Holidays in Switzerland 5 days late December
Debbie, a traveler from Venice, is planning a family trip to Switzerland from December 24 to 30. She wants to know if it's feasible to visit multiple cities like Lucerne, Interlaken, Geneva, Zermatt, and Montreux in just 5 days, or if it's better to stay in Interlaken. She also needs advice on purchasing a rail pass for their travels.
- Focus on a couple of towns like Lucerne and Interlaken to maximize your experience.
- Consider getting an 8-day Swiss Travel Pass for extensive travel across multiple regions.
- For a smoother flow, start your journey in Zermatt and travel north toward Zurich for your flight.
- The Swiss Travel Pass covers scenic journeys like the Golden Pass, but skip the Glacier Express due to time constraints.
- Book accommodation early, especially during busy holiday periods, to ensure you have a place to stay.
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Hi Forum
We are a family of 5 (2adults,3 kids age 17,15,10) travelling from Venice by a train. We arrive on 24/12 to 30/12. We plan to stay in zurich for 2 days to explore zurich and catch up with friends. On 26/12,we plan to visit lucern, interlaken and go up to highest mountains (jungfraujoch) and travel to Geneva, zermatt, montrex and st moritz and back to zurich on 30/12 to catch a night flight to dubai.
Can you advise it is possible to achieve that in 5 days or it is better for us just to stay in interlaken for 5 days and just explore the west coast of Switzerland. What kind of rail pass do we buy. This pass is only Switzerland only. Is that right? Any recommendations are welcome as this is our first time in Switzerland and we 3 kids so have to travel safe n enjoyable. Thank you Debbie
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Hi Debbie18, thanks for posting here!
Your plans are quite ambitious for 5 days. If you check the timetable, you’ll see that traveling times to Geneva, Zermatt and St. Moritz are very long from Interlaken or Zurich.
You may want to focus on one or two towns and their immediate surrounding instead. Both Lucerne and Interlaken have a lot to offer nearby. You’ll also be able to make a few longer side trips to a couple of the destinations you mentioned. A day trip to Montreux over the Golden Pass line from Lucerne or Interlaken is still long, but if you’re interested in a scenic trip it’s doable. The same goes for Zermatt: it does take a couple of hours to get there from Interlaken, but it certainly can be done.
Which pass is best, strongly depends on your exact itinerary. So you’d better first make a tentative plan and then look into rail passes. Our tips at myswissalps.com/train/ ticketspasses/practica l/chooserailpass may get you started. If not, please feel welcome to post your finalized itinerary so that we can help you pick the right pass.
thank you Annika for your proimpt reply. I am getting nervous as I still have not book any accommodation in ZUrich and interlaken. Pls help
Our plan as following
24/12 – arrived Zurich by train from Venice, Stay one night in Zurich
25/12 – Take train to Lucern , visit the town and Tittis and follow by train to Interlaken
26/12 – Stay in hotel interlaken, explore the town, go to Jungfraujoch by train
27/12 – explore interlaken, not sure what else we can do
28/12 – Day trip to Lausanne, Montreaux then to Zemmant
29/12 = Stay one night in Zemmant
30/12 – LEave Zemmant and take a train back to Zurich to catch a flight back to Dubai
my questions are
on 28/12 – should i go back to Interlaken or Zurich to catch a flight home as Zemmant will be too tiring to achieve
on 29/12 – ??
on 30/12 – Catch a night flight back to Dubai
I am open to suggestions of what I can do with 6 days in Switzerland if I just focus on the interlaken and lausanne montreaux.
What Kind of swiss pass should I buy?
If my last stop is Montreaux, how should I go back to Zurich to take flgiht back to Dubai wihout go back tracking the same route
Hope you can help pls, Thank you very much
sorry does Singapore and Australia passport need a visas to visit Switzerland, thank you
Hi Debbie,
You would save travel time by starting in Zermatt and work your way north to Zurich to catch your flight. An 8-day Swiss Travel Pass makes sense as you travel quite a lot. The timetable provides traveling times. Please note the spelling of locations when looking for train schedules: it’s Zermatt, Titlis (or Kleintitlis, which is the name of the cable car station), Montreux. Things to do can be found on the town pages Annika linked to.
For help with accommodation, please post in the accommodation forum. Did you already book a hotel in Zermatt? If not, don’t wait too long. It can be a challenge to find a hotel as you’re traveling in the busiest week of the year.
For visa, please see http://www.sem.admin.ch/sem/e n/home/publiservice/we isungen-kreisschreiben/visa/li ste1_staatsangehoerigk eit.html.
Thank you very much again.
Does Swiss Travel Pass cover the golden pass or the glacier express?
Sorry so many questions. Appreciate your help
Hi Debbie,
Yes, that’s all covered. Please see the pass page I linked to, and click “Where it’s valid”. And click “Price” for the best pass retailers. Note that you won’t have time for the Glacier Express. It’s a full day ride from Zermatt to St. Moritz.
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