My friend and I are traveling to Europe in mid-August. We are flying in and out of Zurich. While in Europe, we will first be traveling from Zurich to Graechen (located in Valais - the Alps). I am having a hard time finding information on travel in and out of Graechen because it is a small town located in the Alps. It does have a LGH station (lift, correct?) and bus connections. From Graechen we'll be going to Venice, Cinque Terre, and then on to Paris. We're thinking of getting an Italy-France 4 trip EuroRail pass. Can these passes be used twice in one day? When in Switzerland, we may get the pass that allows a 50% discount on all public transportation and roundtrip travel to the airport. Anything we may need to know? How do lifts work in Switzerland? We're both 26 and have student ID's, are there any discounts that may apply to us?
Thank you so much!!
Posted by
Vernon, Canada
32353 posts
Kristin, Have a look at the following website: translate.google.ca/translate?hl=en&sl=fr&u=http://www.graechen-valais.ch/GraechenF/Village/Journey.html&ei=1i82Tty9M5HXiAKUoKSwCA&sa=X&oi=translate&ct=result&resnum=3&ved=0CCoQ7gEwAg&prev=/search%3Fq%3DGraechen%2B(Valais)%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26hs%3DJhQ%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26prmd%3Divnsm It's a long link to cut & paste, but hopefully it will work for you. I did a brief search on the bahn.de website, and it appears you can travel from Zurich Airport to Grächen in about 3H:24M, with two changes (one involving a Bus). There were a number of stations shown for Grächen, but "Post" seems to be the one suggested in the other website. For the trip from Grächen to Venice, there was a departure at 07:30, with arrival at Venezia Santa Lucia at 14:40 (time 7H:10M, 2 changes, reservation compulsory on one leg). The trip from Venice to the Cinque Terre (via La Spezia) will be somewhat faster. The shortest trip I could find was 4H:52M, with one change in Florence (again compulsory reservation). The trip from the C.T. to Paris by train is LONG! You may want make an intermediate stop for one night to break-up the trip (ie: Nice). Normally I'd suggest an option of budget flights, but as you're travelling in August, it's probably a bit late to get good prices. One point to note regarding Railpasses - they DO NOT include the reservation fees that are compulsory on some trains. You'll need to pay separately for those. Don't be caught without a valid reservation in Italy or YOU'LL BE FINED ON THE SPOT (and it won't be cheap!) Happy travels!
Posted by
Vernon, Canada
32353 posts
Kristin, For the trip from the C.T. to Paris, you might have a look at www.easyjet.com for flights from Pisa to Paris / ORY. The fares are in the range of €125 PP at the moment, but that might be preferable to a 12-hour train journey, and perhaps cheaper than the cost of a Hotel at an intermediate stop. One question though - Grächen is a part of Switzerland I haven't been to yet. What prompted you to visit that location?
Posted by
OP
Chevy Chase, Maryland, USA
2 posts
Thank you both for the replies. We are attending a wedding in Graechen! Exciting.... I didn't think of searching bahn.de (German train website). Thank you for that tip.
Is a EuroRail pass beneficial in this situation? I beginning to think it may not be given that we are looking into a few overnight trains. I know that sleepers require an extra fee. Thanks again!