Holidays to Switzerland Travel Podcast Episode 119 Transcript

Essential tips for planning a memorable Swiss mountain excursion

You can see the full show notes and listen to this episode > here.

Are you dreaming of visiting Switzerland? Planning a trip to Switzerland is very exciting, but it can also be overwhelming. How do you choose? Which of the many scenic cities, towns and villages to visit? Which mountaintop excursions should you take? And what’s the best way to get around Switzerland? And of course, how much of the country can you realistically see within your time frame? If you’ve asked yourself any of these questions, this is the podcast for you. This is the Holidays to Switzerland travel podcast, and in each episode your host, Carolyn Schönfinger, chats with Swiss travel experts to answer your most commonly asked questions, provide practical tips, and take you on a virtual visit to the most popular destinations. And, of course, some hidden gems to help you plan your dream trip to Switzerland. And you’ll hear plenty of conversations about Swiss cheese and chocolate, too. Are you ready to plan your trip to Switzerland? Well, let’s get started.

Carolyn Schönafinger

Hello everyone. Welcome to this week’s episode of the podcast. Most visitors to Switzerland include at least one mountain excursion in their itinerary, and that’s not really surprising, seeing that the Alps cover about two thirds of the country. And I’m guessing that you’re probably planning to visit one or two mountains at least when you visit Switzerland, too. To help you plan a memorable Swiss mountain excursion today, I’m going to share my top tips with you. Now, regardless of whether you’re planning to visit one of the most popular mountains, like Jungfraujoch or Gornergrat, or one that’s less known to international tourists, these tips apply to them all. These are some of the things that I recommend you do before the day of travel. Now, obviously, when you’re planning your trip and you’re working out your itinerary and which destinations you’re going to visit, you’re going to start filling in some gaps and working out your sightseeing priorities. So my advice is to research which mountains you’d like to visit. There are so many options, and you can’t possibly include them all. It would take you a lifetime to visit every mountain summit in Switzerland, so you’re going to have to whistle down your list and decide which ones are the top priority.

Carolyn Schönafinger

And luckily, as I said, there are plenty of choices. Now, if you’re someone like me who doesn’t really like cable cars, although these days I grin and bear it and make myself take the cable car rides to the mountain summits. But if you don’t like cable cars, you can choose to visit a mountain which gets you there by either a mountain railway or funicular. Now, in the Jungfrau Region, for instance, you can travel to Schynige Platte on a cogwheel train, or you could go to Harder Kulm by funicular. If you’re staying in Zermatt, Gornergrat is reached by a cogwheel train and Matterhorn Glacier Paradise is reached by a cable car so you’ve got options in many different destinations. If you’re planning to visit a mountain summit to see the views and you’re not interested in all the activities that are available at some mountains, there are plenty of options there for you too. So do a bit of research and decide which mountain or mountains are most suited to you.

Carolyn Schönafinger

The next thing you’ll want to do is to check the operating dates. Almost all of the mountain railways and cable cars and funiculars close down at some point in the year, either for just their seasonal closure. The mountain railways and the funiculars often don’t operate over the winter months, and the cable cars need some maintenance and checks to make sure that everything’s operating safely so there are periods when they are closed as well. Now, the last thing you want to do is have your heart set on visiting a particular mountain summit and getting there and realising that you can’t do that because there’s no mode of transport operating. So do check those operating dates. You can either check them on the website of the mountain that you’d like to visit, and there’s also a guide on holidaystoswitzerland.com that I keep as up to date as possible with all those operating dates for the most popular mountain excursions.

Carolyn Schönafinger

The next thing you’ll want to do when you’re planning your trip is to decide on the best value ticket options. Now, it’s no secret that Switzerland is an expensive country, and visiting mountains can add to that cost. The ticket prices can be pretty expensive, so you’re going to want to work out the best value for visiting that mountain. Now, in some cases it might be just to purchase a ticket on the day, particularly if that’s the only mountain in that particular region that you are visiting, or if it’s the only mountain excursion that you’re planning to do.

Carolyn Schönafinger

But if you’re going to be doing a few mountain excursions or doing a lot of public transportation travel within a particular region, often a rail pass can work out to be better value for you. There are rail passes that cover the entire country, like the Swiss Travel Pass, and then there are regional rail passes which cover particular regions. And also, as I said, they cover the public transportation, but in many cases they include free or discounted cable car or mountain railway tickets as well. So definitely check out the options that are available. Depending on the region that you’re visiting, you might prefer to book a guided or a self guided tour which can include transportation from the nearest major town. For example, if you want to visit Mount Pilatus from Lucerne, of course you can buy individual tickets just at the cable car station, but you do need to get from Lucerne itself, so you can book a guided or a self guided tour which includes your bus travel from Lucerne to Kriens and then the cable car to the top. And depending on the time of year, you may possibly be able to do the golden round trip and include then the cogwheel train back down and a boat trip back to Lucerne.

