[Anonymous]

30 July 2019 at 16:48:00 #823137

Hi! I’ve just started planning our trip at the end of March and MySwissAlps has been extremely helpful…but the sheer amount of info is getting a little overwhelming. I’m hoping to get help with some basic decisions so I can stop going in circles 🙂

The 6 of us, 2 over 65, 2 adults, 2 kids (10 and 7), will be flying into Milan 3/29 and flying out 4/7. The tentative plan is to spend 1-2 days in Milan and the rest of the time in Switzerland. We plan to get one of the rail passes (haven’t determined which one yet). Question #1 – with 6 people, would a car be more convenient and economical?

Some places we’d like to visit: Lucerne, Schwyz (place of family ancestry), Grindelwald, Jungfraujoch, Zurich and Gornergrat. Again, it’s just a tentative list and we have yet to narrow down the exact activities – but I would prefer not to change lodging every single day. So…Question #2: which one (or 2) places would you suggest we base our day trips from? We’re not into the night scenes and the super posh, but open to many different options. I’m thinking going from Milan to Lucerne and stay for a few days while we visit Zurich, Schwyz, Interlaken, Grindelwald, etc. Then spend a couple days in the Zermatt area before heading back to Milan.

Any idea or insight would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you!

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[Annika]

Reply 1 of 6 • 30 July 2019 at 18:07:34 #918966

Hi Jrwusch! Thank you for joining MySwissAlps.

Let’s see if I can be of some assistance here. First of all, I would recommend public transportation instead of hiring a car, as that involves high parking and fuel costs, requires good (mountain) driving skills and, most important, doesn’t allow your travel party to enjoy the excellent public transportation system. Please see http://www.myswissalps.com/ca rversustrain. Once you’ve decided which means of transportation you’ll be using, and which trips you plan to make, you can start looking into rail passes: http://www.myswissalps.com/tr ain/ticketspasses/prac tical/chooserailpass.

I too would opt for 1 or 2 base towns. For your plans, Lucerne (http://www.myswissalps.com/lu cerne) and Zermatt (http://www.myswissalps.com/ze rmatt) would be fine indeed. Another option would be:

• Lucerne, from where you can visit Zurich (http://www.myswissalps.com/zu rich), Schwyz and the immediate surroundings (http://www.myswissalps.com/la kelucerne);
• and then Interlaken (http://www.myswissalps.com/in terlaken) or a nearby town in the Jungfrau region (http://www.myswissalps.com/ju ngfrauregion) for the Jungfraujoch and other nearby activities. Zermatt and Gornergrat (http://www.myswissalps.com/go rnergrat) can be visited as a day trip from this area, if you don’t mind a somewhat longer day.

Connections and timings for each trip can be checked with the aid of the timetable: http://www.myswissalps.com/ti metable.

[User]

Reply 2 of 6 • 30 July 2019 at 18:09:53 #918967

Thank you! That definitely helps. Now off to do more planning 🙂

[User]

Reply 3 of 6 • 31 July 2019 at 0:05:10 #918968

I would say your idea of Luzern and Zermatt is better than Annika’s suggestion. Luzern as a single base for Schwyz is pretty ‘time-efficient’ – as train journey times are 45 min to Schwyz (local S-Bahn), 45 min to Zurich and 2.5 hours to Grindelwald (via the Brunig railway on the Luzern – Interlaken Express). You can do the Jungfrau area in a day from Luzern, but do have a look at reviews of Jungfraujoch itself – as it is over commercialised these days quite a few experts consider it poor value for money (expensive, and the train is inside the mountain most of the way).

I always recommend Zermatt – Gornergrat as a better experience as the Gornergrat railway is mostly in the open air.

I don’t agree that Zermatt is a good day trip from and Interlaken base, as you need to be in Zermatt throughout a 24 hour period to get the best chance of seeing the Matterhorn as cloud patterns change throughout the day

[User]

Reply 4 of 6 • 31 July 2019 at 8:06:02 #918969

Hi

Had a very similar holiday recently in June (just put report on the trip report forum) and agree with what 1960 man says. We did have our car as we had driven from UK but could have done all we did on public transport it is excellent and totally reliable. We based in a town not too far from Lucerne and were able to visit many of the places you want to go in that area. I also agree that Jungfraujoch is overpriced and commercialised. Went there last year and did not like it at all. However when in Grindelwald a trip on the train to Kleine Scheidegg is very scenic. The nearby Lauterbrunnen valley is beautiful. Zermatt as a second place to stay is delightful. From there you can see Matterhorn and have the choice of Gornergrat or Kleine Matterhorn to get closer. Have a lovely visit.

[User]

Reply 5 of 6 • 31 July 2019 at 12:10:39 #918970

@1690man and @Denandshazza – thank you! I’ll look into Zermatt and other places you suggested!

[User]

Reply 6 of 6 • 31 July 2019 at 16:22:49 #918971

Hi Jrwusch

I agree 100% with 1960man. We recently traveled to Switzerland with 2 teenagers and stayed in both Lucerne and Zermatt. Both are excellent if you are traveling with kids, especially Zermatt. It is a car-free village with lots to do. The kids will not be bored at all. And as mentioned views of the Matterhorn keep changing all through the day. My favourite views were from Zermatt itself.