Ten days through the Swiss Alps: putting the camper on a train, Kandersteg, Lake Thun, the Grimsel and Furka passes and the Gotthard

Previous post: France. Between 27 May and 5 June we zigzagged through Switzerland, with a short loop into the French Alps. Along the way we put the whole camper on a train through a mountain, then crossed three passes to reach Italy.

27–29 May: Basel and Zürich

We crossed from Alsace into Basel in the middle of the afternoon on 27 May. We took the bikes out for an evening ride of about 12 km before driving on to spend the night in Aargau.

The next two days were around Zürich. On 28 May we made a couple of stops in Dietikon and an afternoon one in Adliswil, and spent the night near Zürich. On the afternoon of 29 May we were in central Zürich for about an hour. Then we headed west and spent the night near Solothurn.

30–31 May: Geneva, Chamonix and Leukerbad

On 30 May we drove a long way southwest to Geneva and spent the afternoon just over the French border, around Prévessin and Ferney-Voltaire. That night we slept in France, near Bonneville.

On the morning of 31 May we spent an hour in the valley at Chamonix, then crossed back into Switzerland near Vallorcine and drove into the Valais.

That afternoon we spent more than two and a half hours at the thermal baths in Leukerbad. We spent the night near Brig.

1 June: the car train to Kandersteg

This was the day we put the camper on a train. At Goppenstein, at the south end of the Lötschberg Tunnel, we joined the line for the BLS car shuttle at about twenty to two. Just after three we drove up the ramp and along the open rail wagons, then sat in the camper while the train carried us through the mountain. About ten minutes later we came out in Kandersteg and drove off the train.

In Kandersteg we parked for a few minutes under the ski jumps.

From the Oeschinen gondola station we went up the valley toward Lake Oeschinen, and were back down by ten to six. That evening we drove down the valley to Lake Thun and spent the night by the lake.

2 June: Interlaken and Lake Thun

Most of 2 June was close by. We stopped in Interlaken, then spent nearly four hours at Sundlauenen on the north shore of Lake Thun, then went back into Interlaken for the afternoon. Late in the day we drove east past Lake Brienz and up over the Grimsel Pass, and spent the night in the mountains in the Obergoms area.

3 June: Furka, Gotthard and into Italy

On 3 June we covered a lot of mountain road in one morning. We took the Furka Pass down to Andermatt, then the Gotthard Road Tunnel into Ticino. After a stop in Biasca at lunchtime, we crossed into Italy and spent the night near Milan.

4–5 June: east across Italy

On 4 June we drove about 260 km east and spent most of the afternoon in Mestre. We stayed the night along the way. On the morning of 5 June we carried on toward Trieste and Croatia.

Next post: Croatia.