7 days in February, Lucerne, Zermatt, scenic train
A traveler is excited about their upcoming trip to Switzerland in early March. They plan to visit Zurich, Lucerne, Interlaken, Zermatt, and St Moritz within a week, hoping to see the Matterhorn and ride the Glacier Express. They seek advice on whether their itinerary is too packed and if they should purchase the Swiss Travel Pass.
- Consider forgoing the Glacier Express to have a more relaxing schedule, which would allow time for skiing in Zermatt and Jungfrau.
- The Swiss Travel Pass makes sense for your trip, providing convenient travel options throughout your itinerary.
- Staying in Wengen or Mürren can be a good alternative for easier access to surrounding attractions in the Alps.
AI-generated summary-
Hello all!
I recently found out that I needed to be in Germany in early March and decided to go a week early to see Switzerland. There’s a bit of a rush in planning so I would appreciate any constructive criticism and tips to help with this planning!
My husband and I both wish to see the Matterhorn and travel the Glacier Express (though I’m not sure if this route is a good choice), so I am trying to fit that in as well.
Day 1: Early arrival in Zurich. Explore in the morning/midday and leave for Lucerne late-afternoon.
Day 2: Lucerne. See Mount Pilatus and explore Lucerne.
Day 3: Explore Lucerne in the morning and leave for Interlaken via GoldenPass Line in the afternoon.
Day 4: Interlaken. Jungfraujoch.
Day 5: Early Interlaken to Zermatt. Explore Zermatt, Gornergrat and maybe some skiing if time permits.
Day 6: Zermatt to St Moritz (Glacier express). Explore St Moritz with overnight stay.
Day 7: St Moritz. Leave for Germany in the afternoon.
I am worried that this might be too busy, leaving us too fatigued to enjoy the trip. I have read that skipping either Lucerne or Interlaken for Zermatt is a good idea to avoid an itinerary that is too packed. I’ve also read about staying in Wengen instead as a base to see Schilthorn and Jungfraujoch. In general, I have had an overload of information and potential itineraries in the past few days since finding out about the trip. We aren’t sure when we will next be able to travel to Switzerland so we’d like to make the most of our week.
Also, should we buy the Swiss Travel Pass for our trip?
Any help is welcome and thank you in advance! 🙂
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Hi Linakq9 and welcome to MySwissAlps,
How nice to extend your trip by a week in Switzerland!
I believe your itinerary is quite well. Let’s see.
Day 1: arrival in Zurich. Explore in the morning/midday and leave for Lucerne late-afternoon.
Check out timetables here.
Day 2: Lucerne and Mount Pilatus– wonderful
Day 3: Explore Lucerne in the morning and leave for Interlaken via GoldenPass Line in the afternoon. The train ride takes around 2 hours so if you leave early enough you could explore some place in the region of Interlaken: http://www.myswissalps.com/ju ngfrauregion
Maybe consider skiing on this day.
Day 4: Interlaken. Jungfraujoch.
Day 5: Early Interlaken to Zermatt. Explore Zermatt, Gornergrat and maybe some skiing.
Day 6: Zermatt to St Moritz taking the Glacier express. Explore St Moritz with overnight stay.
Day 7: St Moritz. Leave for Germany in the afternoon.
The itinerary is full but do-able and covers many nice places and includes nice trips.
Regarding the Swiss Travel Pass I believe this makes sense for your trip. Alternatively you can look at the Swiss Half Fare Card.
For a general overview of available train tickets and passes follow this link: http://www.myswissalps.com/tr ain/ticketspasses
Enjoy your trip.
Personally I would omit the Glacier Express from that plan. You will see plenty of mountains in the Jungfrau and Zermatt areas. You don’t actually see any glaciers from the Glacier Express nowadays (my full ‘FAQ’ below)
Also, relaxing the schedule will allow you to ski in Zermatt and Jungfrau
Glacier Express:
The Glacier Express runs roughly on an East – West axis in the southern part of Switzerland. The marketing of the Glacier Express is to a certain extent hyperbolic. In practice the Glacier Express is just an ‘exclusive’ train on a normal railway route with plenty of other normal – non supplement , reservation-free trains on it.
