Planning a Trip

Getting There

St. Moritz is linked by rail (through a complicated series of tunnels) to the rest of Switzerland via Chur, with other links to such non-Swiss population centers as Milan and Munich. Travel time by train from Chur is 2 hours. St. Moritz is also the endpoint of the world-famous Glacier Express, which links Zermatt, in the southwest, with St. Moritz, in the southeast. For rail information and schedules, call tel. 0900/300-300.

St. Moritz is linked by bus to Chur, Lugano, and Pontresina, each of which is easily reachable via bus connections from Munich. Call the tourist office for further information.

By car from Zurich, take N3 (later N13) to Chur and, once there, head southwest along Route 3.

The Glacier Express -- The most famous of Switzerland's railway lines, the Glacier Express connects the highest peaks and glaciers of the southeastern Alps with those of the southwestern Alps. When the train link opened in 1928, the danger of winter blizzards and snowdrifts required that many of the most isolated mountain bridges be dismantled every October and then reassembled the following May. As a result, in the winter trains were rerouted on a lengthy detour through Zurich and northern Switzerland. In 1982 a 13km (8-mile) tunnel was drilled beneath the Furka mountain, and today trains run uninterrupted across the mountains all year long. The route is one of the most spectacular in the world, with 91 viaducts and tunnels and 291 bridges along the way. There's one daily train that runs between the regions in the winter; in summer, with its longer hours of sunlight, there are two and, in rare cases, three trains per day.

The one-way trip from Zermatt to St. Moritz takes 7 1/2 hours and costs 221F in first class and 133F in second class. En route, many travelers opt to disembark in the medieval trading city of Chur to spend the night. From Chur, convenient connections can be arranged to Davos and all points east, including many towns in the alpine regions of Austria.

Advance seat reservations are required for the comfortably upholstered coaches with restaurant cars. Note that the Swiss Pass covers the full fare on the Glacier Express, but because part of the route is administered by a different organization from the rest of the Swiss Rail network, holders of any travel pass in the Eurailpass family, including Youthpass and Flexipasses, are charged about half the total fare. For more information about fares, call tel. 877/272-RAIL (272-7245).

For more general information about the journey, contact any Switzerland Tourism, or the Swiss Center, 608 Fifth Ave., Ste. 202, New York, NY 10020 (tel. 212/757-5944).

Visitor Information

The St. Moritz tourist office, via Maistra 12 (tel. 081/837-33-33; www.stmoritz.ch), will answer many of the questions a visitor might have. It's open in midsummer and midwinter, Monday to Friday from 9am to 6:30pm, Saturday 9am to 6pm, and Sunday from 4 to 6pm; off-season hours are Monday to Friday from 9am to noon and 2 to 6pm, and Saturday from 9am to noon.