17 days in Switzerland and Italy (5) - Interlaken and Zermatt, Switzerland
Day 2 in Switzerland
We took the Gold Pass Panorama train to go to Interlaken after our short stay in Lucerne. The Golden Pass Panorama is a famous scenic train route, and we really enjoyed our 3-hour journey. Below are some pictures we took on the train.
Interlaken is a very small town at the foot of Alps. The reason why we decided to stay there for 3 nights is because we'd like to visit the FAMOUS Jungfrau and Matterhorn (a few hours train ride from Interlaken).
The place we stayed is called Hotel Rugenpark B&B, which is really close to the Interlaken West Railway station and is run by a young couple. The B&B itself is very simple but clean, with breakfast included.
Very warm hosts and a good place to meet people from all over the world. There are rooms with private bathrooms or shared bathrooms available. We picked one with the private bathroom; it has an attached balcony facing the garden and Alps. Really nice view.
Although I was warned by Alex that food in Switzerland is expensive and mediocre, I still wanted to try the traditional Swiss dish Fondue, which turned out to be a big mistake (at least the one we tried). Basically, it's just a pot with melted cheese cooking on a portable stove. Using a long stem fork, you then dip the bread into the melted cheese. Yuck! And, it cost us about 50 Swiss Frank!
Day 3 in Switzerland
It's our 3rd day in Switzerland, and the weather didn't cooperate so we had to change our plan. Rather than going to mountains in a rainy day, we decided to go for a one-day train tour from Interlaken - Brig - Visp - Sion - Montreux - Berne - and back to Interlaken. The 2nd part of our plan was to visit Sion, a small tourist town. (To our surprise, our B&B host who have lived in Switzerland for so many years said she has never been there.)
Well, we finished this grand circle with a detour at Visp. When our train reached Visp, instead of continue taking it to go to Sion, we jumped on the train (Matterhorn Gotthard Railway) to go to Zermatt, a small town at the foot of Matterhorn. (Visiting Matterhorn was in our original plan but due to the rainy weather we decided to give it up. Still, why not go take a look since we have time?) This part of the train journey turned out to be very scenic and we had a great time just by taking the train and watching it to climb and cross mountains.
When the train finally arrived at Zermatt, it's almost 12 pm. The small town is really clean and no cars are allowed so you will most likely see people walking on the street and occasionally one or two electronic taxis. (The only car available in Zermatt is the electronic taxi which takes tourists from the train station to hotels or other destinations.)
There's only one main street in Zermatt and you can visit all kinds of shops at both sides of the street. It's such a rainy day and Matthorn's hidden behind clouds (Such a pity!). After a short stay in Zermatt, we caught the train back to Visp and continued our train tour to Sion.
We took the Gold Pass Panorama train to go to Interlaken after our short stay in Lucerne. The Golden Pass Panorama is a famous scenic train route, and we really enjoyed our 3-hour journey. Below are some pictures we took on the train.
Interlaken is a very small town at the foot of Alps. The reason why we decided to stay there for 3 nights is because we'd like to visit the FAMOUS Jungfrau and Matterhorn (a few hours train ride from Interlaken).
The place we stayed is called Hotel Rugenpark B&B, which is really close to the Interlaken West Railway station and is run by a young couple. The B&B itself is very simple but clean, with breakfast included.
Very warm hosts and a good place to meet people from all over the world. There are rooms with private bathrooms or shared bathrooms available. We picked one with the private bathroom; it has an attached balcony facing the garden and Alps. Really nice view.
Although I was warned by Alex that food in Switzerland is expensive and mediocre, I still wanted to try the traditional Swiss dish Fondue, which turned out to be a big mistake (at least the one we tried). Basically, it's just a pot with melted cheese cooking on a portable stove. Using a long stem fork, you then dip the bread into the melted cheese. Yuck! And, it cost us about 50 Swiss Frank!
Day 3 in Switzerland
It's our 3rd day in Switzerland, and the weather didn't cooperate so we had to change our plan. Rather than going to mountains in a rainy day, we decided to go for a one-day train tour from Interlaken - Brig - Visp - Sion - Montreux - Berne - and back to Interlaken. The 2nd part of our plan was to visit Sion, a small tourist town. (To our surprise, our B&B host who have lived in Switzerland for so many years said she has never been there.)
Well, we finished this grand circle with a detour at Visp. When our train reached Visp, instead of continue taking it to go to Sion, we jumped on the train (Matterhorn Gotthard Railway) to go to Zermatt, a small town at the foot of Matterhorn. (Visiting Matterhorn was in our original plan but due to the rainy weather we decided to give it up. Still, why not go take a look since we have time?) This part of the train journey turned out to be very scenic and we had a great time just by taking the train and watching it to climb and cross mountains.
When the train finally arrived at Zermatt, it's almost 12 pm. The small town is really clean and no cars are allowed so you will most likely see people walking on the street and occasionally one or two electronic taxis. (The only car available in Zermatt is the electronic taxi which takes tourists from the train station to hotels or other destinations.)
There's only one main street in Zermatt and you can visit all kinds of shops at both sides of the street. It's such a rainy day and Matthorn's hidden behind clouds (Such a pity!). After a short stay in Zermatt, we caught the train back to Visp and continued our train tour to Sion.
Beautiful! Will save for the next Europe trip
ReplyDeleteBeautiful! Will save for the next Europe trip
ReplyDelete