[Anonymous]

26 August 2010 at 8:58:02 #803978

Hi,

I am planning to visit Switzerland and have worked out the following itinerary. I am also planning to avail of the tours offered by Viator. Please let me know your views on this and also suggest 3-star hotels at these locations. I will be availing the train services to travel between destinations.

Day 1 – Arrive in Zurich
Day 2 – Interlaken – Grindelwald in the Bernese Oberland (Viator.com)
Day 3 – Depart from Zurich by rail. Proceed to Lucerne. Tour of Mount Titlis (Viator.com)
Day 4 – Jungfraujoch (Viator.com). Go back to Zurich
Day 5 – Zurich city tour (Viator.com). Depart for St. Moritz
Day 6 – Glacier Express. Go from Zermatt to Lausanne
Day 7 – Chocolate Train from Montreux. Travel to Geneva
Day 8 – Geneva City Tour (Viator.com)

End of Switzerland trip

Thanks, Chetan

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[Annika]

Reply 1 of 2 • 27 August 2010 at 9:15:49 #831747

Hello Chetan! With the itinerary you listed, you’ll get to see some true highlights in Switzerland. So in this sense it’s a great travel scheme. I don’t know if you’re restricted to specific dates for the Viator trips, but in case you’re not, you may take into account some of these tips:

• after your arrival in Zurich, you seem to want to make the trips to Interlaken/Grindelwald, the Jungfraujoch and Lucerne with Zurich as your base. This is an option, but the trips to Interlaken and especially to the Jungfraujoch are quite long. Instead, you could choose to stay overnight in Lucerne and Interlaken, allowing you to save on travel costs. You could get to Lucerne first (as this is on the route to Interlaken), and then stay in Interlaken or another nearby town. From Interlaken, you can easily visit both Grindelwald and the Jungfraujoch. This could even be done within one day, which leaves room for some more exploration of the stunning Jungfrau region. For example, try one of the viewing points around Grindelwald or visit Wengen or Lauterbrunnen in the Lauterbrunnen valley;
• travel from Lucerne to Interlaken over the Brünig Pass route via Meiringen and Brienz, as this is a beautiful scenic train ride;
• although it’s possible to travel from St. Moritz to Lausanne via Zermatt within one day, this would be a very long train ride. The Glacier Express ride takes about 8 hours, and the trip from Zermatt to Lausanne would add another 3 hours. Instead, you could travel to Montreux, which is a bit closer to Zermatt. Moreover you’ll be leaving from Montreux the next day. This would still be a very full travel day, and if you’re not up for that, you could enjoy an overnight stay in Zermatt and spend the next day there, instead of taking the Chocolate Train.

I have no experience with Viator, but this topic on tour operator trips versus planning and making your own trips may be worth reading for you.

Hotels can be found and booked through the hotel page. A list of hotels close to the airports and central railway stations of Zurich and Geneva is available at the Zurich Airport hotel page and the Geneva Airport hotel page.

If you’ll be making the trips between several locations by yourself, please consider the use of a Swiss rail pass. This will definitely save you money. My advice would be to use an 8 day Swiss Pass, which easily saves CHF 150.00 on your travel plans. If you travel with two or more people, you can purchase the more economical Swiss Saver Pass and save even more. The pass offers ease of use, as it offers free travel in trains, buses and boats and allows to you get on and off board whenever you want. Another option is the Swiss Half Fare Card, which grants a 50% discount on all trips, but this requires the purchase of discounted tickets for each trip. Both passes can be ordered online by clicking your country of residence under the header ‘Order your… here’ at the pages I linked to (please make sure to click ‘Show more countries’).

I hope these tips will help you out a bit.

[User]

Reply 2 of 2 • 27 August 2010 at 9:35:15 #831748

Thanks Annika. Much appreciated.

Regards,
Chetan