To understand the above, it is worth taking a moment to understand the Glacier Express and its history:
It was created (as one train each way daily) with the notion that well-healed travellers taking long holidays in Switzerland in the ‘Belle Epoque’ era (1930s) would stay in Zermatt and then also go and stay in the other fashionable resort of the time, St Moritz. The train was named (mainly) after the Rhone Glacier which has now melted so much that you don’t see it from the train and in any case the train runs under the Rhone Glacier in a base tunnel which replaced the Furka mountain section in 1982.
Points to bear in mind about the Glacier Express:
Although the whole journey is in the mountains, a lot of it is in valleys – where you get some good views of bubbling rivers but not all the time – there are some mundane sections.
in truth there are only 3 really spectacular sections – in order West to East: the loops around Grengiols and Fiesch; Andermatt – Oberalppass – Disentis; Ruinaulta (Rheinschucht aka Rhein gorge); Albula north ramp loops and spirals Tiefencastel – Filisur – Preda
The trip is a long one – tourists can frequently be seen sleeping rather than watching the view and missing the spectacular bits anyway!
the same railway lines can be travelled using ordinary local trains which are no slower in practice due to the single track infrastructure
Further thoughts.
To save time omit Zurich and go straight to Luzern
In Zermatt if you get there early enough (revise itinerary as above to make this possible ?) you can hire skis for the day. Then simply do your ski-ing in the Gornergrat sector (which i’ve done many many times). Gornergrat is automatically part of your day as it is part of the ski network
some of my photos from winter trips mainly showing the Gornergrat railway climbing up through the ski fields. The photos are nearly all taken whilst I was on skis!
Thank you to Steph and 1960man for your replies!
I was also thinking that perhaps the itinerary was too packed, especially since I’d prefer to be rested for Germany. We have decided that forgoing the Glacier Express this time round is a good idea, as the GoldenPass is said to be very beautiful too. Here is the brief revised itinerary:
Day 1: Early arrival in Zurich. Zurich to Lucerne in the afternoon.
Day 2: Lucerne. Pilatus.
Day 3: Lucerne to Interlaken via GoldenPass Line in the afternoon. Overnight Interlaken.
Day 4: Interlaken. Jungfraujoch.
Day 5: Early Interlaken to Zermatt. Overnight Zermatt.
Day 6: Zermatt. More skiing or a day trip out.
Day 7: Zermatt to Stuttgart.
Is Interlaken the most convenient city to travel to the surrounding alps and other attractions? I have read of people staying in Wengen or Mürren instead and am wondering if that is a recommended possibility?
Also, how does skiing in Zermatt compare with around Interlaken? The accommodation in Zermatt is looking really full for our dates at the moment.
Thank you for your help!
A couple of new points based on your revised itinerary.
I would ski mainly in Zermatt personally – I think it is a better linked area. The Jungfrau ski area is a bit too spread out. Zermatt is also better for spring skiing due to the higher altitude skiing available
The GoldenPass that you will have read about being ‘beautiful’ is likely to be the true Golden Pass Zweisimmen – Montreux (MOB railway *see below)
The problem is that modern tourist branding and hyped up marketing has confused the issue regarding the ‘GoldenPass’ line. Your itinerary as it is now only covers Luzern – Interlaken (I think – unless you are planning to go Interlaken – Montreux – Zermatt on day 5)
The Golden Pass rail route:
The true Goldenpass is just the MOB railway Zweisimmen – Montreux.
The Luzern – Interlaken railway is actually the Brünig Pass line operated by Zentralbahn (ZB), which dubs the regular trains “Luzern – Interlaken Express’. It’s OK but not spectacular scenery
A few facts about the Montreux – Zweisimmen railway – ie the MOB (Montreux-Oberland – Bernois):
The Golden Pass is historically only Montreux – Zweisimmen, only more recent marketing branding takes the ‘Goldenpass route’ east of Zweisimmen to Interlaken and beyond to Luzern.
MOB pioneered the Panoramic coach concept on Swiss trains, starting in 1976.
There are now several versions of panoramic coaches in service, but MOB keeps changing its mind how to dub each service.
It hardly matters anyway as most modern Swiss trains have large windows, even if not officially panoramic. The key element of a ‘panoramic’ coach is ‘toplight’ windows above your head but in practice very few of the major views from panoramic trains are directly above your head, so the view through the normal side part of windows is normally fine.
It is very scenic, but the MOB route is far from being the most spectacular (although any dubbing of this nature is going to subjective and personal) in Switzerland.
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