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La Tzoumaz 4 days in summmer

Oslo, Norway
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La Tzoumaz 4 days in summmer
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Hi.

We are a family (kids 15,11) travelling to La Tzoumaz, Valais for 4 days. We are planning one day to Zermatt, but we are not really sure what to do for the rest of the days.

Which cable car/gondol is the best in the area?

Which train, if any is recommended?

If we have one day (1-5 hours) for family trecking, is any special route recomended?

If we have one day (1-5 hours) for adults trecking, is any special route recomended?

Which baths in the area is the best?

Is Sion worth visiting?

Should we also go to Jungfrau?

We will have a car available. Thanks for the help

5 replies to this topic
Lucerne, Switzerland
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1. Re: La Tzoumaz 4 days in summmer
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<If we have one day (1-5 hours) for adults trecking, is any special route recomended?>

If you are experienced mountain hikers, you could go to the Pierre Avoi, the very distinctive summit on the ridge that separates the Tzoumaz and Verbier valleys. Take the cable car up to Savoleyres and go west along the ridge to the summit. The last few metres require a good head for heights (exposed sections secured by chains).

Oslo, Norway
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Thank you very much for you helpfullness

Canton of Valais...
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3. Re: La Tzoumaz 4 days in summmer
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You can't get to la Tzoumaz by train...You need to take the mainline train to martigny, change to the local, and change at Riddes for the postbus. OR you can get Alpina Taxi to take you there from Martigny. They are reliable.

Cable car - only really one to use in la Tzoumaz (itis a very small place) and that is the cable car to Savoleyres which is on the ridge of the mountain between la T. and Verbier. It runs in the summer. The walking up there is good and the views amazing.

If youhave a car you can do day trips to Montreux (Chillon); Chamonix via the Forclaz pass, Martigny (see this for a walking tour - http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Travel-g580371-s4/Martigny:Switzerland:Things.To.Do.html

If not it is going to be a bit time-consuming getting down to Riddes and onto one of the fast trains...

Shoreham-by-Sea
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We stayed in La Tzoumaz and did our day trip to Zermatt by driving to Stalden station, which has a big car park, and catching a regular train to Zermatt. It's much easier/cheaper to park. Stalden is about 15 minutes up the line from Brig. You turn off at Visp and take the road towards Zermatt. Be aware you can't drive to Zermatt so the sooner you dump the car the better. The alternative is to just drive down to Riddes and go all the way by train (Riddes-Sion-Visp-Zermatt). The Autoroute peters out just after Sion, so my guess is that this may not be that slower than driving to Brig or Stalden.

Another day-trip we've done from La Tzoumaz was further afield: We drove to Brig and parked there, then got the train to Domodossola, then changed to a scenic alpine train across the mountains to Locarno for lunch, then came back. This was a rather longer day than Zermatt.

This year, we're planning to try the Lotschberg tunnel motorail under the Eiger and then drive to the capital, Berne for the day.

However, our experience is that once you've done a longer trip, you generally want to do something more local. Options include:

Bains de Saillon in the valley near Riddes: a Large Thermal station, more family-oriented than many of the luxury thermal resorts.

Martigny: Impressive Roman Amphitheatre and if you're into it, an excellent modern art collection at the Foundation Pierre Giannada (the outdoor sculptures should interest even the kids).

St.Bernard monastery at St.Bernard Pass - but don't expect the dogs to be there (they live in the valley in the summer).

Re walks: July-August they run the gondola out of La Tzoumaz up to the Savoleyres summit, and the main gondola and chairs out of Verbier. So you have a number of walks from the summit. An obvious one is to go back down to LTZ via the attractive Chez Simon restaurant - this is 2-3 hours and all easy downhill. Pierrre Avoir has been mentioned and the view from the top is spectacular.

You can take the telecabine from Savoleyres down into Verbier just to have a look around. There's also a level walk along the contour from Croix de Coeur, below Savoleyres, around to Ruinettes.

For adults, it's viable to take this and about half way to Ruinettes, ascend to the Col des Mines above LTZ and walk down from the head of the valle back into LTZ. But don't this this in bad weather.

What I'd recommend is going up in the gondola from LTZ to Savoleyres, then

orienting yourself first, and try judging the scale of any walks. Then go down via Chez Simon to LTZ . Then you can decide what's going to be doable.

Canton of Valais...
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5. Re: La Tzoumaz 4 days in summmer
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Glad you enjoyed your stay in the Valais, and thanks for the comprehensive report - but you did have a few "misperceptions" --

The autoroute actually ends (at the moment, the rest is under construction) after Sierre, not Sion. So you get about another 30k of it. Time take from Riddes to Brig should have been just over an hour?

Lötschberg tunnel "motorail" is in the old tunnel which is under the Lötschberg (funnily enough!) and not under the Eiger which is much further east towards Interlaken. However from la Tsoumaz you will find it quicker to drive via Vevey and Fribourg to Bern. Less scenic though!

Martigny - the expo you saw at the Fondation Gianadda was for winter/spring 2012 only. It ends this Sunday and will be replaced by what looks like a wonderful exhbition "Van Gogh, Picasso, Matisse, Kandinsky from the Collection Merzbacher". The Gianadda normally has 3 of these exhibitions each year. the Sculpture Garden is of course permanent as is the vintage car museum and their small permanent collection... You may have missed the Museum of st Bernard dogs across from the amphitheatre - this is really great for children especially when there are puppies!

And speaking of dogs - it is winter when there are no dogs up at the St Bernard pass mostly because the pass is closed to traffic (no Customs Post and lots of snow!) and so with no tourists the little museum is closed. In summer there are plenty of st Bernards up there...

Glad you liked Chez Simon. It has always been one of my and my family's favourites. Their fondue is excellent!!

Again - many thanks! And glad you are coming back...

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