Scenic Road Trip across CH- St Gervais to the Arlberg

A snowHead

Hi All
My brother (and his wife)are considering joining us in the Arlberg in late March.
He is starting out from St. Gervais and driving with his own car. Google maps sends them back up and to Lausanne, Bern and then Zurich, as this is the quickest (and flattest) route. However, they do have time on their side and would like a more scenic journey through CH so thinking of the more southerly, mountain option of crossing the border at Vallorcine, then on to Brig, Andermatt & Chur before heading north via Liechtenstein into AU. I have noticed that there is a section before Andermatt that involves putting you car onto a train, so began to wonder if this route is such a good idea and if the scenery and experience would indeed, justify it.
We are wondering/hoping if anybody has done this and of any recommendations for stop-overs or particular points of interest en-route.
Thanks in advance.

A snowHead

I've driven through Switzerland in Summer & Winter and it is undeniably scenic, especially when the sun is out.

The railway/car transporter tunnel is the Furka Base Tunnel which is an option when the Furka pass is closed (generally November-May). It costs 33CHF one way for a car. Obviously this adds to the cost of the journey.

I think it's definitely feasible in late March, but they might want to wait to see what the exact conditions are like when they plan to set out and go the flatter way if things look dodgy through the mountains. No point paying extra to drive through mountains for the sake of the scenery if there's low cloud/fog and you can't see anything.

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

Bear in mind they will need winter tyres to drive in Austria until 15th April and in Switzerland you can get into insurance trouble if you don't have them and are involved in an accident whilst driving in winter conditions.

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This is a video from my driver's seat on the Lötschberg Tunnel RORO, just to give an idea of what it's like. It connects Spiez to the north with Brig in the Rhône Valley (canton Valais). I think that the Furka uses the same design.

http://youtube.com/v/svwa1JnuCvw

You'll see the entry gate on the right side. You pay there, and it just turns you through 180° to ramp into the train, which as you can see is open-sided. It takes about 20 minutes. This is the portal on the Valais (southern) side.

The Lötschberg route is the one you'd take if you were going on to Berne or Interlaken from Brig.

On a minor note, officially, if you go through Lichtenstein, you should carry an ICMV from the DVLA. This is the international equivalent to the V5C required by the FL (fedération lichtenstein) authorities. I don't think they're particularly fussy about this, but since it's free from DVLA, they might as well get it. I got one this summer because we might have been doing the same route and it only took DVLA a week to issue. And of course, they now need a 'UK' sticker. They'll need the usual Swiss vignette to drive on autoroutes and some of the major roads.

ADDENDUM: The actual Valais-side RORO station is nowhere near Brig, it's at Gopppenstein, which is about 10 Kms north of the Rhone Valley. You come off the main valley road half way between Brig and Sierre, and drive up the north side of the valley to Goppenstein. Also, looking at any maps, don't confuse the portal for the new Lötschberg tunnel II down in the valley with the RORO station further up at Goppenstein.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

Thanks both, we appreciate the input and I'm sure this is the route he will take.

You'll need to Register first of course.

Both the Furka Pass west of Andermatt and the Oberalpen Pass to the east are closed all winter as mentioned, we've driven a rambling east to west route and had to skirt as far north as the Zurichsee to get through. We were in the motorhome and did it over a week but it is a scenic route: Nauders, St Moritz, Julier Pass, Chur, Zurichsee, Altdorf, Interlaken, Gstaad, Aigle, Martigny.
The big valleys and highest peaks aren't the most scenic bits, going via Gstaad def better than the Rhone valley.

Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

@BoardieK,
Thanks - I looked at this last night and it indeed is an option I had not considered and a trip I would love to do myself one day.
I will link my brother to this thread as he now has plenty of options.

