[Anonymous]

21 July 2019 at 19:05:36 #822973

Hello

I’m a newbie here and will be traveling with my husband to Switzerland for the first time in August for 11 days. I’ve been reading many posts here, and decided it’s worth signing up. Looks like a great forum with many helpful people!

Question is how to make the best use of the Swiss Travel Pass, preferably without paying anything extra?

Currently, it looks like there’s a promotion of 2 free days with an 8 day pass. So that gives us 10 days out of 11.

STRATEGY?

We want to make good use of the pass without wasting time by overdoing it. Like just sitting on the train the whole time, for example, or going to a bunch of minor museums just because they’re free with the pass. (We’re trying to avoid the mistake we made with our 6 day Vienna pass on a one week vacation. Ended up wasting a lot of time seeing minor sights. Should have experienced more operas and music concerts which Vienna is famous for.)

Please advise on what’s the best strategy for sightseeing? Mountain/outdoor activities in the day time and city walks in the late afternoon or night? Or reverse since the sun sets later in August? How late do cable cars/trains run? And museums and shops close early too I read.

Or use evening time to transit to a different city so not to waste day light hours? Only use it for actual hiking, sightseeing in the ground.

Where to base ourselves? We’ll have just one carry-on each and we can be agile. Prefer to move to new location without backtracking to the same city. Unless it’ll waste more time otherwise.

Are any of the Panoramic trains worth shelling out extra booking fees for? I find it ridiculous you have to pay like $30 to $40 just for reservation fee.

LIKES

We enjoy hikes with panoramic views but not too long. 2-3 hours max each hike. Most bang for the buck, with quintessential Swiss landscapes. No hiking through forests and only see trees, for example. Also enjoy art and historical sights that are unique to Switzerland. Also, it sounds like the open air museum is recommended, so we’ll try to fit it in. We can spend days in museums, but need to restrain ourselves in Switzerland. We’re also a sucker for anything UNESCO.

ITINERARY

Fly in to ZRH on August 7, 7 am.

Fly out of GVA on August 18, 11 am.

Rough itinerary:

Day 1. Sightsee Zurich. Sleep in Zurich.

Day 2. Activate pass. Train to Lucerne. Do boat/ Mt Rigi. Then walk around city. Which museums worth seeing with pass? Overnight in Lucerne or transit to next location in the evening ?

Day 3. Interlaken area or Bern from here? Which route is more convenient for subsequent location?

One one day in Bern to see the city. It sounds very charming and it’s UNESCO.

* 2 or 3 nights in Interlaken area. We’ll just do Schilthorn, free with the pass and skip Jungfrau.

Want to spend most time hiking in this region. Spectacular scenery on a short hike is preferred. 2 to 3 hours each.

* Zermatt. What is the closest we can get to see the Matterhorn using the last without paying anything extra? Also want to do some nice short hikes, best somewhere to see the Matterhorn. (Should we skip Zermatt if weather is not good? What is a good website to check very specific location, like whether the Matterhorn will be visible?)

* Montreux, Lausanne. Not sure what to do here. Just know Lausanne was where the English romantic poets used to hang out.

* Geneva. Stay at least in last night before going to airport the next morning. Also want to tour CERN.

Please recommend best route for most scenic and logical trip. Something quintessentially Swiss.

We’re open to your wise suggestions. Thank you I’m advance!

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[User]

Reply 1 of 3 • 22 July 2019 at 3:31:46 #918331

Hello Virgingorda and Welcome to MySwissAlps,

Nice to hear you’re coming to Switzerland!

Your overall itinerary Zurich – Lucerne – Interlaken/Bern – Zermatt – Montreux – Lausanne works out quite well.

