank you! I read a post from Aug 2024 and seems looks like there's more to do in and around Chamonix compared to Zermatt, plus more options for places to stay. Leaning toward just going to Chamonix and I'll check out the ferry to Lausanne.

Posted by
1120 posts

Murren is great, Zermatt is great, Chamonix is great - I love them all... and all have June Alpine weather - usually good - but 9 nights in the western Alps would be redundant (to me).

One can get to the eastern Dolomites directly from Marco Polo airport using the Cortina Express bus (about 2 hours) and local buses will take you from there across to val Gardena easily enough - Enjoy the scenery and leaving the driving to them! Kastelrotto is much smaller than the other val Gardena towns (Ortisei, St. Christina, Selva) and if your objective is the Alpe di Suisi one can get there from Ortisei as well as Kastelrotto.

Check out Gillian Price's hiking guides to the Dolomites. And since your hotel will give you a local bus pass you can go up one lift/gondola and come back down another and catch the local bus home.

https://www.suedtirol.info/en/en/

It is an hour by bus to Bolzano from val Gardena (stop for a mid-day visit to Otzi the Ice Man), and there are frequent trains across the Brenner Pass to Innsbruck. Innsbruck north to Luzern takes about 4 1/2 hours, through lovely countryside. OR, you could go south from Bolzano to Lugano (5 1/2 hours) on the Swiss-Italian border for a night (Swiss efficiency with Italian eating) and then take the Gotthard Pass route from Lugano under or over the mountains to Luzern. The Gotthard Pass Express route includes a lake steamer ride from Fluelen at the south end of the lake to Luzern.

One could spend LOTS of time in the Berner Overland, whether in Lauterbrunnen or Murren, etc. There is never enough time. But after that I might head to Murten (on the Swiss plain for a rich lowland experience) and then to Lausanne (there are great wineries on the north shore of the Lake of Geneva) even if you have little use for the Olympic museum. Zermatt deserves a stop but the hiking in June may be constrained by it still being winter-ish/wettish at higher elevations. The same can be said for Chamonix, but both are lovely mountain places. Both are also overbuilt but cater to the hiking crowd in the summer. Chamonix can be reached from Martigny near the east end of Lake Geneva, although the train connections seem weird since the train schedules from each side only route you to the French Swiss border town on the way

In my opinion Zurich sometimes gets a bad rap as being too "modern" but the Swiss National Museum there is a rare and excellent gem that might be worth a stop n the afternoon before your flight home since you are planning to be there that night anyway.

Have fun. Bring sturdy shoes, good base layers and a waterproof jacket.

Posted by
5 posts

Wonderful information re. Dolomites! I'll definitely consider visiting the eastern side. Using RometoRio as a start, going to the western side seemed to make more sense to get to Switzerland afterwards but none of my plans are set in stone. And yes, I wanted to hike Alpe di Suisi. I've been reading the RS Switzerland guide book, watching videos, etc and tomorrow I'll receive his Italy guidebook to get more info on visiting the Dolomites (and Venice). I'll check out the hiking guide you recommended too.

I'll also carefully read and check out your train and travel recommendations for Switzerland. I enjoy scenic train rides and don't mind at all spending a full or half day getting somewhere. I'm thinking of doing a Tour du Mount Blanc guided hike sometime which is in part why I wanted to visit in and around Chamonix this trip. Thank you so much for all your thoughtful suggestions and I will read more about them in the coming days.

Posted by
1296 posts

If you’re going for hiking, I’d take a night off Venice and add it to Innsbruck. There is some beautiful hiking in that area and it would be nice for you to actually have a full day in Austria, an incredible country. Thinking of that, I think it might be fun for you to do Chamonix instead of Zermatt, which would make your trip Italy, Austria, Switzerland AND France. A fun tour! I find Zermatt very overcrowded and the hiking there isn’t my favorite. The hiking around Murren and Chamonix is much more “green” and lush, whereas the Valais tends to be a bit brown looking for my preference.

No possible chance you can change your flight to leave from Geneva instead of Zurich? Sometimes they are similarly priced and if your flight allows changes it’s worth looking in to, as it would save you a few hours of backtracking.

Another thing you could consider if your flight is after 9:30 in the morning is going to Luzern last and skipping Zurich. You can get to the Zurich airport via a 1 hr direct train from Luzern.

Venice - 2 nights
Dolomites - 4 nights
Innsbruck - 2 nights
Luzern - 2 nights
Murren - 5 nights
Chamonix - 4 nights
Zurich - 1 night

Or if your flight is 9:30 am or later

Venice - 2 nights
Dolomites - 4 nights
Innsbruck - 2 nights
Murren - 6 nights
Chamonix - 4 nights
Luzern - 2 nights

Posted by
5 posts

I had originally planned and tried to fly home from Geneva but that flight was quite a bit more costly and almost as important, added a 2nd stop compared to Zurich's one stop. I know, it messed up my flow. I'm reluctant to stay in Venice only 2 nights, not sure how much sight seeing I'll be up for in a day with jet lag but I like your suggestion of 2 nights in Innsbruck and frankly, passing on Zermatt. I'll look more closely at your itineraries and I could pretty much go either way by removing 1 night in Murren. Thank you for your helpful suggestions!!