Travel Booklet Delegates

Transcription

1 Travel Booklet Delegates

2 Table of contents Dear Delegates, 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 Reimbursements 12 2

3 Dear Delegates, 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 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

4 General information Delegates are expected to arrive in Zurich no later than 19:00 or at the Chur train station no later than 21:45 on Friday, However, please keep in mind that the welcome event in Laax begins at 20:00, 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. Information on whether there will be Delegate Welcome Desks and pickups at the airports in Basel and Geneva will follow closer to the Session. 4

5 Arrivals 5

6 Summary We are looking forward to welcoming you in Switzerland very soon. Please read through the travel information carefully 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 to Basel Airport or Geneva Airport (see page 8). Please make sure to book your travel to Switzerland but not within the country, as the session will provide train and bus tickets to Laax. Your train and bus journey from your arrival location in Switzerland to Laax will be taken care of. Make sure to arrive as early as possible on the 7th of October, in order not to miss any welcome activities. 6

7 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 on your country s railway website or on However, we would like to ask you to not book your tickets within Switzerland yet. These will be provided for you. From the main station in Zurich, you will take a train to Chur. This one-way journey will take 1 hour and 30 minutes. 7 7

8 By bus There are also international bus services that are connected to Chur, such as FlixBus. You can find information about connections on 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 to Basel or Geneva, both of which are accessible by many low-cost airlines. You can reach Chur from all cities by train. However, seeing that transportation within Switzerland is quite pricey and will be covered by the session, flying to a city other than Zurich should only be considered if necessary. From Basel Airport, you first have to take bus 50 (which is right outside the airport, you can t miss it) for 20 minutes to Basel main train station (Basel SBB) and then a train to Chur for 2 hours 30 minutes. From Geneva Airport, you can take a train to Chur. You will have to change trains in Zurich. The one-way journey to Chur will take 4 hours 40 minutes. From Chur, we will be taking a bus to go to Laax. 8

9 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

10 Departures Delegates can leave the Session anytime on Sunday, However, please make sure not to book your flight from Zurich Airport before 10:30 AM. If you are not sure whether your flight might be too early, please contact Andong Hu at ch. 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 HB is at 19:07 with participants arriving in Zurich at 21:23. 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 the member of the Delegate Support crew in charge of visa, Andong Hu, at andong.hu@laax2016.ch. Visa processing can take some time, therefore we recommend you start the process as early as possible. 10

11 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 after 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. However, remember to not book train tickets within Switzerland yet, as the Organising Team will cover and provide these for you. Fill out the travel form with all necessary documents such as the Consent form (for teachers and chaperones, for Delegates under 18 or Delegates over 18) and the Medical Emergency Sheet by the 25th of July. In the spirit of sustainability, we encourage you to offset your carbon footprint, through organisations such as 11

12 Reimbursements As part of our efforts to make EYP accessible for everyone, the Organising Team is currently working tirelessly to enable some form of financial support for all participants. We have been able to secure travel costs within Switzerland for everybody and would thus like to ask you not to book your travels within the country. We are aiming at securing additional financial support for those who need it. Should you wish to apply for financial support, don t forget to book your tickets and fill out the Travel Form before the deadline as well as keep the original receipts. Should you have any questions concerning transportation to or at the session, feel free to contact delegate support at info@laax2016.ch. 12

13 Young and Innovative Ideas for a Sustainable Future