Swiss info

Scenic Alps - Christmas Edition

DAY 7

Zermatt to St Moritz on the Glacier Express

Basic info for the day

Glacier Express

Zermatt to St Moritz Route highlights

The train's name honours the Rhone Glacier, located near the town of Gletsch on the Furka Pass. Unfortunately this glacier is no longer visible as the train route now uses the Furka Base Tunnel to enable it to run year-round.

The service began in 1930 once all the bits of railway lines around the inhabited places along the route had been joined together. The train travels a distance of 290 kms (180 miles) on narrow gauge and mostly single track; the steepest parts of the journey is cogwheel-assisted.

These are the highlights of the route:

Matter Valley - leaving Zermatt at 1,616 m (5,302 ft), the train descends on the steepest section of the route along the narrow 25 km (15.5 mi) Matter Valley with its deep ravines, rugged rockfaces, Alpine meadows and the highest-altitude vineyards in Europe. At Randa you get a glimpse of the Bies Glacier - the only glacier still visible from the Glacier Express train.

Goms Valley - the uppermost valley of the Rhone River with traditional larch-timbered dwellings. The village of Niederwald is the birthplace of César Ritz (1850-1918), founder of the Ritz Carlton Hotel empire.

Furka section - this forms the watershed between North-flowing and South-flowing river systems - and is the source of 4 of Switzerland's major rivers - the Rhine, the Rhone, the Reuss and the Ticino.

Since the 1980s the line goes through the Furka Base Tunnel. The mountain pass road partially visible after exiting the tunnel, is where the iconic car-chase scenes in the James Bond movie "Goldfinger" were filmed in 1964.

Oberalp Pass - 2,033 m (6,668 ft) - the highest point on the route. Look out for the little lighthouse.

Disentis - dominated by the oldest Benedictine monastery in Switzerland dating from the 900s AD; the buildings and church we see were built in the late 17th century; today it is a school. Here the train stops to change locomotives.

Rhine Gorge - the “Swiss Grand Canyon” - where the River Rhine has carved a path through a blockage caused by a mountain collapse 10,000 years ago.

Landwasser Viaduct - the most spectacular construction on the route. Completed in 1903, it is 142 m (425 ft) long and stands on stone pillars 65 m (213 ft) high that were built without scaffolding. The train passes over the elegantly curved stone viaduct before immediately entering a tunnel.

Albula Line - 63 km (39 miles) long - recognised as a UNESCO World Heritage Line. Before reaching the Albula Tunnel at 1,815 m (5,955 ft), the distance as the crow flies from Bergün to Preda is just 6 km (3.73 miles), but the train travels twice that distance because, in order to ascend the 418-m (1371 ft) difference in altitude, it has to travel through 5 spiral tunnels and looping viaducts.

Key info on ST MORITZ

One of the most famous resorts in the world with a name and logo protected as a trademark since the 1930s.

Twinned with Vail, Colorado.

Population - approx. 5,600 (permanent pop)

Location - at 6,000 ft; sub-arctic climate; claims to have average of 322 days of sunshine per year.

Named after Saint Maurice, an early Christian saint martyred by the Romans in the 3rd Century; credited with bringing Christianity to Switzerland.

1864 - Winter tourism in the Alps began when hotel pioneer Caspar Badrutt bet wealthy summer guests that they would find winter in St. Moritz as attractive as in summer. They did!

Claims many "firsts" - first tourist office in Switzerland, first electric lighting, first bob run, first ski school in Switzerland.

St Moritz today - Winter attracts the jet-set; Summers attract top sportsmen & women who come for high altitude training.

 

For additional info related to today's places and activities, see:

 

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