Trip to Zermatt, Switzerland 15~17 June 2013/ Family Travelogue

continued from Train travel from Lucerne to Zermatt

From Lucerne City, we traveled by train to Zermatt.  We booked two nights stay at Chalet Medi.  The moment we arrived in Zermatt, we felt two nights stay would not be enough.  The town was so lovely, we could just stroll around breathing  fresh air.  The village is surrounded by mountains.  Chalet Medi has a magnificent view of the Alps as well.  Summer has just started, we were spared of the snow caps.

Initially, we intended to go up to Gornergrat and Matterhorn.   We were able to climb Gornergrat (by cogway train), the kids begged off Matterhorn.  We had enough mountains for this trip and they prefer to cycle around the village.

Chalet Medi is a 7 mins walk from the train station.  We just walked with our luggage up to the chalet.

A bit pricy though, the chalet was big with three bed rooms, separate toilet and bath, living room. and kitchen equipped with the basic utensils  There were some ingredients in the cupboards left by the previous occupants.  Our two daughters chose the bigger rooms and we ended up the smallest bedroom.  Anyway, let the kids enjoy. More so, free wifi and the connection was really excellent.  

Electric car in Zermatt, Switzerland

Electric car in Zermatt, Switzerland

Horse-drawn carriages in Zermatt

Zermatt is a car-free zone.  Passenger cars vehicles allowed in the village are the horse-drawn carriage and the small electric/battery driven taxis. To prevent air pollution that could ruin the view of the Matterhorn from the village, cars that run by fuel are not allowed in Zermatt.  If you go to Zermatt by car, you could leave your car in Tasch and take the train shuttle from there.  The five kilometer route takes about 12 minutes to get to the auto-free village.  The shuttle trains depart every 20 minutes.

Horse-drawn carriages in Zermatt

 The youngest was worried the horse might kick her.

As soon we were settled at Chalet Medi, we went to COOP for grocery supplies for two days.  COOP was just opposite the train station.

After lunch, we started our journey to Gornergrat.  Ooops... we did not hike, we took the cogway train.

Please click the link for our trip to Gornergrat.

German sausage for breakfast.  If we could only stay in Zermatt for more days.  So great to live in a quiet and peaceful place with a very nice weather.

Our second day in Zermatt, we cancelled our trip to Matterhorn.  We rented four bicycles and we cycled around the marvelous city of Zermatt.

Pfarrkirche St. Mauritius (Parish Church of St Mauritius),  Zermatt

Switzerland is the best among the countries we had visited during our trip to Europe in June 2013.  Special mentioned Zermatt among the cities we had been to Switzerland.

We left Zermatt on 17 June 2013 and continued our Europe trip to Geneva.

To continue Europe Trip June 2013, please click the link, Trip to Geneva, Switzerland

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Family World Travel

Train Travel from Lucerne, Switezerland to Zermatt, Switzerland 15 June 2013 / Family Travelogue

continued from Trip to Mt Pilatus

Before we left the beautiful City of Lucerne, Switzerland, we had our luggage shipped to Zermatt, Switzerland.  We had a few train transfers, it could had been troublesome carrying our big stuff.

32 Swiss Railway Stations have the Luggage Express Service within Switzerland.  CHF12 per item not more than 25 kilos each.  Drop before 9am and collect at the next destination from 6pm.

Below were the details of our travel from Luzern to Zermatt.  Transfer from Bern to Visp,  Followed by transfer from Visp to Zermatt.  We departed at 9am and an estimate to arrive Zermatt at 12:13pm. We only had 7 mins and 8 mins allowance to transfer to another train,  Imagine if we were bringing our big luggage and trying to find the platforms to transfer to.  There were lifts though, but carrying big stuff could had slowed us and we could had missed the train.  The next schedule with the same route was after an hour

The train we boarded in Luzern was bound to Geneva Airport.  We alighted after 4 stops at Bern to transfer to another train.  We could had stayed in Bern for few hours but the kids were still exhausted from the trip to Mt. Pilatus  the previous day.

We boarded the train at Platform 6 bound to Briggs.  The train came from Zurich Station.  We were supposed to alight at Visp but we decided to alight at Brig.  There were frequent trains from Brig to Zermatt.  We were thinking had we alighted at Visp, the train could had been packed.  We let go of the few minutes lost on our schedule for an hour comfort travel to Zermatt from Brig.  We were able to choose seats with good views.

We did not download the new route information, the train had terminated at Zermatt.  We enjoyed the views and  took photos while on the train.  Had we alighted at Visp and transfer to the train bound to Zermatt at Platform 3, below would had been the route information.

tation	Arrival	Prognosis	Departure	Prognosis	Train	Platf./Edge	Occupancy
	Brig Bahnhofplatz			11:27		R 231	14
	Eyholz	11:34		11:34
	Visp	11:38		11:41			3
	Stalden-Saas	11:50		11:51
	Kalpetran	12:00		12:00
	St. Niklaus	12:12		12:13
	Herbriggen	12:21		12:21
	Randa	12:29		12:30
	Täsch	12:35		12:36
	Zermatt	12:50

Above was our route timing instead.  Apparently, over half an hour difference.  Choose whichever you prefer.

We had 8 day Swiss Travel Pass, we did not pay a single cent in any of our train travels.

More of  travel to Zermatt, you could opt to take the  Matterhorn Gotthard Bahn either at Brig or Visp for more scenic views.  Click the link for further details.

Embd is a municipality in the district of Visp in the canton of Valais.

Travel from Visp to Zermatt is a classic scenic train ride.

Narrow cogway railways
Views of Waterfalls
Views of the Villages in the canton of Valais
Views of the Swiss Alps and the highest mountains in Switzerland left and right.
We only took the ordinary train.  Better views if you take the Matterhorn Gotthard Bahn

Travel from Visp to Zermatt is a classic scenic train ride.

This blog continues to Trip to Zermatt 15~17 June 2013 

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Family World Travels