By a stroke of luck, we rode in a cable car that carried the Indian Flag.
Bhpian vigsom recently shared this with other enthusiasts:
Introduction
This is a pic-o-log of a recent trip to one of the world’s most favourite mountain tops – Mount Titlis in Switzerland. The attempt here is to provide details of our experience, useful guidance to potential travellers, a temptation to fence sitters and what to expect there.
Arrival in Switzerland
There were a lot of events that got interlocked with our travel plan – and we ended up being able to apply just two weeks prior to the planned travel date. The Schengen visa application stipulates everything up front – an invitation letter, proof of residence of the sponsor, applicant’s bank statement, employment proof OR GST certificate, confirmed return tickets, valid medical insurance, etc., etc. For the first time in life, I applied for a visa without travel associate assistance, and it went through like clockwork, but the clock started ticking and kept ticking till we got our visas in our passports just two days prior to departure.
We came to Switzerland as planned (Phew!) and with just the first day as a rest day, undertook our first outdoor activity to Mount Titlis. Reason for the hurry: the weather was expected to be wet post that.
Preparations for the visit
- Snow boots – something that has rough all-terrain soles; my industrial shoes were just fine
- Windcheater, monkey cap, gloves, sunglasses
- Swiss Travel Pass – can choose from various options available; we got an 8 day pass that would cover train/bus rides across Swiss (except reservation charges on premium panorama trains), ride to Mt.Titlis at half the scheduled rate, free rides to two other mountains; we rode free from Zurich Airport to our place of stay, and all train rides thereafter
- Based on the estimated time of departure from the place of stay, checked the timings of trains, connections on the sbb.ch website
The Rail Connection
Based on our ETD, we found the following connections
Zurich local station to Zurich HB (approx. 10 min ride) –> Zurich HB to Luzern (Lucerne) approx. 40min ride –> Luzern to Engelberg (approx. 45 min. ride) on meter gauge). Once at Engelberg, there is a shuttle bus that drops one off at the base station, but we chose to walk 10 mins and enjoy the surroundings
Moving up the escalator to Zurich HB Terminus
Zurich HB Terminus
Departing Zurich HB on a double-decker train; most commuter trains on broad gauge are double decker
Luzern Terminus – shifting to platform 12 (Platforms 12, 13, 14 designated for meter gauge trains aka chota line)
Enroute Lucerne to Engelberg
Stans Station – pit stop to yet another mountain Stanserhorn
Enroute Luzern to Engelberg (Contd.)
Crystal clear water stream
Welcome!
Rolling into Engelberg
Engelberg Station – all blokes including the cameraman headed to Mt. Titlis
The meter gauge train – an old one; there are newer trains too
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