General discussions on Switzerland.
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I will be in Switzerland for two short days in August and the Jungfrau Aletsch is the reason why. The train is really prohibitively expensive (190 CHF + 10 CHF reservation fee).

I know that there are other areas in the core zone that are free/cheap and far less crowded (see Els review). I would love to see the glacier, though. As far as I can tell this is only possible if I take the train and climb the mountain. Or arrive from the Southern side which I won't.

What are your thoughts?

Mountain bike!

Happy to have you in Switzerland! I would suggest going to Eggishorn. Take a Train to Fiesch, close to Brig and the cable car to Eggishorn. Return trip is CHF 45. From there you have a fantastic view over the Altesch glacier and Eiger/Mönch/Jungfrau. You can even hike to the glacier if you have enough time.

When will you be in Switzerland? Over a weekend?

Sounds like a good solution. Checked the train schedules and this seems to work. Just to be safe: This is in the core zone?


I will fly in Friday 11 Aug and then head for the glacier. Given Swiss prices, I can't really afford extended stays. I will stay overnight in Bern and then head for Milan next day after breakfast and some siteseeing in Bern with a potential stop in Bellinzona.

Eggishorn is in the core zone, but boarder. Unfortunately I am attending a wedding that weekend so I can't join you. Wish you a good trip and good weather!

Next time ;)

There is actual a hiking trail that seems rather nice, but probably is too difficult:

https://map.schweizmobil.ch/?lang=de&showLogin=true&bgLayer=pk&resolution=5&trackId=2 157538&E=2649793&N=1138388

I will start and see how it goes :D

LOL nan - thanks for the ironic link :) hopefully, although I tend to be quite verbose when I enjoy a WHS, other travellers who haven't visited can benefit from some of the background info and tips. It is certainly the case for me, as I'm an avid reader of Ian Cade's, Solvigant's and hubert's reviews. In 2013, I just wanted to add some photos to WHS that had ample reviews but not so many photos and I had around 200 reviews to cover ;)

Haha, I think finding more words than two paragraphs in praise of Bern and its OUV is a difficult task. And that's the whole point I was trying to make. And your verbosity is appreciated ;)

Eggishorn was covered in snow and view was limited to 30m :/ Will try again from Milan another year. Apparently, June to July better as timing.

Absolutely no problem ;) I totally agree on Bern.

Mont Blanc Massif Nomination

Repeatedly, articles about this nomination mention France, Italy, and Switzerland. France and Italy both have an aptly named tentative nomination called Mont Blanc, however there is no such Swiss nomination. The article below indicates a finalization of the nominated property, perhaps even for 2019. However, I cannot understand how this is possible considering Italy is already leading on a transnational nomination and France also seems heavily pre-occupied with multiple nominations. Does anyone have any insight into this transnational nomination? Perhaps a Swiss nomination will be added to the tentative list soon? Considering an inscription year of 2019, if achievable would likely need a candidature led by the Swiss, no?

http://www.ledauphine.com/haute-savoie/2017/10/23/mont-blanc-a-l-unesco-pour-le-wwf-c -est-maintenant-qu-il-faut-agir

Why not? These countries can support several nominations, no?

I think the answer is France will take the lead on this nomination.

Chaîne des Puys et faille de Limagne will be evaluated for 2018, not 2019. Therefore, France has an available natural nomination slot. Italy has already filled theirs with the Mediterranean Alps nomination. At this point, I think Switzerland is not part of the nomination.

I realise this is several months late, but you can get a "Good Morning" ticket for Jungfraujoch here:
https://www.jungfrau.ch/shop/en/good-morning-ticket-jungfraujoch

It offers you a 30% discount on tickets, on the condition that you need to catch either of the first two trains up the mountain (leaving Kleine Scheidegg at 8am or 8:30am) and then descend on or before the 13:13pm train.

We did this a couple of months ago and it was great - catching the first train up means that you can get out on the viewing platform before anyone else and take some great photos (or video, in our case). It also gives you enough time to go through all of the "attractions" up there, hike over to the hut across the glacier etc, then return down the mountain for lunch in Grindelweld. It's still not "cheap" I guess, and is still comfortably the most expensive World Heritage site we've visited to date, but "it's not cheap" is probably the most apt three words to describe Switzerland :)

WHS.

Not sure why Switzerland should be part of this. The heart of this WHS would clearly be the French/Italian border. Rather than the Italians who go like "uh, a tiny part of this mountain is in Italy", or "about 1km of this train line is in Italy, so it's an Italian WHS as well", we usually go for sites well within our borders. Switzerland usually has a small T list and focusses on getting these sites inscribed. Currently it's a bridge in Grisons near Schiers and (how innovative) an extension of the beech forests