Switzerland for 8 days May and no idea what to do!
A traveler from Honduras is planning a relaxed trip to Switzerland with her husband from May 28 to June 05, starting and ending in Geneva. They seek advice on which beautiful places to visit and whether to rent a car or buy train tickets for their 8-day journey.
- Take trains to explore Switzerland for stunning scenery, as driving might cause you to miss beautiful views.
- Consider the Swiss Travel Pass if traveling across the country; for regional trips, look into specific regional passes.
- For a relaxing foodie experience, avoid busy tourist spots like Jungfrau and Zermatt, and explore lesser-known areas such as Lake Geneva and Ticino.
AI-generated summary-
Hello… I really need help! I´ve been trying to schedule my trip to Switzerland for several weeks now and still don´t know where to start 🙁 I´m starting to feel nervous!
First trip with my husband from May 28 until June 05 (Starting Geneva and leaving from Geneva).. I have been to Switzerland some 30 years ago and loved it so I have been wanting to take my husband too. We are from Honduras, Central America. We want a relaxed trip where we can see the beautiful mountains and small towns, have a coffee, enter a good restaurant (we are food lovers) .. Can somebody give me some advice of what places we could visit in these 8 days and what transportation tickets we should buy? Should we rent a car o buy train tickets?
Thank you!!
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Hi and welcome to MySwissAlps!
Luckily you have come to the right place and there’s no need to panic 😉
May is one of the most beautiful times of the year and 8 days is a great period of time to experience the country!
Is your aim to visit / see as much of the country or really to relax and unwind?
The best place to start is to read up on what the different areas have to offer: http://www.myswissalps.com/re gions
or have a look at our sample itineraries: http://www.myswissalps.com/pl antrip/doityourself/sa mpleitineraries
Switzerland is best seen by train, otherwise the driver will be missing out on some amazing scenery. The train pretty much goes everywhere! More info here: http://www.myswissalps.com/ca rversustrain
Once you have more of an idea of what you want, you can then buy a pass to correspond to your needs.
The Swiss Travel Pass http://www.myswissalps.com/sw isstravelpass is a good option if you are travelling across Switzerland, but if you plan on visiting only a particular region, you may want to look into the regional passes. There is a lot of choice but also a lot of information on our site on how to choose the best pass: http://www.myswissalps.com/tr ain/ticketspasses/prac tical/chooserailpass
Personally, if I were after a foodie / relaxing holiday with Alpine scenery, I would avoid the highly-frequented tourist congestion centres like Jungfrau region, Lucerne and Zermatt (there is some spectacular scenery of course there, which is why people go to those areas, but in my view there is some comparable scenery elsewhere in Switzerland that people don’t get to see because those areas are over-promoted abroad for some reason!)
Instead, I would consider any of the following areas:
- Lake Geneva area: http://www.myswissalps.com/so uthwestswitzerland Lavaux, Montreux, Gruyeres. The caves ouvertes, or open vineyard events will be on around this time, which is delightful for food lovers! Some really nice restaurants / vineyards in the Lavaux area I could recommend once you finalise your plans 🙂
- Ticino http://www.myswissalps.com/ti cino Absolutely spectacular scenery and very relaxing, in particular areas around Lake Lugano, Lake Maggiore and the Verzasca valley which seems like you are going back in time…
- Graubünden – http://www.myswissalps.com/gr aubunden although maybe not as convenient from Geneva but also spectacular (based in or around St Moritz, there are car-free valleys that are worth exploring).
- Leukerbad spa town in the Alps, absolutely beautiful and a great base for scenery
- Kandersteg – http://www.myswissalps.com/ka ndervalley
- Aletsch Glacier area – dubbed the most beautiful glacier in the world due to its shape, and also a nature reserve. http://www.myswissalps.com/hi king/riederalp-aletschwald-bettmeralp
Just for info though, if you are starting and finishing in Geneva, you could also spend your entire holiday in that area without getting bored and having plenty of foodie options. Switzerland has just so much to offer! It depends on what your priorities are though (sightseeing vs relaxing).
Hope this helps your planning, and let us know once you’ve got your head around where you want to go!
Maria.
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