You don't need to be a member of the elite to take one of the most wonderful rail journeys on planet earth.
St Moritz is a fabulous destination for a day trip from Zurich.
The connecting time between trains at Chur station will only be around 4 mins, but this is Switzerland so making the connection can be virtually guaranteed.
To enable a stress-free transfer at Chur station. the train on to St. Moritz will depart from the opposite side of the same platform that the train from Zurich will have arrived at, so all you will have to do is walk across the platform from one train to the other.
If you will be travelling with any type of rail pass, including Saver Day Passes, you can just jump on the train to St. Moritz.
If you opt to travel with tickets, definitely book tickets for the end2end journey on SBB's booking service you won't have time to book tickets for the next RhB train to depart, on arrival at Chur station.
Though:
Also if you see a Glacier Express train at Chur station, your tickets/passes won't be valid on the Glacier Express, but regular coaches, in which your tickets/passes will be valid, may be attached to the Glacier Express train.
So you may need to hurry along the (gleis) platform/track to find them.
1 x connection per hour
Change trains in: Chur
Booking Tickets:
Tickets can be booked online for this end-to-end journey which involves taking a SBB train + the train(s) on to St.Moritz which are operated by RhB.
‘Individual tickets’ can be used on any train(s) on your travel date, but they tend to be comparatively expensive.
Supersaver tickets are cheaper, the portion of the journey by the SBB train can be discounted by up to 50%, but these tickets are train departure specific.
If you book a Supersaver ticket and a flight delay etc, causes you to miss a train you are booked on to, you will have to book another full-price ‘Individual Ticket(s).
You can then apply for a refund of the Supersaver ticket, but the application costs CHF 10.
Hence it’s worth comparing the ticket price of a journey with the price(s) of those Saver Day Passes; they might save you money and can also allow for a less stressful journey.
Using Saver Day Passes:
Now that the Swiss Transfer tickets have been discontinued a Saver Day Pass may save you money, if you can book at least a couple of weeks ahead (usually), so that you can obtain the pass at a discounted price.
They can be cheaper than tickets for the end-to-end journey, though they are more likely to be a money saver if you will be making a day return trip between Zurich and St.Moritz even if you can book in advance.
They can be used on;
They are not train specific, so can still be used in the event of a journey to Switzerland being delayed.
Though they’re only valid for one day’s travel, the clue is the name, so if you will be travelling back on another date, you’ll need to purchase another Saver Day Pass for your return journey.
However, they need to be booked at least a day ahead of your travel date, so won't be an option if you book tickets at the station on arrival in Switzerland.
They're also cheaper the further ahead that you book.
Ticket Provider | Approximate Cost | |
---|---|---|
SBB | * | |
Trainline | * | |
Omio | * | |
Happy rail | * |
Three of the daily departures, those which are usually scheduled to leave Zurich at 10:00 and 14:00 and 18:00, are by ICE4 trains that have travelled from Germany.
Final Destination: Chur
Departing From Zurich HB:
These trains will depart from the street level platforms/tracks at Zurich HB - gleis 3 - 18.
From Zurich Flughafen/Airport:
There are now hourly direct trains between the station at Zurich Flughafen/Airport and Chur, but those trains take an indirect route via St Gallen.
So it's possible to save around 50 mins on a train journey from Zurich Airport to Chur, by changing trains at Zurich HB station.
Making the transfer will be much easier if you take a train from Zurich Flughafen to Zurich HB which uses the same part of Zurich HB station (platforms/tracks/gleis 3 - 18) that the trains on to Chur depart from.
So when taking a train from the airport target either;
From the left of the train (when facing the direction) of travel, there are fabulous views over Lake Zurich...
and then over the Walensee...
...before the train makes its first station call in Sargans
Then between Sargans and Chur there are very pleasant views of distant mountain ranges from both sides of the train.
Final Destination: St. Moritz
All trains also call at: Filisur (connections to Davos); Samedan (connections to Scuol-Tarasp and Pontresina)
Step on board for a journey on the incredible Albula Railway!
Sit on the right (when facing the direction of travel) when joining the train at Chur and face forwards for the best views of the Landwasser Viaduct and tunnel.
The videos were taken from a train travelling in the opposite direction.
Overall the best of the views are from the right of the train when heading south...
..but you'll still experience an incredible journey if your seats are on the left hand side.
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This is one of more than 100 train travel guides available on ShowMeTheJourney, which will make it easier to take the train journeys you want or need to make. As always, all images were captured on trips taken by ShowMeTheJourney.