After all it is free

Drove Lausanne to Andermatt recently and did Furka pass one way and train the other. The train is easy but not sure I’d bother in Winter. IMO the beauty of that route is the high alpine passes rather than the valleys and tunnels

@LaForet, this is a route we may have to take this winter. When using Lötschberg RORO, I see you can pay on line but you also say you can pay on-site. When paying on-site is it cash only or will they take cards? Silly question I know but I can't easily see an answer on their website and wanted to be sure, would not be good if they only took cash and you turned up without (dont carry much cash these days) and mobile reception was poor so on-line wasnt an option.

*Ski* the Net with snowHeads

@ster We paid cash and sorry, I don't recall whether they also took cards or not. Fifteen years ago or so, it was quite common for Swiss places not to take cards, or only to take debit cards. But I now use my Apple Watch and credit card to pay for most stuff when I'm there. I can't imagine they only take cash but unfortunately, I can't confirm it. Swiss still do use cash a lot and have some hefty denominations like the CHF 1,000 (£792) note. It's not uncommon to see people present a CHF 100 (£79) note for a small purchase and no one seems to bat an eyelid.

snowHeads are a friendly bunch.

@LaForet, thanks. Yes, its rare but sometimes you still get cash only. I think the only time I used cash last time in Switzerland was to tip the instructors! Likely we'll get it one-line but it can sometimes not work so I will ensure I have enough cash too if we go that way. Cheers!

snow reports

In our days of judging international mogul competitions we drove from Meribel to Airolo many times. Route was via Chamonix, over the pass to SUI then along the valley passing Brig. That was usually all OK but we had winter tyres and chains anyway. Then we put the car on the train through the tunnel, just turn up as they go frequently. When we got off it was a short drive to Airolo. On one journey back to Meribel there had been heavy snow and the road back down to Brig was possibly one of the worst I have driven, hairpin bends, deep snow and chains on! We travelled all over judging FIS freestyle competitions but retired from that just over 3 years ago. Happy times and lots of tales to tell!

You know it makes sense.

Taking a scenic route St.Gervais-Arlberg would imo only work with an overnight.
The fast route already takes 6,5 hours, excl. stops.
Driving through the Alps in general is quite exhausting.
A scenic route St.Gervais-Arlberg via Rhone-valley and passes would be extremely exhausting within one day.
And immediate scenery around both St.Gervais ánd Arlberg already quite excellent....

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

Ah....Mr @Langerzug, I've been expecting you...... Toofy Grin

Put Arlberg in any thread title and sure enough along comes your thread-crap.....
If you read my first post you will see stop-overs mentioned, what would be helpful is if you could recommend one....

Anyhow, Thanks everyone else.

A snowHead

Mr @Cas,
Thank you
Since you think you know me a bit ( i don’t know you), you might also have seen that English is not my mothertongue. And I’m really terribly sorry, but I missed the meaning of the word ‘stopover’. Because -while in my language we also use both words stop and over- from a Dutch perspective that word does not directly imply ‘staying a night’. (nor from a German perspective by the way)
I was just trying to be helpful in warning for underestimating driving longer stretches through The Alps. Based on extensive experience. And yes, quite often from/to the Arlberg
But since you think I’m crap, I leave it to that. Meanwhile wondering were the famous English politeness went….Took some exit somewhere maybe?
Thanks again.

A snowHead

@Langerzug,
Apology accepted & thank you for the explanation.
I agree "lost in translation" played a big part -another example is I don't think you are crap, but a "thread-crap" is a term used to describe a negative/pointless post.
My point being, if you do not fully understand (due to language barriers) either ask for an explanation or simply do not interact at all.
As for knowing you, we did interact a few years ago on a few things (walking distance to Schlosskopf & Schleglekopf is one I can recall) which I remember being similarly negative, so there is a pattern.
I do wish you the best skiing for this coming season.

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

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Somewhat relevant.
I'm looking at doing a similar route, Hintertux to Tignes, on 6 Dec. Most of the route maps, Google, AA, and RAC, don't seem to accept a travel date, and route via mountain passes that are shut at that time of the year.
Via Michelin accepts travel date and avoids closed mountain passes.

Help!!

Scenic Road Trip across CH- St Gervais to the Arlberg

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