Travel Booklet Officials Table of contents
Dear Officials, welcome! 3 General information 4 Arrivals Summary 6 By train 7 By bus 8 By plane 8 SWISS discount 9 Departures 10 Visa information 10 Your next steps 11
2 Dear Officials, welcome!
Congratulations on being selected for Laax 2016!
This guide will give you some information on Laax and help you plan your travels. To avoid problems and make sure your journey goes as smoothly as possible, we kindly ask you to take the time to read it carefully.
Laax It is the small mountain village of Laax, in the heart of the Swiss Alps, that will host the 83rd International Session of the European Youth Parliament. While it is home only to a little more than 1’500 people year-round, the mountain air, impressive nature and 235 km of ski pistes attract Swiss and international visitors both in summer and in winter. Laax is surrounded by mountains and there is a small lake in the village that explains the name of the municipality: Laax is Rumantsch for ‘lake’.
3 General information
Officials are expected to arrivein Zurich no later than 19:00 or at the Chur train station no later than 21:45 on Wednesday, 05.10.2016.
However, please keep in mind that the welcome event for officials begins at 18:30, we would very much like for you to be there - and you sure don’t want to miss it! The whole journey from Zurich Airport to Laax will take you 2h30. The Organising Team will be happy to welcome everybody either at the Zurich Airport or the train stations in Zurich or Chur and guide them to the venue in Laax.
4 Arrivals
5 Summary
We are looking forward to welcoming to in Switzerland very soon. Please read carefully through the travel information in order to make your travel to the session as smooth as possible.
• Ideally, you should book your travel to Zurich Airport (if arriving by plane), Zurich train station or Chur train station (if arriving by train), as these will be our meeting points.
• Alternatively, you can also fly toBasel Airport or Geneva Airport (see page 8).
• Please note that the train price to Chur should be included in your CHF 400.- reimbursement.
• Make sure to arrive as early as possible on the 5th of October, in order not to miss any welcome activities.
6 By train In light of the Session theme, “Young and Innovative Ideas for a Sustainable Future”, we would encourage all participants to use the train for the way to and from the Session. Zurich is well connected to many big cities in Europe. You can look up all connections on www.sbb.ch, on your country’s railway website or on www.thetrainline-europe.com.
From the main station in Zurich, you will have to take a train to Chur. This one-way journey will take 1 hour and 30 minutes and will cost CHF 40 (36 Euros). 7 7 By bus There are also international bus services that are connected to Chur, such as FlixBus. You can find information about connections on www.flixbus.com. The bus stop is at the Chur train station. Alternatively, you can travel to many other Swiss cities by bus and then take the train to Chur. The Organising Team will meet you at the Chur train station and help you find your way to Laax.
By plane Should you decide to fly to Switzerland, we would recommend booking tickets to Zurich Airport. Alternatively, you can also fly toBasel or Geneva, both of which are accessible by many low-cost airlines. You can reach Chur from all cities by train. The ticket for Switzerland should be included in your CHF 400.- reimbursement.
• From Basel Airport, you first have to takebus 50 (which is right outside the airport, you can’t miss it) for 20 minutes and then a train to Chur for 2 hours 30 minutes. This one- way journey will cost approximately CHF 87 (75 Euros).
• To go from Geneva Airport to Chur, you will have to change trains in Zürich. The one- way journey to Chur will last 4 hours 40 minutes and will cost you approximately CHF 114 (100 Euros).
From Chur, we will be taking a bus to go to Laax. This bus ride will be organised by the session. 8 SWISS discount
In the spirit of collaboration, our official carrier Swiss has granted all session participants a discount of up to 10%. In the document attached here you can read all about how the discount is going to work and how you can obtain it with the event code. Seeing that Zurich Airport is the main hub of the airline, we would recommend booking your tickets to this airport. 9 Departures
Officials can leave the Session anytime on Sunday, 16.10.2016. You can simply reverse the above instructions. Support will be provided to session participants to help them find their train or plane. Make sure to calculate enough time between leaving Laax and your flight, as trains do not run all night.
The last connection on Sunday from Laax to Zurich is at 19:07 and participants will arrive in Zurich at 21:23 with this connection. From Chur, we will be taking a bus to go to Laax.
After departure day, the Organising Team will not be providing any additional nights. Should you wish to stay in Switzerland (which we of course encourage you to do) you will have to organise that yourself.
Visa information
Some participants may require a visa to travel to Switzerland. You can find the information about visa requirements for individual countries here. EYP Switzerland will provide Invitation Letters for visa applications if needed. If this is the case, please contact Andong Hu at andong. [email protected]. Visa processing can take some time, therefore we recommend you start the process as early as possible. 10 Your next steps
• Make sure your passport is valid for the entire time you are abroad. Note for people from outside of the Schengen zone, your passport must be valid for the 6 months af- ter the end of the session.
• Obtain a visa if necessary and check our website for more information.
• Book your tickets to Switzerland, ideally with Zurich as a destination. Do not forget to calculate the ticket price for the train in your overall journey price.
• Fill out the travel form with all necessary documents by the 2nd of August.
• In the spirit of sustainability, we encourage you to offset your carbon footprint, through organisations such as https://www.atmosfair.de/en.
We are looking forward to welcoming you in Laax!
Should you have any questions concerning transportation to or at the session, feel free to contact us at [email protected]. 11 Young and Innovative Ideas for a Sustainable Future