zermatt/st moritz ski trip

My wife and I are planning a ski trip to switzerland in Jan 05, and I
have some questions regarding our proposed plan, and finding
accomidations. We are from NYC and have done quite a bit of
travelling, but never to swizerland. I have been searching news
groups, and web sites, and I have put together the framework for a
plan, but there are a few details that I am unsure of. NOTE:
Normally, I just buy a travel book, and use that as a reference, but I
am living in Japan right now, and its very difficult to find books in
english.

The Plan:
Fly to Geneva, take train to Zermatt, stay 4-5 nights in Zermatt.
Ski. After that, then take the glacier express train to st moritz for
3 nights. more ski. Take train to zurich, and fly home from there.

Questions:
This seems do-able technically , from looking at flights, train
schedules, and sites with information on zermatt/st moritz, but my
question is, is this a realistic plan? Has anybody done this (or
similar) route? HOw was it? Also, will the number of nights we want
in each destination going to be a problem? I have seen on some sites,
minumums of 1 week. Is this a standard thing?

What kind of accomidations (star rating) should I be looking for? We
just want a convienet place, that is comfortable, cozy, feels swiss,
more like a nice little local inn, rather than a resort. We usually
avoid the big luxery hotels. Are most of the accomidations in Zermatt
nice, or there some substandard (one star of less kind of places)
inns/areas that we should avoid? If someone has a recommendation of a
place, I am open to suggestions.


I have skiied in Vail and Whistler (and many others), so I know that
these swiss destinations are going to be expensive. I was able to
find enjoyable/affordable accomidation in both places. As a matter of
fact, in vail, I recommend:

Apollo Park Lodge
http://www.apolloparklodge.com

Its on the edge of the village of vail, but they are not pretentious,
and pretty affordable. Had a little condo with kitchen and living
room. Very enjoyable. Anyways, hoping to find some local place in
Zermatt and St Moritz.


Thanks,
any info will be appreciated.
-franklynn

"Frank L Lynn" wrote in message
om...
My wife and I are planning a ski trip to switzerland in Jan 05, and I
have some questions regarding our proposed plan, and finding
accomidations. We are from NYC and have done quite a bit of
travelling, but never to swizerland. I have been searching news
groups, and web sites, and I have put together the framework for a
plan, but there are a few details that I am unsure of. NOTE:
Normally, I just buy a travel book, and use that as a reference, but I
am living in Japan right now, and its very difficult to find books in
english.

The Plan:
Fly to Geneva, take train to Zermatt, stay 4-5 nights in Zermatt.
Ski. After that, then take the glacier express train to st moritz for
3 nights. more ski. Take train to zurich, and fly home from there.

Sounds good. I suggest you look at the railways web site
http://fahrplan.sbb.ch/bin/query.exe/en? to check on times, prices etc. -
you might be better off organising tickets direct, rather than going through
an agency in the US. Look also at the half-price rail card (150CHF for a
year) - given your itinerary it might just be worth buying. If there are
children, a 20CHF child pass gives them free travel on all railways. And
children born 1995 or earlier have free lift pass in Zermatt


Questions:
This seems do-able technically , from looking at flights, train
schedules, and sites with information on zermatt/st moritz, but my
question is, is this a realistic plan? Has anybody done this (or
similar) route? HOw was it? Also, will the number of nights we want
in each destination going to be a problem? I have seen on some sites,
minumums of 1 week. Is this a standard thing?

In Switzerland it's usually no problem to book just a few days, particularly
in January low season. You may have to call the hotels direct, rather than
going through an agency.


What kind of accomidations (star rating) should I be looking for? We
just want a convienet place, that is comfortable, cozy, feels swiss,
more like a nice little local inn, rather than a resort. We usually
avoid the big luxery hotels. Are most of the accomidations in Zermatt
nice, or there some substandard (one star of less kind of places)
inns/areas that we should avoid? If someone has a recommendation of a
place, I am open to suggestions.


Any three star hotel should suit your requirements, better if family run. A
few years back I stayed at the Hotel Holiday (http://www.hotelholiday.ch/)
in Zermatt, which I can recommend (clean, quiet, good half board food and
easy walking to both Sunnegga lift and Gornergrat railway) though I think it
has changed ownership since.


