9 days Zurich, Lucerne, Bern, Wengen, Zermatt in July
Alex, a traveler from Texas, recently shared their family's trip report from a week-long visit to Switzerland in July. They focused on hiking and experiencing the beautiful scenery while facing challenges with accommodation and dining options. Overall, they had a wonderful time despite some minor illnesses and weather changes.
- Book hotels early, especially for summer, as options fill up quickly for families.
- Consider using the Swiss Travel Pass for savings on transportation.
- Pack snacks for hiking to save money on food.
- Be flexible with your plans due to unpredictable weather in the Alps.
- The SBB mobile app makes train travel and ticket purchasing very easy.
AI-generated summary-
Switzerland trip report
Here is out trip report. the content is a bit unorganized and personal. hope you might find some of them are useful! I thought I would pay it forward by sharing mine!
Special thanks the forum, especially to Annika for all the useful advice.
Best wishes!
–alex
[background]
we are a family of 4 with 2 teenagers (daughter aged 15 and son aged 19) from Texas, USA. The main reason is to hike and to experience the natural beauty; Hence July-August is the target time period.
I booked the flights and hotels in November 2023, 8 months in advance.
[Flight]
Would like to arrive in the early morning. it means the in-bound transatlantic flight from the States would be red-eye.
[Hotel]
We plan only be in the hotel room for shower and sleep so our criteria is
- (a) accommodate all of us in the single room (must)
- (b) close to train station, free breakfast, price of course (nice-to-have)
Comment : – Not many hotel offers the single room for four person. either the option is not available or the extra bed will cost extra.- The hotel services are usually good, the breakfast are simple but all very good quality ingredients.- Most of the recommended hotels already sold out during the high-season despite 8 month in advance. Definitely plan early!- in the alps, we decided to station at Wengen (over Grindelwald and Lauterbrunnen.. per my co-worker recommendation) and it turned out to be the best decision.
8N 9D, 7/4-12
1N in Zurich, Hotel Bristol Zurich
1N in Bern, Hotel National Bern
4N in Wengen, Alpenruhe Wengen
2N in Zermatt, Jagerhof Hotel
[Highlights]
- Grateful that hiking with good weather most of the time and being able to see the peaks of Jungfrau and Matterhorn.
- Via-ferrata in Mürren
- Paragliding!
- Clean air and water !
Can send more detailed daily itinerary upon request.
[Transportation]
- Got both Swiss Half Fare Card (https://www.myswissalps.com/travel-ticket/swiss-half-fare-card/) and Berner Oberland Pass (https://www.myswissalps.com/travel-ticket/berner-oberland-pass/) for 4 days. I bought both online 1 month prior. I have the ticket paper printout and also have the pdf version available in my phone.
- Using the SBB mobile app for any point-to-point travel tickets. So seamless!! there were a few times i literally bought the tickets in the train platform a few min before the train arrived. Yes, i can purchase the tickets for my whole family once the family profile is setup.
- we had been asked for verifying of the tickets and our IDs twice so be prepared.
- As a retrospective, the travel is almost free for the youth is < 16 yr old. (about 450 CHF different while comparing the price of my younger kid than my elder one). i believe it could be a factor for your family planning.
(*) there is some issue to pay online with my American-issued credit card. there is online security that the US credit card have not setup. long story short, i ended up make asking with my workers from UK.
[Food]
background : food in Switzerland is expensive! we are not foodie hence we want to save money (and also time on dining). we are ok to eat the sandwich during the hiking break over the fine-dining experience. it doesn’t mean we won’t try the traditional food like Germany sausage, swizz sweets (cakes and chocolate) and fondue.
so there is our plan.
- we plan to eat two times in the ‘restaurant’ in the whole trip. (both reserve in advance after research)
- the free hotel breakfast is the only full-meal and give us enough energy to start the day! I have been telling my kids the ham and salami in the breakfast could be the only meat you have for the day!
- lunch we usually utilized Coop/Migros to get sandwiches/bread/fruits/snacks. there are also ; dinner we mostly made our own cup noodles that we brought for the trip. ( we bought 2 dozen of cup noodles/noodle package)
- again, we plan to save money and time on meal/food.
[laundry]
- Could be tricky as not many options available. hotel’s laundry is quite expensive and will be itemized (for example, 2 CHF for 1 underwear; 3 CHF for 1 undershirt).
- In the middle of our trip, we ended up do laundry in Wengen. we spent four hours in the evening doing two loads , 5 chf per load, soap is included. It could be a good time to meet with other travelers.
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Day 1 – July-4
Overnight flight from ATL. landed ZHR 9am. Immigration and baggage claim took only 20 min. Activated the data-plan via airport wifi and my kids were happy. We went straight to the SBB ticket office to get the one-day Zurich Pass. we also showed all our online purchased tickets to confirm how they should be used. The staff were v friendly and they patiently shows us how to use the SBB App, setup the family profile and even searched for the discount tickets. all can be done via sbb mobile-app! Took train straight to city central (~15 min) and 5 min walk to the hotel (5 min). luckily, they allowed us to early check-in at 10am.
