Swiss trip Apr 29 – May 6, help with itinerary
A traveler is planning a trip to Switzerland from April 29 to May 6, landing in Zurich. They want to know if their itinerary makes sense, especially regarding Zermatt and Grindelwald, given that some attractions may be closed until summer. They are also curious about the availability of boat trips on the lakes during their stay.
- Most attractions in your itinerary are open in late April, making it a good time for sightseeing.
- Check the Swiss Travel Pass for flexibility; it's recommended if you plan to travel frequently.
- Boat trips on Lake Thun run daily, so you can include that in your plans.
- Consider hiking at lower altitudes and in valleys to avoid snow-covered trails.
- If weather is unfavorable in Zermatt, be flexible and explore other areas with better conditions.
AI-generated summary-
Hello all.
Me and my GF going first time to Switzerland; we land in Zurich on Fri 29th, and I will add the plan we wrote for now.
Question is – does it make sense during those dates to do this plan?
Specifically for Zermatt, we know a lot of things are closed until Summer actually opens.
Same question for Grindelwald I suppose.
Also, how likely is it to take a boat trip in any lake on these days?
Thanks 🙂
Plan:
Fri Apr 29 Land in Zurich 8am
Zurich > Interlaken
Harder Kulm <> Interlaken
Night: Interlaken
Sat 30
Interlaken full day
Grindelwald – Interlaken <> First (Grindelwald)
Night: Interlaken
Sun May 1
Interlaken > Zermatt
Night: Zermatt
Mon 2
Zermatt full day
Zermatt <> Gornergrat
Zermatt <> TROCKENER STEG maybe
Night: Zermatt
Tue 3
Zermatt
Zermatt > Geneva mainly for CERN but anything else possible
Night: Geneva
Wed 4
Geneva > Zurich
Night: Zurich
Thur 5
Zurich
Zurich <> Lucerne
Night: Zurich
Fri 6 Zurich back home 10pm
Day Zurich
Fly evening
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Hi going ch,
Welcome to MySwissAlps.
This is a good start to planning your trip. I think late April- early is May is a great time to experience Springtime in Switzerland. Most of the destinations on your itinerary are open and accessible during this period. In Zermatt, the cogwheel train to Gornergrat runs daily as does the cable car and gondola to Klein Matterhorn via Trockener Steg. Grindelwald is also accessible year round.
Boat trips on Lake Thun runs daily too. You can check the information here: http://www.myswissalps.com/boatlakethun (scroll down to the bottom of the page to find the link to the timetable).
Below are more links for sightseeing ideas:
- Interlaken: http://www.myswissalps.com/interlaken/activities
- Geneva: http://www.myswissalps.com/geneva/activities
- Lucerne: http://www.myswissalps.com/lucerne/activities
Let us know if you need more info.
regards,
Anna
Thank you Anna!
Also I forgot to say – me and my GF are focusing on light hiking excursions and sightseeing (mainly), no skiing or really any sports.
As for the suggestions – noted! Here are some things we had in mind:
- Gondola to Klein Matterhorn – according to the summer timetable “Matterhorn Glacier Paradise” station is in maintenance Apr 25 – May 13, so that might not be fully accessible (contacted them). Anyway we have Gornergrat like you said.
- I have read some stuff about weather not always favoring Zermatt – so in the plan, for now, we removed 1 overnight stay (between May 2-3) from Zermatt which we might do in Geneva (May 4 with boat trip/Gruyères) or in Zurich (May4 with Pilatus/Rigi) instead.
- For Zermatt itself we might do as long as possible day the night after we sleep there (May 2), and get to Geneva late evening.
Does this make sense as an alternative? (Unless Zermatt has amazing weather, in which case we might stay overnight and screw the money of hotel in Geneva :)…)
Thank you again!
I’ve rarely had bad weather during any of my dozens of visits to Zermatt…
Late April is fine for lower altitude walking. Don’t forget you can walk in flat valleys and still see amazing mountain views. Even main arteries like the Rhone Valley between Aigle and Brig can be walked on pleasant paths. You don’t have to be up at high altitude to appreciate the mountains .
I very often visit Switzerland in April (Easter) and my wife and I walk many hours on level paths, sometime with a bit of snow left but often green with spring flowers.
image 1052 shows an Inter city train in the Kandertal between Spiez and Frutigen in April 2019. Still snow on the mountains but it was warm enough for me to sit on the grass and picnic (whilst walking the riverside path)
image 0162 shows the pleasant farm road along the valley between Visp and Brig ( with a Brig – Visp train on the left)
Hi going ch,
Light hiking excursions and sightseeing – definitely possible in late April – early May. In Zermatt and Grindelwald however the mountain trails may still be covered in snow but it’s still possible to travel to the mountain tops and enjoy the views. Hiking during this period are best done at lower altitudes, in the valleys and along the lakes or rivers. In Zermatt, there are lots of hiking possibilities in the villages of Täsch and Randa if the trails on Gornergrat or Klein Matterhorn are inaccessible. Similarly in Grindelwald, you can hike from village to village or explore the Lauterbrunnen Valley.
