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Hello everyone, my family of 5 adults will be visiting in mid June for two weeks. Our original plan was to spend 5 days in Wengen, visit Zermatt for a few days, head east to the Engadine region for a few days before heading back to Zurich for the plane ride home.
We’ve since decided to forego Zermatt in favor of a 4 day side trip to Northern Italy. The lure of being able to visit another country was a bit too strong. We are planning on staying in Milan and Lake Como.
Now we are questioning the Engadine visit in favor of more time in the Lucerne Interlaken area. We are planning on staying in the Jungfrau region the entire 5 days we are staying in Wengen because we really want to focus on Wengen, Murren, Gimmelwald, Grindlewald, etc. and knowing that certain days the weather will not be perfect, we aren’t planning on any trips out of the area.
I guess the question is, are we cheating ourselves by bypassing the Engadine region in favor of more time in the Bernese Oberland region? It seems there’s so much to do there – Lucerne, Stoos, St. Beatus Caves, Brienz, Kanderstag, Aare Gorge and on and on. The Engadine region is gorgeous in it’s own right but maybe I do not know enough about the particulars there.
My apologies for rambling but I am curious to hear what others might think about this tough decision. I appreciate your thoughts.
Thanks
Richard
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Hi Richard
Like you I prefer not to have too many base towns which require a lot of hotel changes and luggage transfers . On most of my Switzerland trips I have limited my stays to 2 Swiss areas, spending 5 days or so in each. My last trip we spent 5 days in Wengen and 5 days in Sils en Engadine (Sils Maria) in the Upper Engadine. We found the Sils Maria area to be very scenic and enjoyable especially in regard to the scenery, day hiking, and accommodations (the historic Waldhaus Hotel).
It would be helpful to know your ages and interests. If you are interested in hiking then Jungfrau and Engadine areas can’t be beat and 4-6 days in each would be ideal. But if you have small children and enjoy museums and larger cities then Lucerne may be a better option. Last if you are going to be in Italy you might look at the Ticino area(very close to Italy). We stayed in Bolzano and Locarno on another trip and very much enjoyed Locarno. It’s not as scenic as the Engadine with regard to mountains but still very scenic and a very different feeling and ambience than the rest of Switzerland.
Mark
Hi Richard,
Very welcome to MySwissAlps.
Thanks for your sharing your plans. Yes, you’re right both regions are wonderful and each have different offerings. I guess, it all depends on the activities you’d like to be doing when here. Our handy guides to both can be found below, within you’ll also be able to read about suggested activities and lots of other useful information.
Mark’s reply above (thank you Mark) is very helpful. I’ve highlighted some of the key destinations he mentions. If you click, you’ll be able to read all about the respective locations. Perhaps this will help with plans.
As you are planning to head to Italy, here’s also our guide to travel to/from Italy from Switzerland:
I think, whatever you choose, you won’t go wrong and I think you and your group will have an amazing time!
Kind regards,
Yolanda
Thank you both!
Our ages are 57, 56, 33, 30 and 25. We all love hiking and enjoying gorgeous mountain views. We tend to gravitate to moderate and easy hikes, 3-4 hours in length.
The real decision that we need to make is whether we stay 4 days in Upper Engadine after Italy or if we come back to the lucerne/Interlaken area. I’m sure either way it will be beautiful.
Richard
Hi Richard,
You’ll find ample hiking opportunities in both regions to suit you and your group.
Do take a look at our hiking guide when you have a moment. Here you can also be able filter by region and read about suggested hikes. Additional hike information on some trails can also be found via our blog posts.
Good luck with deciding. You still have time.
Kind regards,
Yolanda
Hi Richard,
Tough decision indeed. We have been to both regions (BO & Engadine) but we dedicated a whole trip to just Engadine in 2018 and 3 separate trips to the BO region over the years because there was so much to cover in that area.
Perhaps a suggestion for you to chart your rail/bus journeys to see the differences in travel time and convenience and cost, should you choose Engadine or the BO region. Most important is the ease of travel (eg time needed and transfers) and convenience when going from Milan/Lake Como.
