[Anonymous]

2 April 2022 at 7:55:33 #826766

Hi All

1.. Would be doing 12 days trip in May. Will arrive in Zurich in the morning. We are thinking of heading to Zurich, Lucerne, Interlaken, Montreux, Zermatt, Lugano and St Moritz.

Should we head straight to Zermatt as our first stop upon arrival and moving back towards Zurich? Shld we make Zermatt, Lucerne and Interlaken as our base (except for St Moritz – thinking how we should approach this place).

2. Also trying to work out the Interlaken trip – How many days and where to base if we are thinking of exploring the following areas:

– ENGELBERG – MOUNT TITLIS (by cable car) and Titlis Cliffwalk

– LAUTERBRUNNEN – visit the village and Staubach Waterfalls

– SCHILTHORN or JUNGFRAUJOCH – which is better

– GRINDELWALD

3. Lucerne – Which should we visit i- Mount Rigi or Mount Pilatus during our Lucerne leg?

Thanks for helping, in advance!

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[Anna]

Reply 1 of 3 • 2 April 2022 at 10:03:37 #940075

Hi CharC,

1. I’m assuming you are interested in riding the Glacier Express between St Moritz and Zermatt. Based on your plans, to minimise back tracking, I would consider arranging your itinerary in this order:

Zurich – Lucerne (base 1) – day trip to Lugano – Interlaken (base 2) – Zermatt (base 3) – day trip to Montreux – take Glacier Express to St Moritz/Chur (overnight optional) – Zurich. So your base towns would be Lucerne, Interlaken and Zermatt. From Lucerne you can easily do a day trip to Lugano. Similarly, it is fairly easy to do a day trip to Montreux from Zermatt. You can use the SBB timetable to map our journey and try out different routes.

2. Interlaken would a good base for excursions to Jungfraujoch, Lauterbrunnen, Schilthorn and Grindelwald. I think 3-4 days would be sufficient to explore the Jungfrau region using Interlaken as a base. An excursion to Engelberg and Mt Titlis is best done from Lucerne, ideally as a day trip so you can take your time doing all the activities at the top of Titlis as well as at the middle station (Trubsee). Be sure to check out Engelberg too. It is a lovely town.

3. I think Pilatus has more tourist appeals. Rigi is great for hiking. Until 26 May, Pilatus is only accessible via cable cars and gondola from Kriens. There are various options to travel to Rigi. The quickest one is by taking the train from Lucerne to Arth Goldau and take the cogwheel train up. Another option is to travel by boat to Vitznau and take the train up. You can find further details on how to travel to Pilatus and Rigi by clicking on the links.

I hope this gives you additional ideas to add to your itinerary.

[User]

Reply 2 of 3 • 3 April 2022 at 10:20:16 #940076

Hi Anna

Thanks for the reply. We have finally confirmed our trip dates. Does this itinerary looks okay?

(Arrive Zurich, late morning, 11 May, depart Zurich on 25May, late morning – around 13.5 full days excluding 25May)

Day 1 – 3 (Overnight stay at Interlaken / Grindelwald)

Day 1 – Travel from Zurich to Interlaken / Grindelwald

Explore the surrounding or go for a Lake cruise on Lak Brienz to Brienz, or on Lake Thun to Thun and Spiez

Day 2 – Jungfraubahn (if times permit, visit either village at Wengen or Lauterbrunnen)

Day 3 – Harder Kulm + visit Mürren & Schilthorn

Question: Should we stay for a 3rd night and explore the region for the next day or travel to Zermatt at end of Day 3?

Day 4 – 6 (Overnight stay at Zermatt)

Day 4 Option 1 – Matterhorn Glacier Paradise (if arrive during midday or on Day 3 night) or explore the town or Option 2 – Explore Zermatt Town if arrived late

Day 5 – Depending on Day 4, Matterhorn Glacier Paradise or explore Zermatt Town + do a hike from Gormergrat to Rotenboden

Day 6 – Day trip to Montreux (Chateau Chillon, Chillon Castle, Vevey, lake cruise)

Question: Can we do a GOLDENPASS TRAINS from Montreux to Lucerne?

