Hi all, My husband, son and I are joining this tour. We're very excited. Thoughts about making reservations in advance for gondolas and cable cars. Are these necessary? What have folks decided to do?
Posted by
Boise, ID, USA
2433 posts
There are no advance reservations for the lifts, to the best of the my knowledge, and I've been to Lauterbrunnen, Chamonix and the Dolomites, the latter just last month. It shouldn't be a problem at all. Have fun!
Posted by
OP
4 posts
Thank you. Did you have any recommendations for particular not-to-miss gondolas/cog?
Posted by
Boise, ID, USA
2433 posts
The cog train to Wengen and then the Mannlichen lift as mentioned in the tour itinerary, is probably number one in the Lauterbrunnen Valley.
I'm guessing you'll be staying in Castelrotto in the Dolomites. From there, the Cabinovia Alpe di Siusi is the choice, with a hike on the "Hans und Paula Steger Weg," Trail #30 from Compatsch.
Posted by
Southern California
524 posts
We just returned from that tour at the end of June. The only cable car that needed advance reservations was the Aiguille du Midi, and even that one we only made a day or so ahead.
Posted by
OP
4 posts
Thanks very much, all.
Posted by
Myrtle Beach SC
11 posts
Janet,
We just returned from the Rick Steves My Way Alps tour and I would highly recommend you look into purchasing a Mt. Blanc Multi-Pass for your time in Chamonix. For one price, it gives you access to almost all the lifts including the two best - Aiguille du Midi and Brévent-Flégère, plus the Mer-de-Glace, which you will also want to do. We actually went up Aiguille du Midi twice which we wouldn't have done without the pass. You can buy a pass for any number of days (1-9). It is really a good buy if you are staying over for a a day or two extra in Chamonix. Rick Steves recommends the pass and as he says " with the pass, you can decide to ride a lift up just to have lunch". LOL. We bought ours on-line but you can also buy them on site. They emailed us a bar code that we took with us. Once we got to Chamonix, we went to the Aiguille du Midi station and there is a machine there (just to the left of the information booth) that you scan your bar code and it dispenses your passes. Worked like a charm. You still need reservations for the Aiguille du Midi (and you can only do one reservation at a time for the Aiguille du Midi) but for all the others we did not need reservations - we just showed up with our card and boarded. The only downside to purchasing early is if the weather is bad when you are there, but hopefully that won't happen. It is worth looking into.