I have skiied in Vail and Whistler (and many others), so I know that
these swiss destinations are going to be expensive.

You may be surprised. You can get good half board in Switzerland for 100 CHF
per person. The lift passes work out at about 60CHF per day.

I was able to
find enjoyable/affordable accomidation in both places. As a matter of
fact, in vail, I recommend:

Apollo Park Lodge
http://www.apolloparklodge.com

Its on the edge of the village of vail, but they are not pretentious,
and pretty affordable. Had a little condo with kitchen and living
room. Very enjoyable. Anyways, hoping to find some local place in
Zermatt and St Moritz.


Thanks,
any info will be appreciated.
-franklynn

You may be surprised. You can get good half board in Switzerland for 100
CHF
per person. The lift passes work out at about 60CHF per day.

Zermatt is a very good place for skiing, but prices like these are a
rip-off.

Compare the prices with Austria:
In 2002 I paid 46 EUR per day half-board in the Pitztal, in 2003 56 EUR at
the Katschberg. Both times in a *** Gasthof.
At the Katschberg a 12-day lift pass was 242,50 EUR. Normally a one-day lift
pass is available for less than 30 EUR.

Posh places in, say, Vorarlberg might be more expensive, but still cheaper
than Zermatt or St. Moritz.

At the Pitztal hotel I met a couple from Switzerland who could not afford a
holiday in their home country.

Have a nice holiday!

Turan

"Turan Fettahoglu" wrote in message
...

At the Pitztal hotel I met a couple from Switzerland who could not afford
a
holiday in their home country.


Sadly very true, the Austrians have stolen the lead from Switzerland in a
big way. The current Swiss state is best described as 'confused'.
--
Simon Brown
www.hb9drv.ch

In message , Turan Fettahoglu
writes
You may be surprised. You can get good half board in Switzerland for
100 CHF
per person. The lift passes work out at about 60CHF per day.

Zermatt is a very good place for skiing, but prices like these are a
rip-off.


But Zermatt has easy access by train (do the trip up from Visp in
daylight, it's spectacular), the chance of skiing over the border into
Italy (theoretically you must take your passport), spectacular views of
the Matterhorn, quaint wooden cow-houses in the town centre (with cows),
seriously gastro mountain restaurants etc etc.

So it's in demand so it costs more, but if the OP wants a trip to
remember, Zermatt is a good bet.

Most accomodation is in small hotels and the ordinary ones are great -
quiet (solidly built) clean (the Swiss are notoriously anal about this)
and the food's good. They don't all speak English.

You can buy any normal train ticket (with or without halfpricecard) from
a machine outside the ticket office at Geneva station, it accepts your
ATM/credit card. Maybe not Geneva to Zurich via Zermatt *and* St Moritz
though.

--
Sue ]3(

"Sue" wrote in message
...

You can buy any normal train ticket (with or without halfpricecard) from
a machine outside the ticket office at Geneva station, it accepts your
ATM/credit card. Maybe not Geneva to Zurich via Zermatt *and* St Moritz
though.



Zermatt - St,. Moritz with the Glacier Express is best reserved in
advance.
--
Simon Brown
www.hb9drv.ch

But Zermatt has easy access by train (do the trip up from Visp in
daylight, it's spectacular), the chance of skiing over the border into
Italy (theoretically you must take your passport), spectacular views of
the Matterhorn, quaint wooden cow-houses in the town centre (with cows),
seriously gastro mountain restaurants etc etc.

So it's in demand so it costs more, but if the OP wants a trip to
remember, Zermatt is a good bet.

You may be right, but with prices like these Zermatt is not a place to come
back. Go there once, perhaps on the Glacier Express, see the Matterhorn, ski
at the Gornergrat or the Sunegga, and next year go to one of these quiet
little villages in Austria, where the locals greet the tourists instead of
milking them and where you can go skiing at a reasonable price.

