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International (Europe/Japan/Southern Hemisphere) Alps Summer Road-trip

charlier

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Good call, Lake Como is out and Grimentz is in
While in Grimentz, take the postal bus to Zinal. Great hiking nearby with awesome views and easy hikes, such as the Cabane de Moiry via Col de Sorebois. Or hike from St. Luc Tom the Weisshorn hotel (amazing views and great food) via Meidpass. It seems to me that your will on a train or bus more than visiting/hiking with such a busy schedule.
 
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dovski

dovski

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Train are only "point-to-point" if you want to. You can get off and on along the way.

"Their schedule" is typically quite frequent. You do have to "plan" it so you don't arrive at the train station 5 minutes after one train leaves and the next one won't be for another 25 minutes. ogwink
I have three kids and can almost guarantee we will miss every train by at least 5 min lol. Also I really enjoy driving on mountain roads, so part of the trip is renting a nice car and driving some of the worlds most scenic mountain passes. Appreciate the trains but am committed to driving on this trip ... if it was ski season we would be all in on taking the train :)
 

James

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Go from Chamonix to Martigny, Sui over the mountain on Rte de la Forclaz. It’s a nice mountain road. On the Martigny side they grow grapes on impossibly steep slopes. We did the drive in winter but it was dry and sunny. You may see Chamois along the way.
People over there know more, but there’s some sort of Swiss highway tax sticker you’re supposed to purchase for roughly 40Chf. Not sure the consequences of not purchasing, other than the Swiss love to fine you. You purchase at the border, but if taking small roads like La Forclaz it’s easy to not though there's still a crossing.

A79B214E-332A-44B2-8F35-56C2B24F1A6E.jpeg

Nothing quaint about Chamonix really. But the mountains are unreal. Stunning. It is busier in summer I hear, August is prob insane. The tram up the Grands Montets in Argentiere, if open now after 3-4? years, would be worth it too. Besides the Aiguille du Midi, which is like taking an airplane up from town. (9,200ft up)
Also the train from town to the receding glacier. Montenvers. (There is a hotel up there).


There’s also a train in the mountains at Les Houches in the Chamonix valley
41BBBAE6-0762-4CD6-9360-22FEC24D581B.jpeg
Train stop in the mountains at Les Houches. ( You can ski there)


Looks like you’re set, but if you want quaint in the mountains near Verbier there’s Sarreyer. An old mountain town we skied to with a guide and took a van back to Le Chable. Lots of old wooden structures built on piled rocks to keep the rats out. Plenty of homes to rent.

 
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Cheizz

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Amsterdam is a nice addition ;)

If you need tips on that city... I lived there for 11 years and was a city tour guide for 7.
 

Swiss Toni

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People over there know more, but there’s some sort of Swiss highway tax sticker you’re supposed to purchase for roughly 40Chf. Not sure the consequences of not purchasing, other than the Swiss love to fine you.

Cars rented in Switzerland normally come with a motorway sticker, when you pick the car up it’s a good idea to check that there is one affixed to the windshield as you will be fined CHF 200 plus CHF 40 for a new one if you are stopped.

Try to avoid speeding as it can be very expensive https://en.comparis.ch/carfinder/autofahren/bussenit it would also be very inconvenient if the police confiscated your driver’s license and impounded the car.

The photo that fatbob posted shows a short stretch of the road from Sierre to Grimentz that is only wide enough for 1 vehicle, if you meet a yellow Post bus coming the other way you will have to reverse as they have right of way. The rest of the road is wide enough for 2 vehicles.

Allow plenty of time for your journeys, our roads are often busy and in summer there are lots of road works, caravans, camper vans etc. Be careful when following satnav instructions on mountain roads as you will sometimes be directed down a road that is only wide enough for a mule!

If you decide to go hiking the Swisstopo app might be useful https://www.swisstopo.admin.ch/en/maps-data-online/maps-geodata-online/swisstopo-app.html it should cover Chamonix as well.
 
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dovski

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So we all tested negative the morning of our flight from Seattle to the UK. By the time we landed in the UK my son was not feeling well and he tested positive that evening. Within two days our entire family tested positive for Covid, luckily our symptoms are mild so no doctors or hospitals needed. We hav unfortunately had to cancel our travel to Switzerland, France and the Netherlands and are now quarantining in a hotel outside London. Plan now is to get everyone healthy so we can fly back to Seattle on July 4th. Have changed my time off with work from vacation to Covid sick leave :( Luckily almost all our bookings were fully refundable so only on the hook for about $185 in flights with Swiss Air. And on the plus side it turns out that I will qualify for diamond status with IHG after our extended stay at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Gerrards Cross. On the downside I think I have now had a lifetime’s fill of proper English breakfasts.
 

fatbob

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Man that's a downer but an ever present risk I think in our current and future travel environment. Was your transatlantic flight mandatorily masked still? I know your son will hve acquired it pre travel with that timeline but still interesting to consider whether planes can be hotspots.

