transport to Zermatt

Transportation, Travel and Trips
1
Hi,

Could anybody give me advice to get from Bergamo airport to Zermatt I will arrive 8pm on a wed evening in January and will be flying back out of bergamo on sunday evening.

The trains don't seem to be an option to get there that evening is hiring a car the best option or is there a cheap bus transfer in the evening.

Any information would be appreciated

2
With a five hour plus journey, the train is not an option that time of the day. You would need to leave Bergamo at 18.02 to catch the last connection.

Timetable here in case you don't have it

Your only realistic options are car hire, or getting a room overnight.

3
If you can get to Milano Centrale by 9:15 pm, then it's possible to get to Zermatt by train. It won't be comfortable, but it'll be cheap.

Milano Centrale 21:25 - Domodossola 23:05

Domodossola 3:54 - Brig 4:32

Brig 5:10 - Zermatt 6:33

You would have to spend almost five hours in Domodossola ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domodossola ). Definitely not the ideal solution, but renting a car and driving across the Alps in January at night might turn into a nightmare in case of heavy snow.

The easiest way would be to spend the night somewhere in Milano.

4
Take a shuttle from Bergamo to Cervinia: shuttle service

Pack lightly and take the lifts from Cervinia up to the top and ski down to Zermatt. Probably the most direct route but you should plan on spending the night somewhere.

Curious how much are you saving by flying into Bergamo as opposed to someplace like Geneva with better connections? Apparently time is not really an issue for you so another option would be to work your way north to St. Moritz and take the Glacier Express the following day to Zermatt.

5
Zermatt is car free, so getting a car to take you all the way is not an option!!! Best to grab a hotel somewhere along the way.

Good luck with that,

Jim

6
You are arriving on the wrong side of the alps for a start - unless you are staying in Cervinia.

You need to take the coach from Bergamo to Milan Central - 45minutes to 1hr - coach leaves every 15 minutes at that time. Make sure you go out of the airport and see which coach company is leaving and then buy a ticket from the driver than from ticket sales kiosks in airport.

At Milan Central Station you need to take a train to Brigg (CH).

You then need to take a train to Zermatt from there.

I am surprised you did not go skiing north of Bergamo as there are loads of resorts of all standards there and much cheaper.

Zermatt is nice but very very touristy.

Surprised you didn't fly to Geneva and then the 3 hour coach trip but gather you got a cheap flight with RyanAir.

7
factoring in anything, you will not make it to Zermatt on Sunday - just to set your expectations.

Good news is that a hire car from that area will have winter tyres and will be permitted to drive into Switzerland. Bad news, as mentioned, is that you would not use the car during the week as you have to park it at the bottom.....waste of money, one might say.

I'd get a cheap hotel at Bergamo and then get going in the morning.

www.seat61.com is a good source of information for train travel. www.rail.ch is also good and will give you timetables and fare info.

8
Even if you had a car, you might not be able to drive over the Simplon pass, especially at night. You would therefore need to take the car-train through the tunnel, which might well be closed by the time you get there.

Basically, it's a bad idea to try to get there the same night you land, and you just need to decide where to spend the night and how to get there the next day.

9
Er... right. Not all the way, but till the huge car park in front of the city...

10
Internet access: 15 EUR

Cheap Ryanair flight: 30 EUR

Finding out that you booked a flight to the wrong side of the Alps and the cheap trip is going to cost 10x as much as expected: priceless.