To find out traveling times and connections use the timetable provided below, a fabulous tool for planning, so make sure you understand how it works:
– http://www.myswissalps.com/ti metable

All the regular trains connecting cities and villages are covered by the Swiss Travel Pass, for detailed validity on mountains, please use below link, incl. a fabulous map:
– http://www.myswissalps.com/sw isstravelpass/validity

I agree that it doesn’t make much sense “just” visiting something because it’s included. To see museums included in the Swiss Travel Pass see:
– http://www.myswissalps.com/sw isstravelpass/details

Day 1 + 2
– http://www.myswissalps.com/zu rich
– http://www.myswissalps.com/lu cerne
– http://www.myswissalps.com/ri gi

On day 2 – 3 you can do either, stay in Lucerne for a night or move on to Bern or Interlaken, you can make this dependant on the accommodation you find.
– http://www.myswissalps.com/in terlaken

If you are staying in Bern you can take a direct train from Lucerne or travel via Interlaken, taking you on the Lucerne – Interlaken Express and parts of the Golden Pass Route.
– http://www.myswissalps.com/go ldenpass
– http://www.myswissalps.com/be rn

For hiking recommendations please use below link, you can select the region:
– http://www.myswissalps.com/hi king

Also see:
– http://www.myswissalps.com/sc hilthorn
– http://www.myswissalps.com/ze rmatt
– http://www.myswissalps.com/mo ntreux
– http://www.myswissalps.com/la usanne
– http://www.myswissalps.com/ge neva
All city links have a “What to do” tab providing input and inspiration on activities.

Hope you find this supportive, get back to us anytime for further input.

Best,
Steph

[User]

Reply 2 of 3 • 23 July 2019 at 16:56:53 #918332

Hello,

Thank you for your response.

Could someone help me with the routing of some of the places to make sure I can ride the Golden Pass train while not wasting time back tracking or taking longer non-scenic routes?

* So the Golden Pass train runs from Lucerne to Interlaken to Montreux. How do I fit Zermatt, Bern and Geneva into this?

*. How about? Lucerne to Interlaken to Montreux to Zermatt to Bern to Geneva?

Any other more optimal routing? We prefer something faster but if slower, the scenery has to be good .

—

The Glacier Express train. Once you make a reservation, is it good for only one continuous day? If you hop off and stay in some town in between, you’d need to pay for another reservation? Even for a couple of hours of hop off?

Thank you for your help!

[Annika]

Reply 3 of 3 • 24 July 2019 at 10:36:12 #918333

Hi Virgingorda!

That’s correct, the Golden Pass follows the route you mentioned. If you stick to your original plan (Zurich – Lucerne – Interlaken/Bern – Zermatt – Montreux – Lausanne – Geneva), you will only cover the Lucerne-Interlaken part of it. If doing the entire Golden Pass route is important to you, you’ll have to change plans a bit. In that case I’d say you should travel like this: Zurich – Lucerne – Interlaken/Bern – Montreux/Lausanne – Zermatt – Geneva. This does require some backtracking though, especially when traveling from Zermatt to Geneva as you’ll have to do this via Montreux and Lausanne. You’d best play around with the timetable and maps (http://www.myswissalps.com/ma pswitzerland, plus the maps listed at the “Route” tab of each attraction such as http://www.myswissalps.com/go ldenpass/gettingthere).

It won’t be easy to fit in the Glacier Express in this schedule: http://www.myswissalps.com/gl acierexpress/gettingth ere. You could do part of it as a day trip from one of your base towns. Some options are mentioned under “Don’t have time to do the full route?” at http://www.myswissalps.com/gl acierexpress. If you make seat reservations (http://www.myswissalps.com/gl acierexpress/tickets), these are valid for one specific train only, so you can’t just get on and off board. If that’s what you’d like to do, you’d have to make reservations for each separate leg or just use regular trains that don’t require reservations.

You mentioned a Swiss Travel Pass promotion, granting 2 extra days of free traveling on an 8 day Swiss Travel Pass. Could you let me know where you’ve found this? We’re not aware of such an offer by any of the retailers listed at http://www.myswissalps.com/sw isstravelpass/price.