Gerrards Cross - not particularly exciting unfortunately but if you get out from under Covid you could at least get your ski resort fix at Mt Hemel ;) https://www.thesnowcentre.com/

And visit the Hellfire Club of course

 
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Jenny

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So we all tested negative the morning of our flight from Seattle to the UK. By the time we landed in the UK my son was not feeling well and he tested positive that evening. Within two days our entire family tested positive for Covid, luckily our symptoms are mild so no doctors or hospitals needed. We hav unfortunately had to cancel our travel to Switzerland, France and the Netherlands and are now quarantining in a hotel outside London. Plan now is to get everyone healthy so we can fly back to Seattle on July 4th. Have changed my time off with work from vacation to Covid sick leave :( Luckily almost all our bookings were fully refundable so only on the hook for about $185 in flights with Swiss Air. And on the plus side it turns out that I will qualify for diamond status with IHG after our extended stay at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Gerrards Cross. On the downside I think I have now had a lifetime’s fill of proper English breakfasts.
Wow, does that suck. How disappointing.
 
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dovski

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So some context on Covid restrictions and requirements while travelling.
  1. On flights everything is back to normal. Masks are optional both in airports and on planes and most travelers do not wear them
  2. Covid test before travel and upon entering most countries are no longer required, though many countries still require proof of vaccination
  3. Some countries will force you to quarantine if you test positive while there ... others do not ... the UK is one of them.
So what this means is you really need to do your research before traveling internationally both with regard to what you need to enter a country and what happens if you get Covid while there. In the UK they have absolutely no Covid restrictions, no one wears masks and not surprisingly their covid infection count has more than doubled in the last week.

As for Gerrards Cross, my in laws live here and if we were not sick we would probably just stay with them as opposed to in a hotel. For our time in the UK our original plan was to use Gerrards Cross as our base of operations as it is only a 20 min train ride to central London and there is lots to do in the surrounding area (i.e Windsor Castle, Lego Land ... etc.)

As for the indoor skiing, we will probably pass. We actually almost brought our ski boots as we were thinking of trying the Summer Skiing in Zermatt, but now that will have to wait for another trip ... maybe in Winter so we can use our Ikon passes.

So for those of you traveling here is my advice (and what saved us thousands)
  1. Always book hotels and activities with a good cancellation policy. We were able to cancel all our hotels and activities with no penalties
  2. When you can use award points to book or partially book airfare (points plus cash option). These tickets can be canceled and refunded with 72 hours notice
  3. Read the find print of your travel insurance. Ours did not cover our non-refundable Swiss Air flight because the tickets were one way and our policy only covers round trip tickets.
  4. Have a plan B in case you need to quarantine. We did not have one and 5 of us are now stuck in a small hotel room - all other options are booked solid or horrendously expensive.
 

James

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Wow, bummer! Sorry to hear.
How long is the isolation time, what’s the policy in the UK?
 
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dovski

dovski

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Wow, bummer! Sorry to hear.
How long is the isolation time, what’s the policy in the UK?
Policy !!??!! in the UK there is no policy, you can go outside maskless and do whatever you want even when you have Covid. No one masks, no one quarantines and there are no requirements to do so. Not surprisingly covid infections have increased by over 115% in just the last week here. So to be clear our quarantine is somewhat sell imposed. We do not want to infect anyone else and we want to be healthy when we fly home. We also have relatives here who are immuno compromised and cannot risk infecting them. We also have not been feeling wonderful even with minor symptoms but that is finally starting to improve. Hopefully we will also be covid free this coming week and able to spend time with our family here before flying home. As for our cancelled Alps road trip that will have to wait for another year.
 

fatbob

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We have no mask rules anymore. Personally I carried on wearing in grocery stores and then gave up in May as was the only person usually. Just try to steer clear of others now. Still mask on trains and would on planes but flying anywhere is such a shitshow of cancellations this year I'm not bothering this summer.

I think people are pretty relaxed because all but the ideologues are at least triple vaxxed and quite frankly it's their own funeral.

I've no idea how Infections are even being tracked because since free testing kits stopped being available I don't know anyone still testing outside medical contexts.
 

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