Carolyn Schönafinger

So there are lots of options you need to do your research and work out which is the best value for you. If you do enjoy hiking or you’re on a tighter budget, you could even just buy a one way ticket and travel up the mountain on the cable car or mountain railway and then you might like to hike down. So there are plenty of options to consider when you’re working out which kind of ticket or rail pass to buy.

Carolyn Schönafinger

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Now, the day before you’re planning to visit the mountain, I would definitely check the weather. You want to know what the forecast is. If the visibility is not going to be great and you’re heading to the mountain to do outdoor activities or to take in the views, that’s not going to be ideal. So it’s good to just check in advance. The weather can change, as I’ll mention again in a moment, but at least knowing what is forecast for the next day gives you a good idea of whether or not your excursion is likely to happen.

Carolyn Schönafinger

Now, on the day of travel itself, there’s a few tips that I think makes your excursion more enjoyable. And firstly, during peak times you’ll want to travel early in the day. A lot of people when they’re on vacation, and I guess I’m no exception here, I like to sleep in a little bit, have a leisurely breakfast and then make my way off to do my sightseeing for the day. But if you’re travelling on one of the very popular mountain railways or cable cars, by the time 10am comes around, they can be very busy. So do plan on travelling earlier in the day if you can if you want to avoid all those busier times. For some mountain railways, it’s possible to purchase priority boarding and this means that particularly on trains, and one in particular is the Gornergrat train from Zermatt, you can buy a priority boarding ticket which allows you to get onboard the train a few minutes before the general public, you know, before everyone else who just has a regular ticket. And by doing so you’re guaranteed, well, you’re almost guaranteed a seat on the right hand side of the train, which gives you the best views going up the mountain. Now, not only is this great because you get those views, but you also also know that you’re going to get a seat and you’re going to be sitting next to your travel companions. So that’s something else to consider.

Carolyn Schönafinger

On the morning of travel, again, you’ll want to check that weather forecast. There are webcams in many, many places in Switzerland, and these show you live footage of the weather conditions at the top of the mountain, usually at the bottom station, whether that be the train station or the cable car station. They will have these webcams on TV screens so you can see what the conditions are like. You will definitely want to check the time that the last cable car or train descends down the mountain. They run on a very strict timetable and they definitely won’t wait for you. If you’re five minutes late and the train has started heading down the mountain, it’s not going to back up and come and pick you up. That’s it for the day. So you really do need to be conscious of the time that the last service operates. And keep in mind that on Sunday afternoons it can be extra busy. The Swiss locals love to go up to the mountains and go hiking, and Sunday is often the day that they do that. So Sunday afternoons can be a very busy time so make sure that you perhaps don’t wait for the last service of the day, then perhaps come back down, say an hour or so before the last service, just to ensure that you can get on board and get back down.

Carolyn Schönafinger

On the day of travel, you’ll need to make sure you have your ticket or your rail pass ready to show where you board the train or the cable car. Just have that handy so you’re not holding up any people behind you while you go through your backpack or your bag to find your ticket. Have it ready to show once you’re in the line and before you set off.

Carolyn Schönafinger

I recommend that you wear a good pair of sturdy shoes. You want something with a good grip. Definitely no flip flops when you’re going up a mountain. Even at the summit, you might find that you’re walking on a gravelly kind of surface, it could be a little bit slippery and if there does happen to be any rain, having sturdy shoes is a much safer option. Pack a rain jacket because the weather can change quite frequently and even if it doesn’t rain, the sun might go behind clouds and it can get quite cool very quickly, even in the middle of summer. So do pack a rain jacket just in case of showers and pack some layers. As I said, even during summer it can get quite cool, so having a sweatshirt or a woollen hat and a scarf can be very handy and they don’t take up much or they’re not very heavy to carry.

Carolyn Schönafinger

Bring some snacks and a bottle that you can refill with water. There are restaurants at most of the mountain summits, but you can have your own picnic. There’s usually a some seating in an outdoor area where you can make or enjoy your own picnic, so you don’t have to eat at the restaurants, but there is usually plenty of good options there for food and drinks. And of course there’ll be bathroom facilities at the mountain summits as well. Another tip is to not rush, just to take your time. At some of these higher altitudes you may start to feel tired or short of breath. Some people even get a little altitude sickness. Personally, I’ve never suffered from that myself, but you can definitely notice, I think that yeah, you need to move a little slower, so make sure you allow plenty of time that you’re not trying to rush around so that you can really enjoy the experience. And you’re there, you’re on vacation, you want to make sure you take in those magnificent views and really get the most out of your experience.

Carolyn Schönafinger

I’ll include some links in the show notes for this episode to holidaystoswitzerland.com where you’ll find lots more helpful trip planning tips as well as guides to planning a visit to many of Switzerland’s most popular mountain summits. And you’ll also find there a link to get a copy of my free guide 21 Useful Things to Know Before You Visit Switzerland. Those show notes can be at holidaystoswitzerland.com/episode119 Thank you very much for joining me today. I hope you found this episode helpful and I look forward to chatting to you again next week. Until then, tschüss.

You can see the full show notes and listen to this episode > here.