Best regards
Turan

On Sun, 19 Sep 2004 20:09:08 +0200, "Turan Fettahoglu"
wrote:

But Zermatt has easy access by train (do the trip up from Visp in
daylight, it's spectacular), the chance of skiing over the border into
Italy (theoretically you must take your passport), spectacular views of
the Matterhorn, quaint wooden cow-houses in the town centre (with cows),
seriously gastro mountain restaurants etc etc.

So it's in demand so it costs more, but if the OP wants a trip to
remember, Zermatt is a good bet.

You may be right, but with prices like these Zermatt is not a place to come
back. Go there once, perhaps on the Glacier Express, see the Matterhorn, ski

Right Zermatt is extreme. Even as swiss Citizen i would say, Zermatt
is expensive.
Last year i made a Daytrip from Saas Grund to Zermatt.
I mad the lunch break at Trockener Steg. When i saw the Price for
snizel with chips 29Sfr i thought there crazy, at other Resorts in
switzerland you pay only 19-24.- for the same. So the extra money is
for the name and the Matterhorn :-

at the Gornergrat or the Sunegga, and next year go to one of these quiet
little villages in Austria, where the locals greet the tourists instead of
milking them and where you can go skiing at a reasonable price.

What you forget is that we "have" the salary for the Prices here. So i
get for my money more, if i got to austria.
So it's just the feeling from some toursits, that we milking them.
Sepcial when i hear a US Tourist complain: It's cheaper to make
ski-hollydays at Zermatt than at Colorodo. :-

Johannes

I just received a flyer in the mail this week offering a Zermatt-St.
Moritz trip, with the Glacier Express. Mercator Tours was the
operator. See www.mercatortours.com for more info.

Frank L Lynn wrote:

My wife and I are planning a ski trip to switzerland in Jan 05, and I
have some questions regarding our proposed plan, and finding
accomidations. We are from NYC and have done quite a bit of
travelling, but never to swizerland. I have been searching news
groups, and web sites, and I have put together the framework for a
plan, but there are a few details that I am unsure of. NOTE:
Normally, I just buy a travel book, and use that as a reference, but I
am living in Japan right now, and its very difficult to find books in
english.

The Plan:
Fly to Geneva, take train to Zermatt, stay 4-5 nights in Zermatt.
Ski. After that, then take the glacier express train to st moritz for
3 nights. more ski. Take train to zurich, and fly home from there.

Questions:
This seems do-able technically , from looking at flights, train
schedules, and sites with information on zermatt/st moritz, but my
question is, is this a realistic plan? Has anybody done this (or
similar) route? HOw was it? Also, will the number of nights we want
in each destination going to be a problem? I have seen on some sites,
minumums of 1 week. Is this a standard thing?

What kind of accomidations (star rating) should I be looking for? We
just want a convienet place, that is comfortable, cozy, feels swiss,
more like a nice little local inn, rather than a resort. We usually
avoid the big luxery hotels. Are most of the accomidations in Zermatt
nice, or there some substandard (one star of less kind of places)
inns/areas that we should avoid? If someone has a recommendation of a
place, I am open to suggestions.


I have skiied in Vail and Whistler (and many others), so I know that
these swiss destinations are going to be expensive. I was able to
find enjoyable/affordable accomidation in both places. As a matter of
fact, in vail, I recommend:

Apollo Park Lodge
http://www.apolloparklodge.com

Its on the edge of the village of vail, but they are not pretentious,
and pretty affordable. Had a little condo with kitchen and living
room. Very enjoyable. Anyways, hoping to find some local place in
Zermatt and St Moritz.


Thanks,
any info will be appreciated.
-franklynn

Hi,

http://www.rhb.ch/glacierexpress/glacierexpress.e.php

If you need more information just ask - it will be on the web somewhere.
It's spectacular as the photos show. It pass through the bottom of my
valley.

http://www.rhb.ch/images/gallery/gex02.jpg
http://www.rhb.ch/images/gallery/1-5-13.jpg
--
Simon Brown
www.hb9drv.ch

"Doug Tunnell" wrote in message
news:4%s3d.70783$mu.63417@okepread07...
I just received a flyer in the mail this week offering a Zermatt-St.
Moritz trip, with the Glacier Express. Mercator Tours was the
operator. See www.mercatortours.com for more info.