- had the Ass-bar bakery (reselling day-old (i.e. expired for 1 day) goods)
- Lindt Home of Chocolate. (per wife request, Had made reservations 2 month ahead)
- 2 Hr of river cruise (included in the day-pass)
- Walked around the old-town
- Dinner at Zeughauskeller. traditional Swiss food. was ok (co-worker says it is the must-try for tourists. made reservations 1 week ahead)
- Night out at 9pm.
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Day 2 – July-5
Sunny | Lucerne > Bern
Woke up at 6am and looked like the jetlag won’t affect us much. (consider it was 11pm where we’re from); the breakfast was excellent! checkout at 7am, walked back to the central station, Lucerne via train which took about 40 min. once got-off, put all our 3 carry-ons and check-in luggage in 2 lockers at the platform, Hopped on the train to Alpnachstad. all done in 10 min. Seamless experience!
- Mt Pilatus (https://www.myswissalps.com/activity/pilatus/) : via clockwise Silver Round Trip (*) to Mt Pilatus and the World’s Steepest Cogwheel Rail, 1 hr walking trail to Tomlishorn peak on the top is my highlight of the day. kids loved the toboggan (at Fräkmüntegg).
- walked around the Chapel Bridge and nearby.
- Train to the Bern (https://www.myswissalps.com/town/bern/)
- check-in the hotel around 4pm
- found a nice street-food store : got Gyros as dinner
- decided to call it a day as my daughter feeling a bit sickie.
- watched last 10 min of the euro game of Spain vs Germany in the park right next to our hotel. it was quiet an experience to watching it Outdoor big screen. it was 9pm and the sun sets at 10pm.
(*) we decide to do silver instead of gold because we wanted to save time (over the boat) since we had the boat experience in Zurich yesterday. Clockwise is i was told (and I agreed afterward) the ascend via cogwheel train is must better. we also purchased the assigned seat (5CHF each) just to skip the line. (it worth it)
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Day 3 – July-6
Sunny | Bern > Wengen
(my daughter was feeling better but still with flu-like symptom. we decided to take it easy for the day)
Bern as it is the capital of Switzerland and my young daughter wanted to visit it during our planning.
- after breakfast, started exploring the city :- parliament palace/federal assembly, outdoor grocery market, arcaded streets, clock tower and bears garden. Hotel offers free 1 day pass so all the local tram and buses were free.
- BO pass kicked in from Bern, so didn’t have to buy any tickets from there for next 4 days.
- Checked out around 2pm and transited from Bern to Wengen (https://www.myswissalps.com/town/wengen/) via train for about 2 hr; had the sandwich from Aldi in the train. Transferred trains 3 times. But seamless with SBB app.
- check-in the hotel @4pm. we realize the cable-car to Männlichen still available (closed at 5pm) so we just hopped in. Since it was late afternoon, there were only a few people there! we took the short “Royal Walk” hike up to a higher viewpoint and the panorama views was stunning!
- had ramen noodles with some ham and bread as dinner.
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Day 4 – July-7
Raining | Grindelwald/First
my daughter is 100% recovered but mom and my son started coughing 😐
- The hotel staff were so nice and they prepared the breakfast for us. –
- Originally planned to a full action pack day in Grindelwald (https://www.myswissalps.com/town/grindelwald/) and Grindelwald First (https://www.myswissalps.com/activity/grindelwald-first/) that we took the 1st train at 630am in order to be there early. it turns out all of the actions are rain-out; we are disappointed but we still try to enjoy as much as we could. a silly pictures with all the foggy at the back. 🙂
- paragliding in the afternoon was also cancelled. we were disappointed and we went back home to play cards instead.
- Found a nice fast-food restaurant and have a V good american-cheese-burger.
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Day 5 – July-8
Sunny | Jungfraujoch (https://www.myswissalps.com/activity/jungfraujoch/)
aka top-of-Europe, cost extra even with Berner Oberland Pass and it is time-limited of 3 hours.
- There were 2 hr before our schedule train time so we had a short hiking around the Eiger Trail. turnout it was my highlight of the day!
- Amusingly the most popular food at the cafe up in the ‘top of Europe’ is shin-ramen cups. saw every Asians were having it despite it costs 5 CHF each (extra for hot water!!!).
- My kids really enjoyed the snow ball fight; and all i remembered now was sun-burn and my altitude sickness. 🙂
- In the afternoon, we went back to the Grindelwald for paragliding that was cancelled the day before. my son really enjoyed it but my daughter has the motion-sickness next few hours. 🙁
- Had the V good american-cheese-burger again for dinner.
