MarinaFbg
Traveller
62 comments
Posted 10 years ago
We have made a slight change in our route based on the awesome recommendations here in this forum! Now we are thinking of only taking the glacierexpress from Zermatt to Andermatt (oberwald), then the Furka Dampfbahn, and then continue the same afternoon as far as we can go in order to the next day be able to get to Innsbruck via Samedan and Sagliains and stay a night there.
It looks doable to get as far as Filisur on the first day (the one we leave Zermatt) by going Realp 17.05 - Filisur 21.02 - this is though very small cottages as I understand and the accomodation options is few and - frankly - very expensive (200 CHF per night is ok in Zermatt but in Thusis??) If we go from Filisur to Innsbruck we arrive at 14.00
If we stay in Disentis we can reach Landequart at 14.10 and Innsbruck at 18.15
So, anything beween Disentis and Filisur seems like an ok place to stay one night. But what is the best place? Chur? Or some of the small villages? If it is closer to Disentis a place with something for the kids to do would be great, for instance a large playground or an indoor swimmingpool.
Grateful for any advice you might have!
MarinaFbg
Traveller
62 comments
After looking around we think we have decided on Chur, if not any of you have a top tips for an accomodation in one of the small towns. :p
Flo
Traveller
10724 comments
Sorry, I always have been staying more south in either Pontresina, Morteratsch or Ospizio Bernina. I think Chur is a good option though, probably better than somewhere in one of the smaller villages, especially if the weather would not be so good it might be easier to do something with the kids.
There are Jugendherbergen in both Davos and Klosters, maybe have a look into these too. Klosters would be on your route anyway but Davos as well is not far off and accessible by train.
So you are planning on just staying one night, arriving late on the first day from Zermatt and leaving on the next day to Innsbruck?
MarinaFbg
Traveller
62 comments
Yes, this is only a short stop, from the beginning our plan was to stay in Andermatt and continue with the Glacier Express from there (we will still take glacier express from Zermatt to Oberwald where we will switch to the Furka Damphbahn), but if we did that we wouldnt have time for a stop in Austria-Tyrol and also, why spend more time in Andermatt 8) seems like a really boring place :D Therefore I re-did the schedule so that we continue on the same day we leave Zermatt with the normal trains and then - as recommended by you - take the Albula line and then head for Innsbruck!
Flo
Traveller
10724 comments
OK. Which train have you booked for the DFB, so that I could work out an interesting schedule for you?
MarinaFbg
Traveller
62 comments
We go from Oberwald to Realp and arrive in Realp 16.15
First train from Realp seems to around 17?
Flo
Traveller
10724 comments
Well...as you already know, your connection from Realp will look like this:
Realp 1705 - 1720 Andermatt
Andermatt 1727 - 1836 Disentis/Mustér
Disentis/Mustér 1844 - 2001 Chur
From Chur you could still go to Klosters and Davos:
Chur 2008 - 2016 Landquart
Landquart 2047 - 2125 Klosters Dorf, 2128 Klosters Platz, 2157 Davos Platz (there are several other stations in Davos before Platz, the central station)
A quicker option to get to Davos would be:
Disentis/Mustér 1844 - 1948 Reichenau-Tamins
Reichenau-Tamins 2008 - 2102 Filisur
Filisur 2104 - 2129 Davos Platz (again, there are a few stations in Davos before Platz)
So...somewhere along these lines you should find a place to sleep. ;)
I hope that in summer there will be enough daylight left so that you can enjoy the steep climb from Andermatt up to Oberalppass; sadly you will have to skip the short line from Andermatt to Göschenen through Schöllenen Gorge... :(
IMO it would be most important that you can travel the Thusis - Filisur - Preda bit of the Chur - St Moritz line; this is the most scenic part of the line.
Let's suppose you would stay in Chur, so this trip would be possible:
Chur 0958 - 1146 Samedan
Samedan 1214 - 1300 Sagliains
Sagliains 1303 - 1410 Landquart
Landquart 1418 - 1426 Sargans
Sargans 1537 - 1816 Innsbruck
This would allow you to see much of the Rhätische Bahn network and also take the Arlberg route during daylight. The Chur - Sargans connection runs hourly, which means you can leave Chur one hour later as well or take a break somewhere along the route.
Sargans - Innsbruck runs every two hours so you could in fact take the 1737 from Sargans as well to have more time on the RhB network (which is more interesting than the Arlberg route IMO). If you take this option you would even have time for a decent walk along the Albula line: [u]http://www.rhb.ch/Bahnerlebnisweg-Albula.2220.0.html[/u] or even take the Bernina line up to Ospizio Bernina:
Chur 0858 - 1046 Samedan
Samedan 1051 - 1057 Pontresina
Pontresina 1104 - 1134 Ospizio Bernina
Ospizio Bernina 1424 - 1458 Pontresina
Pontresina 1502 - 1600 Sagliains
Sagliains 1603 - 1710 Landquart
Landquart 1718 - 1726 Sargans
Sargans 1737 - 2016 Innsbruck
Again, Chur - Ospizio Bernina and Ospizio Bernina - Sargans runs hourly so you could leave later from Chur if you want.
If you stay not in Chur but in Davos, Klosters or elsewhere, similar options are available to the above; for instance the Davos - Filisur line is quite interesting as well and you would not miss much compared to Thusis - Filisur.
MarinaFbg
Traveller
62 comments
[quote]
So...somewhere along these lines you should find a place to sleep. ;)
I hope that in summer there will be enough daylight left so that you can enjoy the steep climb from Andermatt up to Oberalppass; sadly you will have to skip the short line from Andermatt to Göschenen through Schöllenen Gorge... :(
[/quote]
I looked up sunUp/down hours and sun sets about half past nine that lead me to believe we could travel in daylight all the way to Chur, but that might not be the case then? Does it gets dark before sunset due to the mountains?
Would you then rather recommend to stay in Andermatt in order to be able to travel to Göschenen as well? I looked for accomodation in Andermatt and couldn´t really find anything that I liked, it all seemed terrible overpriced and there didnt seem to be anything special for the kids either, In an ideal place there is a playground or a park or somewhere for them to run around getting the thrills out of their system after being on a train for a whole day. I then looked in Disentis, same thing, that´s why i started to look in Chur, we actually booked a room on Comfort hotel Post there for 225 CHF which seems like a bargin ;) compared to some other places.
We would really like to show the kids Innsbruck as well. :P
I guess, we are not unusual in trying to fit in more than possible on one of these trips... :'( :|
Flo
Traveller
10724 comments
Yeah, sun up/down hours do usually not take into account the high rising mountains. I dont think you will have daylight until Chur, but should be just fine on the climb to Oberalppass - which is more important. ;)
You can skip Andermatt - Göschenen; it would be nice if you could fit it in but I dont think that the amount of time you would have to invest is justified. Although it is a spectacular stretch of line (google Schöllenen gorge) the railway line mostly runs beneath avalanche shelters and to enjoy the gorge you would have to go for a walk for which you wont have the time..
I think Chur is a fine option, the old town is really nice - it is the oldest Swiss city if I am not mistaken.
[quote][quote]
So...somewhere along these lines you should find a place to sleep. ;)
I hope that in summer there will be enough daylight left so that you can enjoy the steep climb from Andermatt up to Oberalppass; sadly you will have to skip the short line from Andermatt to Göschenen through Schöllenen Gorge... :(
[/quote]I guess, we are not unusual in trying to fit in more than possible on one of these trips... :'( :| [/quote]
Common problem... :D
MarinaFbg
Traveller
62 comments
I guess we will stick to our plan to spend the night in Chur then! Thank you, again, for your advice!