The most memorable for us in Engadine was the Horse carriage ride into the end of the Fex valley. Like Mark, we also stayed in SilsMaria which was lovely. Of course mt views are gorgeous all over Switzerland as are the walks. So if you are looking for variety, perhaps spending more time visiting the BO region makes more sense, assuming you need less travel time compared to going to the Engadine region. There is so much to see and you don’t need to rush around if you base yourself in just 2 places. It’s a breeze not having to travel with suitcases when doing day trips.
So many places in Switzerland are picture postcard beautiful, it’s a tough choice. It’s best if you compare the costs, travel time, ease of transportation between spending more time in BO or going to the Engadine area. Just a personal opinion.
It must be reassuring to know that you really can’t make a bad decision here. Both areas are absolutely great. I’ve spent weeks in both, multiple times.
Lake Lucerne is a bit more similar to the Bernese Oberland, culturally and scenery-wise. The Engadine is different, and Ticino that Mark mentioned is even more different but is more similar to Italy.
I guess it comes down to logistics and how much variation you’re looking for. And then come back another time for the area you missed 😉
Do consider the Gotthard Panorama Express if you decide for Lake Lucerne after Italy: https://www.myswissalps.com/activity/gotthard-panorama-express/
Hi Richard,
I gave it a little more thought about your question between visiting the Engadine or going back to BO after Italy.
In my earlier reply, I forgot to mention that the Engadine region esp the lovely village of Sils Maria has much less mass tourism compared to the very popular crowded BO sites, esp if you are going in mid June. Most of the visitors to the Engadine were locals and not those huge tour groups.
Other than those provided by MySwissAlps, I will just include those I used during one of our trips there.
I hope the above will give you some insight about the Engadine region of Sils Maria. Since my information is based on our visit in 2018, do look up the appropriate sites for updated information. I don’t think there are many trip reports for the Engadine, so I share with you what we experienced during our time there.
SIGHTS IN ENGADINE (covered by hotel card) GRAUBÜNDEN PASS
https://www.engadin.stmoritz.ch/sommer/en/berge/overview/
The Engadine card for local transport, mountain railways and cable cars and was really great savings. For the cable cars and lifts in the entire region and for the public buses ranging as far as Soglio and Chiavenna and the Rhaetian Railway line to the Bernina Pass and to Alp Grüm.
LIVE CAMS
https://www.corvatsch.ch/en/current-news/livecams/
https://www.sils.ch/en/your-stay/summer/hiking.html
https://www.sils.ch/en/news/informations/weather-webcam.html?view=webcam
VAL FEX HORSE DRAWN CARRIAGE: highly highly recommended🤩We took the private horse carriage ride from Sils Maria (return CHF 160 at that time) They picked us from Hotel Maria, nice typical small swiss B&B hotel with half board.. We used the Coretti company for the ride. Very nice driver.
Started from Sils and Stopped for 15mins at the chapel in the middle Fex Crasta. Then proceeded further up to Fex Curtins, the end where Hotel Fex is.
The most scenic part is between the middle Fex Crasta to the end Fex Curtins. The ride allows a 1.5hr stop at Fex Hotel so we could enjoy the cafe there.
The path now climbs slightly: in the distance, you will see the small chapel of Fex Crasta, which is adorned with frescoes dating back to 1511. Smugglers from the Muretto Pass once prayed here for protection against falling rocks and avalanches.
Continue for a further 3 km and you see Fex Curtins. This is the last hamlet in the valley and has been inhabited for more than 700 years. The charming Fex Hotel, which was built in 1900 and is located towards the end of the Fex Valley, welcomes hikers, climbers and gourmets.
https://www.sils.ch/en/your-stay/discover-sils/fex-valley.html
https://www.sils.ch/en/your-stay/explore-sils/activities-providers.html?