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Day 6 – July-9
Sunny | Mürren (https://www.myswissalps.com/town/murren/), Gimmelwald
son was sick (headache and fever) and we let him stay in the hotel room 🙁
- via-ferrata from Mürren to Gimmelwald; it was fun and the views are stunning from the cliff. 4 hour exercise really to my physical limit.
- we were originally plan to do e-bike in Lauterbrunnen (https://www.myswissalps.com/town/lauterbrunnen/) in the afternoon but we decided to go back to rest instead; son was feeling better in the afternoon
- spent good time in the hotel front-yard and enjoyed the view of the Lauterbrunnen village while doing the laundry.
- wife and daughter went to shopping and the grocery shopping at Coop.
- watched the Euro semi – Spain vs France while eating Ramen and salad from Coop for dinner.
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Day 7. – July-10
Sunny | Zermatt (https://www.myswissalps.com/town/zermatt/)
Transit from Wengen to Zermatt via train (~3hr). Transferred trains 3 times and again seamless with SBB mobile app. Bought train tickets from here onward since Berner Oberland Pass was no longer valid. Due to the flooding in the past month, the train service was not available from Visp and had to take the connecting bus instead. The bus service was ok.
- checked in the hotel around 230pm. Zermatt is a small town and it had one main street and it took us 20 min to walk from one end to the other. Most of the them are high-dollar shops and we only went to Co-op and McD.
- dinner at the Du-Pont for fondue experience. I am telling myself to try at least once. we ordered 3-cheese for 2 person. we ended up finished the bread and potato but not the cheese.
- watched the Euro semi – England vs Netherland before hitting the bed.
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Day 8 – July-11
Sunny | Matterhorn
Breakfast was excellent! took the train up to Gornergrat (https://www.myswissalps.com/activity/gornergrat/) to see Matterhorn. it was sunny day and cleared enough later to see the peak.
Hiked the loop trail and to Riffelsee. Matterhorn is in the left side all the time. it is one of the highlight of the whole trip. stunning view.
My wife and I were still recovering the muscle-pain from the via-ferrata. we decided to take it easy.
Had some fruits and snacks as lunch while resting.
Hopped back to the train from Rotenboden and came back to the hotel in the afternoon. enjoy the view from the balcony.
We found some good deal of bbq-chicken and sausage from Co-op so I decide to finished the last noodles as he dinner.
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Day 9 – July-12
Sunny | Matterhorn
Breakfast and checked out ~ 10am, Transit to Milan via train. And this concluded our Switzerland trip.
[to-bring]
- data-plan :- bought airalo (with e-sim) right before the trip, per co-worker recommendation. good speed & reliable.
- power adapter : euro plug, at least 2 for the whole family.
- most of the hotel has no microwave: we brought portable hot port cooker. (230V) for hot water.
- folding grocery bags.
- ramen noodles and cup noodles, crackers.
- sun block.
- clothing : Might Need Hiking shoes depends on your preferences. also have enough clothing for Jungfraujoch visit. => those 2 factors could take much of the luggage-space.
We had 1 backpack each; 3 carry-ons and 1 check-in.
[afterthought]
- Weather in Switzerland is so unpredictable and can change quickly, especially in the alps ! so be flexible and ready to change the schedule.
- Day is long in summer, start the daily-schedule early.
- Switzerland is pricey, but so beautiful and clean everywhere!
All in all, we had a wonderful time! and I was blessed to be with my family!! 🙂
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Hi Alex,
Thanks for posting your trip report and thanking MySwissAlps contributors for assistance in planning your trip!
I’m sure your tips for booking accommodation a long way ahead for the high season, options for accommodating a family of 4 in a hotel, and your approach to saving money on food will be of interest to other budget-conscious travellers.
I’m glad you had such a great time in Switzerland, and that the short illnesses of family members didn’t disrupt your plans too much!
Alpenrose
Hi Alex,
Thanks so much for sharing your travel experience and beautiful pictures! The foggy one at Grindelwald-First is special. Luckily, you did get to see the amazing mountains of the Jungfrau Region from Männlichen and Jungfraujoch in clear weather. You managed to see and do a lot during your stay. Compliments on completing the Mürren via ferrata! That’s quite the exercise indeed. I hope your son recovered well.
Happy to hear our moderators and forum members have contributed to your preparations! I think you may have meant my colleague Anna instead of me :-).
Hi Alex,
Thank you for sharing your travel experience. Appreciate all the useful tips.
I’m glad the weather improved and you got to do your paragliding activity on Grindelwald First (https://www.myswissalps.com/activity/grindelwald-first/) on Day 5.
Regards,
Anna
Hi alex_wong,
I enjoyed enjoyed reading your trip report. Sounds like you had a great time with your family. Yes, there is a wealth of info on this site to help navigate one’s way to a great trip. Thanks for sharing your experience.
Regards,
Danielsan
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