[Anonymous]

29 May 2019 at 12:04:32 #821903

My husband and I will be in Switzerland from March 18-25 (really the 24th as we fly out at 6:00 am on the 25th). We will be flying in to Geneva on the 18th and going directly to Lausanne by train from the airport. The only hotel reservations that we have made are in Lausanne at the Aulac. While there we plan to see the Olympic Park/Museum, some part of the Lavaux Winery Trail, Lausanne Cathedral/Old Town of Lausanne and possibly a boat ride on Lake Geneva/Lac Leman to Chateau Chillon.

Our thoughts were to take the Golden Pass from Montreaux on the 20th to Lucerne possibly with a stop in Bern and to spend the night of the 20th and 21st in Lucerne exploring Lucerne, going up Mt. Rigi (including a boat ride as part of the trip up) and visiting Stoos funicular railway (my husband has an obsession with this and wanted to do Gelmer funicular but it is closed while we are there).

The night of the 22nd and the 23rd we are looking to stay in either Lauterbrennen, Murren or Wengen. From that base we would like to explore the falls in Lauterbrennen, go up Mt. Schiltorn and Mt. First and possibly some very easy hikes (I know that all trails will be accessible at this time).

Then on to Geneva for the night of the 24th as we fly out so early on the 25th. My only must see in Geneva is the United Nations.

Questions:

1. Does the plan for Luasanne sound reasonable? Are there any sites that should be removed or added to my list?

2. Given what we would like to see, are we better off to base ourselves in either Lucerne or Lauterbrenen, Murren or Wengen and not split it into two bases?

3. If we continue with the two bases, are we using them effectively? Meaning are we seeing the appropriate places from those bases.

Please feel free to add any suggestions that you have regarding this itinerary or hotels. We are pretty flexible at this point. We will be traveling with a Swiss Travel Pass.

Thank you for the wonderful job that you do with this site. It makes planning from a distance far easier.

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[User]

Reply 1 of 6 • 29 May 2019 at 12:17:28 #913586

I meant to say that I know that all hiking trails will not be accessible in March.

[User]

Reply 2 of 6 • 30 May 2019 at 1:46:30 #913587

Hi jjones-

<<“Our thoughts were to take the Golden Pass from Montreaux on the 20th to Lucerne possibly with a stop in Bern”>>

That set of routes does not pass through Bern.

http://www.myswissalps.com/go ldenpass

Slowpoke

[Arno]

Reply 3 of 6 • 30 May 2019 at 15:45:10 #913588

Hi JJones,

1. Do you only have one day in Lausanne? In that case your list is too long. Just Chillon castle will take at least 2 hours to (quickly) explore, without the time to get there. Here are a couple of links with more details in case you haven’t seen them yet:

• http://www.myswissalps.com/la usanne
• http://www.myswissalps.com/bo atlakegeneva
• http://www.myswissalps.com/hi king/lutry-epesses
• http://www.myswissalps.com/hi king/lausanne

2./3. Your base town are good but I would change the order: I recommend to first take the Golden Pass line as far as Interlaken, then stay in one of the villages in the Jungfrau region: http://www.myswissalps.com/ju ngfrauregion. Then move to Lucerne for a few nights there: http://www.myswissalps.com/lu cerne. That order makes more sense I think, and saves travel time. From Lucerne you can take a direct train to Geneva/Geneva airport: http://www.myswissalps.com/ge neva.

[User]

Reply 4 of 6 • 30 May 2019 at 16:03:21 #913589

Thank you so much for taking the time to review this and make suggestions. This is exactly what I was looking for. We do only have one full day in Lausanne and will have to make some decisions on what to eliminate. I very much want to see a little piece of the Lavaux Wine trail so maybe Chillon will need to wait for another time.

Thank you again.

[User]

Reply 5 of 6 • 30 May 2019 at 16:07:20 #913590

Hi Jjones –

A nice thing about La Cote that it gets a lot of sun, so it will be more like Spring there in March, compared to the high altitudes near the Jungfrau.

Slowpoke

[Arno]

Reply 6 of 6 • 31 May 2019 at 6:40:06 #913591

Hi Jjones,

You’re welcome! In that case the hike (my 3rd link) is worth it, and indeed the castle needs to be skipped. Do note that March is not the best time for the vineyards. That’s summer and early fall (before harvest). But the views and villages are good all year round.