Because you will be based in Wengen for 5N, with the Jungfrau, Monch and Eiger in view during the stay, Engadine will give you a contrast where the natural scenery is concerned. The hotels there should be able to give you a guest card that allows you free travel on all the buses. If I am not mistaken, the main train station in that region is St. Moritz and to get to the other areas it will be by bus (convenient). I am not sure where you will be departing from after your trip to Northern Italy.
The Swiss app will give you a good idea of the journeys to St Moritz or any town in the BO. If you do decide on the Engadine, I recommend Sils Maria over St. Moritz (cost and sights).
I recall the 2 hotels in Sils Maria we stayed at – Hotel Privata and Hotel Maria (4N in each hotel although there were within walking distance – we wanted some variety). Hotel Privata provided a free transfer from St Moritz whilst Hotel Maria has a paid service to and from St. Moritz. These are smaller B&B which we usually prefer. There are some who have highly recommended the bigger hotel Waldhaus (I think) so you can also check that out.
If you do choose any of the hotels in Sils, I encourage you to include the Half Board (with set dinner) which makes me very convenient esp after a full day of activity. Here are my reviews of both
hotels:
Based in Sils, we enjoyed: CORVATSCH – 3,303metres and chilling out at the mt restaurant. https://www.myswissalps.com/activity/corvatsch/
Also DIAVOLZZA with great views again. At St. Moritz you can try going up to PIZ NAIR and enjoy the outdoors cafe if its still there..the views in the Engadine area are also lovely and in a sense a little different from the BO.
LAKE SILS WALK
https://www.sils.ch/en/your-stay/discover-sils/lake-sils.htmlWalk From Sils: To get to the start of the path of Sils Lake, walk by the side lane towards bakery Grond and Hotel Alpenrose restaurant. Follow the sign leading to Majola & Isola. Beautiful vistas of the mts on the right and the lake in front.
The walk from our Hotel Maria to Isola was 1.5hrs (with stops for photo taking). There is a WC 10mins along the path from Sils boatshed. After that it’s little uphill in some areas with lovely views of the lakeside. We stopped at Restorante Pensione Legrav in Isola for 45mins. The blueberry pie & Apple Crumble was delicious.
We then carried on to Majola boat stand. We took the lovely boat ride back to Sils . (Enter the boat early to sit outside at the back)
Alternatively you can take Bus #4 or #2 back to Sils Maria Posta. The bus stop Maloja CAPOLAGO is 15min walk to the main road from the boat stand. . There is nothing much in the town of Maloja itself during our visit.
WALK FROM SURLEJ MITTEL STATION TO FUORCLA SURLEJ – 1.5 hrs around 2km.
The view of the glacier at the Cafe is awesome as its so close up. The walk across to Fuorcla Surlej changes in altitude by a mere 53m but involves long ups and downs.There are tons of information and many trip reports for the Bernese Oberland, so I will just leave the link of our trip in the BO in June 2023 for you to read, if you wish:
https://www.myswissalps.com/community/thread/trip-report-4-23-june-2023-bernese-oberland-pt1/
Hope the above helps😁Do share with us if you have made up your mind or have any further queries.
Hi Richard,
I think 5 days is just about right to explore the Bernese Oberland and Central Switzerland (that’s 2 regions). You can visit the Engadine in the next trip 🙂
Regards,
Anna
Hi Anna,
I wonder whether Richard has seen the replies as there has been no response from him. Your suggestion means 5N in the Wengen area, 5N in the BO Central Switzerland area and 4N in the region of Italy? That makes up two weeks. I guess it depends whether he intends to return to Switzlerand after this trip (I guess most will want to if they have the finances and time and health).
It’s wonderful for visitors to even have the dilemna of which sights to visit when so many are gorgeous. It’s like a buffet spread of quality dishes and you only have so much space in your tummy to enjoy them all.😁
Thank you everyone for all of your excellent advise. When it comes down to it, I think there’s just too much to do in the Central Switzerland to go anywhere else besides our 4-5 days in Italy. I sincerely hope this isn’t our only trip to Switzerland so we’ll be penciling in the Engadine Region for trip no. 2!! 🙂 🙂
Richard
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