Day 7 – 12 (Overnight at Lucerne) – Days are interchangeable

Day 7 – Explore the town Part I (Musegg Wall and towers, Swiss Transport Museum or Swiss chocolate factory)

Day 8 – Day Trip to Mount Rigi (maybe Rigi Kaltbad Mineral Baths & Spa)

Day 9 – Explore the town Part II (old town including a visit to the Chapel Bridge, the glacier Garden and the Lion Monument, afternoon cruise across Lake Lucerne)

Day 10 – Day trip to Engelberg and Mt Titlis

Day 11 – Day trip to Bern (Old Town, Clock Tower, Catheral of Bern, Bern Bear Park)

Day 12 – Day trip to Lugano (Explore city centre, visit Herman Hesse Museum, visit Foxtown for shopping)

Question: Should we explore Lucerene town in 1 day and spend 1 more day in Interlaken/Grindelwald or spend 1 day at Lausanne?

Day 13 – 14 (overnight at Zurich) – Days are interchangeable

Day 13 – Zurich (Zurich Old Town, Lindenhof Hill , Kunsthaus Zurich, Landesmuseum Zurich, Bahnhofstrasse street)

Day 14 – Day Trip to Rhine Falls + explore the town of Schaffhausen

—

Day 15 – to the airport

Will have getting the Swiss Pass but we have not ready gotten down to checking the train timing. Just thinking if the plan is feasible or is it too packed? Or are there places that we should visit as a first-timer?

[Annika]

Reply 3 of 3 • 3 April 2022 at 12:48:31 #940077

Hi CharC,

This looks fine to me. Some days are quite full, but of course it’s up to you to decide if you’re fine with that. An example is day 6. It’s a lot to travel from Zermatt to Montreux, explore the destinations on your list and then head for Lucerne. My advice is indeed to check traveling times for each trip with the aid of the Swiss timetable. This page explains how it works: https://www.myswissalps.com/timetable.

It’s good that you’re spending several days in each base town. That way you can be flexible with your plans, and the Swiss Travel Pass (https://www.myswissalps.com/swisstravelpass) will help with that too.

As for your questions:

• I think you’re allocating a nice amount of days to both Interlaken (https://www.myswissalps.com/interlaken)/Grindelwald (https://www.myswissalps.com/grindelwald) and Zermatt (https://www.myswissalps.com/zermatt)
• Yes, you can use GoldenPass trains to travel from Montreux to Lucerne: https://www.myswissalps.com/goldenpass. An alternative for your transfer Zermatt-Lucerne would be to travel as follows: Zermatt-Brig-Goppenstein-Spiez-Interlaken Ost-Lucerne. You’d then use the RegioExpress Lötschberger (https://www.myswissalps.com/lotschberger) and the northern leg of the GoldenPass route (https://www.myswissalps.com/goldenpass/gettingthere). You’d miss out on the Lake Geneva area.
• Your amount of days in Lucerne (https://www.myswissalps.com/lucerne) seems fine to me. There are lots of things to explore in this town and its surroundings, so it’s nice to take your time there. I’m not sure at what point you’d consider fitting in a night in Lausanne (https://www.myswissalps.com/lausanne) – maybe between Zermatt and Lucerne? It’s an option that will give you more time to explore the Lake Geneva area, but it will add another hotel stay including packing and unpacking. I’d recommend to stick with your current set of base towns.

Of course you can’t see all of Switzerland in 14 days, so you’ll inevitably “miss” things. Weather or other circumstances may force you to change your plans as well. Don’t worry about that too much. You’ll definitely get to experience lots of appealing Swiss towns, mountains and scenic ride with this plan!