Over the page are road maps of Switzerland. Access to practically all Swiss resorts is fairly straightforward when approaching from the north just pick your motorway. Many of the high passes that are perfectly sensible ways to get around the country in summer are closed in winter, which can be inconvenient if you are moving around from one area to another. There are car-carrying trains linking the Valais (Crans, Zermatt etc) to Andermatt via the Furka tunnel and Andermatt to the Grisons (Flims, Davos etc) via the Oberalp pass closed to road traffic in winter but open to trains except after very heavy snowfalls.
St Moritz is more awkward to get to than other resorts, as well as being further away. The main road route is over the Julier pass. This is normally kept open, but at 2284m it is naturally prone to heavy snowfalls that can shut it for a time. The fall-back is the car-carrying rail tunnel under the Albula pass.
A major new rail tunnel opens in November 1999, offering an alternative route. The Vereina tunnel runs for 19km from Klosters to a point near Susch and Zernez, down the Inn valley from St Moritz.
These car-carrying rail services are painless unless you travel at peak times, when there may be long queues particularly for the Furka tunnel from Andermatt, which offers residents of Zurich the shortest route to Zermatt and the other Valais resorts. Another rail tunnel service that’s very handy is the Lotschberg tunnel, linking Kandersteg in the Bernese Oberland with Brig in the Valais. There’s no quicker way from Wengen to Zermatt.
There is a car-carrying rail tunnel linking Switzerland with Italy В¬ the Simplon. But most of the routes to Italy are kept open by means of road tunnels. See the Italy introduction on page 318.
To use Swiss motorways (and it’s difficult to avoid doing so if you’re driving serious distances) you have to buy a windscreen sticker costing SF40 last time we asked. They are sold at the border, and are for all practical purposes compulsory.
Posted in Switzerland Ski Resort
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