[Removed user]

4 October 2012 at 12:30:28 #805648

Dear moderator/everybody
Kindly be patient to read this long query,
We as a family (me,my husband,my mother,and 3year old Son) are travelling to Switzerland for 15 days Oct 22-Nov 5.
As this is my 1st visit I have no idea where to go,where to start or how many days to spend in a place. I foound In the website of myswitzerland.com they have readymade itinerary for 3/5/10 days. In the 10 day schedule they have made 1 day per place like geneva,zurich,lucerne,bern,basel,zermatt etc. now as i have 15 days I thought to spend the extra day wisely for the place needed most.

The itinerary is as follows(if its difficult to read my mail I would kindly request you to go to the website
myswitzerland.com ->Transport ->Services) and offer your suggestions.

Day 1 — BASEL
Rhine,Beyeler Foundation, Rheinfeldon
Travel to Montreaux
Saignelgier, la Chaux de fonds, Lausanne

Day 2 — MONTREAUX
Promenade de Montreaux, Rochers de Naye, Lake Geneva,
Travel to Bern
Les Mosses,Fribourg

Day 3 — BERN
Arcades, Paul Klee, Gurten
Travl to interlaken
Thun, Thunersee, Beatus hohlen

Day 4 — INTERLAKEN
Jungfraujoch, Schynide Platte, Beatushohlen Cave
Travel to Zermatt
Nielsen, Blausee-mitholz, Oeschinensee.

Day 5 — ZERMATT
Gornergrat, Alpine Village Findeln, Klein-Matterhorn
Travel to Ascona(transfer Big/Andermatt/Airolo/Bellinzona/Lucarno)
Bettmerhorn

Day 6 — ASCONA
Ascona, Lago Maggiore, Mogno / Valle Maggia
Travel to St.Mortiz(transfer via San Bernadine/Albula)
Drei Burgen, Via Mala, Chur, Bergun

Day 7 — St. MORTIZ
Lakes, Silvaplano, Muottas Muragi
Travel to Appenzell
National Park, Taminaschlucht, Bundner Heuschatt,Klangweg

Day 8 — APPENZELL
Hauptgasse,Wasserauen,Schwagalp/Santis
Travel to Zurich
Stiftsbibliothk, SteinamRhein,RhineFall

Day 9 — ZURICH
Zoo,Old town of Zurich,Kunsthaus
Travel to Lucerne (Train /Ship)
Hollgrotten, Zug, Rigi

Day 10 — LUCERNE
Pilatus, Lake Lucerne,Old town Lucerne
Back to Geneva and fly back

My questions:
1. Does the above itinerary seem doable?
2. I have 15 dys how do I split?
3. Under the heading travel to Lucerne,Zurich,appenzell and others there are some 2-3 places named do we stop and visit
or is it just a glance through the passing train/bus?
4. I arrive at Zurich 20:45 and depart from Zurich. Do I immediately go to BASEL and continue the Itinerary or I stay at Zurich the same night and visit LUCERNE and then BASEL subsequently?
5. My son loves zoo which is better Zurich or Basel zoo?
6. How can i include Mt.Titlis as it is not included?
7. Do I need a Stoller for my 3 year old? As he will ask me to carry him and walk and I can’t as i am PREGNANT.
8. For 15 days what Rail pass should I get? Can I get 1 Swiss family card and Flexi 2 for 1 card which allows my son to travel free.

Iam terribly sorry for troubling you with so many questions and a huge mail.
I have no where to turn to, and after seeing you help so many people, I thought you would be kind to reply .

Many Many Thanks
Jas Ebenezer

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[Arno]

5 October 2012 at 9:39:47 #837315

Hello Jas,

A good itinerary is based on your personal interests. I would not recommend to copy that 10-day itinerary, but rather use it as a list of ideas and put parts of it into your plans. Even if you add 5 days, I think it would be pretty hectic to have 10 town to town transfers and 10 times switching hotels. For the towns where you don’t have an extra day, you would only have about half a day left to do some sightseeing, as the rest of the day is required for traveling and checking in and out of hotels. That’s not enough to see all suggested sites. Sunset is pretty early in late October (5 – 6:00 PM), and most mountain transport will close down around that time as well. Since you’re pregnant (congratulations!) and traveling with a 3-year old, a bit more slow pace would be more convenient I guess.

You may want to consider to pick 3 or 4 towns as a base and do day trips from there. Just browse our website and the websites of the individual towns and regions to see what’s there that fits your interests. If you want to see mountains and nature, then skip Basel and Bern. If you prefer museums, architecture and larger cities, then skip Interlaken and Zermatt. If you prefer small (mountain) villages, then skip every town on the list except Zermatt.

Lucerne is a good base. You can do the Titlis from there, but a day trip to Zurich as well. Interlaken or any nearby village is a good base as well. You can easily visit Bern from here. Be sure to pick hotels close to the rail station for maximum convenience. Suggestions can be found through the links. There are airport hotels if you don’t want to travel on the first night.

Don’t forget to check the train timetable for traveling times. That will give you a basic idea of how long it takes to do particular trips. Be sure to spell the town names right though, or it might not understand or come up with a different location. It’s Montreux, Niesen, St. Moritz.

I hope this gets you started. I’ll answer your rail pass questions in your other topic.