5 day itinerary in Switzerland – Basel & Luzern
A traveler named Elmi27 is planning a 5-day trip to Switzerland starting on August 17th, with one night in Basel and three nights in Lucerne. They seek advice on their itinerary, which includes visits to Rhine Falls, Mount Titlis, and Jungfraujoch, and want to know if they can fit in additional attractions and how the Swiss Travel Pass will work for their journey.
- Consider dropping Rhine Falls to simplify your itinerary, especially since Day 2 is busy.
- The Swiss Travel Pass covers train journeys to Mt. Pilatus and offers a 25% discount for Jungfraujoch, but you need to purchase tickets for the final ascent.
- Utilize the Swiss railways timetable to efficiently plan your trips and activities.
- If possible, consider splitting your hotel stay between Lucerne and Interlaken to reduce travel time.
AI-generated summary-
Hi,
I have been following this forum for a while and its been helping me a lot to plan my trip. Thanks to all the active members for taking time out to answers all the queries. I have come up with an itinerary for our 5 days trip.
We will be reaching Basel on 17th Aug (1 night stay in Basel and 3 night stay in Lucerne)
Day 1: Arrive in Basel and explore local site seeing.
Day 2: Basel to Rhine falls and travel to Lucerne. After arriving in Lucerne catch a train to Pilatus.
Day 3: Lucerne to Mount Titlis. Spend the day there and back to Lucerne.
Day 4: Lucerne to Jungfraujoch and travel back to Interlaken to catch the Golden Pass train to Montreux and back to Lucerne.
Day 5: Local sight seeing in Lucerne (boat ride) and travel back to Basel to catch the flight.
Would request someone to please validate the same and also suggest if I can squeeze any other attraction. Also I will be taking the Swiz train pass for 4 consecutive days as I dint see any option for 5 days. Since my travel dates are no near I have dropped my plan to buy it online. Will pick it up form Basel station when I arrive. I am aware that you would get 50% discount on Mount Titlis tickets. Are there any tickets for Pilatus and Jungfraujoch? or they are covered in the train pass?
Most of the my journey I am planning to take a train unless is you would suggest any scenic boat ride which I can take on my way.
Thanking you in advance…
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Hi Elmi27 and welcome to MySwissAlps!
The Swiss Travel Pass for 4 days would probably make the most sense and then start it on Day 2.
I would note that Day 2 is quite busy. I’m not sure I would worry too much about the RheinFall personally, especially from Basel and then try to going up to Mt. Pilatus on the same day would be a lot.
Also, day 4 is not really possible. You are looking at 10 or 12 hours just on trains that day. I would pick wither Jungfraujoch or the Golden Pass route but not both.
Use the Swiss railways timetable here to plan out your trips and decide what you want to do and see. If you are pretty set on your itinerary I would split my hotels to 2 nights in Luzern and 2 in Interlaken to make your travel days easier.
Lucas
Hi Lucas,
Thanks for your quick response. I will go with your advice and drop Rhine falls and directly reach Lucerne on Day 2. Since my hotels are booked I would not be able to change.
On Day 4 can I cover up to Zweisim and return back to Lucern?
Are there any tickets for Pilatus and Jungfraujoch? or they are covered in the train pass?
Also can you suggest any scenic boat ride which I can take on my way.
Thanks again…
Hi Elmi27
You can take the train to Zweisimmen or all the way to Montreux if you like. You just have to decide if you want to spend the time doing it. Use my timetable link in my previous post to help you decide on the timings. Note, that the panoramic trains travel between Zweisimmen and Montreux only, though the trains between Interlaken and Luzern are similar.
The Swiss Travel Pass will fully cover Mt. Pilatus, for Jungfraujoch it covers Luzern to Wengen or Grindelwald. From either town you need to buy a ticket to the top (at 25% off with the Swiss Travel Pass).
You can find all the details on what the Swiss Travel Pass covers here.
Lucas
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