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Travel Blog | Day 5 – 6
Start Exploring Switzerland, Zermatt, MatterHorn, Glacier Express, St. Moriz
On 17th May
We had pre-planned a lot of travel for this day. In the morning, we got ready with the packing and started driving towards Salzburg from Bad Goisern. Because our car drop location was in Salzburg. It was around 3hr drive and it was really beautiful and scenic. We saw so many beautiful houses, hills, farmland, and towns on the way.
We bought a Eurail travel card for 4 days. And we planned to activate that on different days while we were traveling by train.
Few tips for Eurail cards.
1. You need to install the app and add your ticket and journey.
2. You should activate your ticket before onboarding the first train of the day when you are planning to do the traveling. and activated the ticket last 24 hours. After 24 hours you need to activate the ticket again for next 24 hours.
3. All the regional trains are covered in this ticket but for panoramic/ Special trains, you need to do the reservation by paying a few extra amount and you need to reserve your seat. While you book a reservation you can mention that you have a Eurail card and you can avail a good discount.
4. You can use your ticket on all the regional trains of Europe and for bus/tram/ferry, it depends on the country. So you should check with the local information desk.
5. You can buy Eurail card online. More travel days can give you a better discount.
From Salzburg, we took an Austrian regional train (OBB). Our journey continued via Kufstein, Innsbruck, Am Arlberg, Zürich, Bern, Visp, and finally Zermatt. All these places are tourist attractions. Zurich is the capital of Switzerland. So almost every train goes through Zurich. Our travel time from Salzburg to Zermett was 10+ hours. But it was smooth and comfortable.
We reached Zermatt station at 8:00pm. And our hotel was around 1km away from the station. We took a walk toward the hotel and self-checked in. You can also get electric auto from the station to your hotel. But we prefer to take a walk. after reaching the hotel, we relaxed for some time, and then again we headed towards town for food. We observe a lot of restaurants were open but all the grocery shops and shopping places were closed. So we had dinner at one restaurant near the central station and we went on a walk… I would say scenic evening walk.
Tourist attraction in Zermatt:
City Walk
Matterhorn Mountain view
Gornergrat
Glacier Express
About Zermatt
Zermatt is a carless city situated at a high altitude. Zermatt is a must-visit destination in Switzerland that is famous for its stunning Alpine views and charming village atmosphere. Visitors can enjoy various outdoor activities such as hiking, and mountain biking while admiring the Matterhorn, one of the tallest peaks in Europe. This town is located at the foot of Matterhorn, Switzerland’s iconic mountain peak. This car-free village has a rich history, and its charming streets are lined with traditional alpine chalets. The town is a hub for mountain sports enthusiasts with plenty of activities to offer year-round like skiing, snowboarding, and ice climbing. Zermatt is known for having one of the most extensive and challenging ski slopes in Switzerland, and skiing in the shadow of the Matterhorn is a once-in-a-lifetime experience. You can also take in the breathtaking views from Europe’s highest cable car, the Matterhorn Glacier Paradise
On 18th May, Our breakfast was included in the stay. So we had breakfast in the morning at around 7:00am after that we decided to go to Gornergrat mountain, as we still had some time before our Glacier Express journey. So we bought two train tickets for Gornergrat. It was 30 minutes ride one way.
Please keep this in that Gornergrat Bahn is a mountain train and has its own separate station/ terminus which is hardly 100 meters away from the Zermatt terminus So you need to go out of the Zermatt terminus cross the road and take Gornergrat Bahn from there.
About Gornergrat:
The Gornergrat (3,089 m) is one of those places that everyone should visit at least once in a lifetime. The mountain panorama and the glorious view of the Matterhorn are unforgettable. With its sunny observation platform accessible all year, the Gornergrat, at an altitude of 3,089 m, has been one of Switzerland’s top excursion destinations since 1898. The Gornergrat Bahn was the world’s first fully electrified cog railway. Today it is a modern, eco-friendly railway, equipped with a regenerative braking system that generates electricity on the descent and so saves energy. Thus the energy for one to two new mountain drives is won by three downhill drives. Europe’s highest open-air cog railway brings passengers direct from Zermatt station (1,620 m) to the summit of the Gornergrat, 365 days a year. The ride takes 33 minutes and requires a vertical climb of 1,469 m. The line leads on 9.4 kilometers over dramatic bridges, through galleries and tunnels, across forests of larch and Swiss stone pine, and past rocky ravines and mountain lakes. The panorama is among the finest in the world. The views take in the Monte Rosa massif with Switzerland’s highest peak (Dufourspitze, 4,634 m); the second-largest glacier in the Alps, the Gorner Glacier; and a total of 29 mountains above 4,000 m, including, of course, the Matterhorn in all its glory.
Glacier Express highlights:
- Zermatt
- Brig
- Andermatt
- Oberalppass
- Disentis
- Rhine Gorge, the “Grand Canyon of Switzerland”
- Chur
- Landwasser Viaduct
- Davos
- Albula Line, with the Solis and Landwasser viaducts and spiral tunnels
- St. Moritz, the most elegant holiday resort in Switzerland
Our train journey finished at St. Moritz by 6.00pm. Our hostel was 5km away from the station so we took 10 minutes bus ride and reached our accommodation.
In Europe, you can find youth hostel almost in all countries but not in all cities, which is most of the time cheaper and a good accommodation option. We had this booked for one night. After putting our luggage in the hostel, we started walking towards town for food and a city walk.
Thank you for reading my travel story. You can watch my Instagram reels and post to get to know more about this place