I think it’s great that you can be flexible with your trip. If the weather becomes unfavourable in Zermatt, I suggest you get on the train and do day trip somewhere where the weather is favourable. You can use the weather app for this, and more handy is if you have a flexible railpass that allows you to travel freely (I recommend getting a Swiss Travel Pass).
Regards,
Anna
Thank you both Anna and 1960man! Thanks for the pictures for reference.
Forgot to say we did the calculation with the (amazing) spreadsheet from this website and for our trips Swiss Travel Pass came out at CHF 1000 while the Half Fare Card came out at 700ish, so the diff is big and the only diff is the flexibility of not buying a ticket, and for CHF 300 it doesn’t make sense.
Seems like that even if we do factor in an unplanned CHF 100 travel it won’t be worth it (because STP will be 1000 and the HFC will be 800 or so).
Noted about valleys and low altitudes! We were thinking of more higher (not super high) altitudes since it’s not something we have in our home country. Example, Gornergrat or First Grindelwald like you said.
Maybe if Matterhorn Glacier Paradise will be open we will do that.
Also thinking of Schilthorn which is “higher” I suppose.
As you said, we are flexible 🙂
I heard some path can get muddy due to snow thawing, how muddy is it? Non-walkable muddy?
Hi again,
Just to reiterate, you can definitely travel to Gornergrat and Grindelwald First during this period and enjoy the views from the top. But there might not be any possibilities for hiking as the trails may not be ready yet. Both destinations have observation decks or platforms to view the surrounding landscapes and there are restaurants at the top too.
Most open trails are groomed and safe for walking. Be sure to wear proper hiking gears. http://www.myswissalps.com/hiking/preparation
Anna
Thanks, just to explain myself better – we don’t plan on the long hour hikes, maybe stuff like (example) traveling up to Harder Kulm and then going down.
Same in Gornergrat and the like – maybe from Riffelberg down.
“Mini hikes” haha.
Nothing like 5 hour hikes.
So when you say “the trails may not be ready yet”, you mean the same as in the link you sent – trails covered in snow? Or “not ready” is something else?
As always, many thanks for the great constant answers 🙂
Hi going ch,
Not ready means it’s not safe. You can hike a trail even if it is covered in snow but before it is made accessible, the trail is ‘groomed’ , meaning steps have been taken to make it safe for hikers or day trippers.
Safe trip,
Anna
Make sense, noted.
Thank you so much for all the help!
You say you were thinking of high (not super high) altitudes, however Gornergrat is ‘super high’.
My comment about valley walking still stands. Don’t forget that the whole of Switzerland (even the ‘low’ parts are comparatively high altitude. The lowest altitude point in Switzerland is 193 metres in the Ticino (which is (for example) higher then the highest point in Denmark!).
Everywhere in the Alps and north thereof is at least 400m above sea level, eg Bern (390m) and Zurich (472m asl)
As such, some alpine valleys are high altitude. One Easter trip (earlier in April than this Easter is) my wife and I walked from Oberwald (VS) all the way down the Goms valley in the direction of Brig. Oberwald is 1377m asl (which is higher then the Jura mountain pass overlooking Geneva where I learned to ski!) , Brig despite being in the ‘bottom’ of the Rhone valley is 950m asl (3000 feet)
Thank you 1960man, noted!
I suppose I was not thinking of Gornergrat as high because there is Matterhorn next to it, but that just goes to show you how much I know:)..
Gornergrat railway station is at 3090m (just over 10000 ft) . For comparison the highest mountain in the whole of the United Kingdom is 1345m…).
It is also worth remembering that the Matterhorn (4478m) is not the highest mountain. The highest mountain on Swiss territory is the Dufourspitz, which is in fact directly across the valley from the viewing terrace next to the Gornergrat railway station
That’s putting it into perspective 🙂
How possible is it (if we leave Zermatt early morning) to:
- Travel to Klein Matterhorn (Matterhorn Glacier Paradise), spend time there.
- Travel from there to , spend time there.
- Travel back to Zermatt and leave with a train to Geneva not too late at night?
Hi going ch,
It’s certainly possible to visit both Klein Matterhorn (Matterhorn Glacier Paradise) and Gornergrat in 1 day if you plan your trip carefully with the SBB timetable. A good tip would be to start out real early and get your tickets in advance if you want to avoid the lines at the ticket counter. Option to purchase ticket online are at https://www.myswissalps.com/kleinmatterhorn/tickets and https://www.myswissalps.com/gornergrat/tickets.
enjoy your trip!
Regards,
Anna
Approx timings (all excluding time at the top of the each mountain
Zermatt town centre – Klein Matterhorn base station (approx 30 minutes walking)
KM base station – Klein Matterhorn (approx 45 mins)
Total travel time for KM – Zermatt town and back, 2.5 hours
Zermatt – Gornergrat travel time: apprx 70 minutes return.
Zermatt – Geneva: 1 hour to Visp, 2h20 Visp – Geneva
Again, thank you both so much!
Great that we can do both in 1 day 🙂
http://www.matterhornparadise.ch/en/Book/Online-tickets
I see that all tickets here are only until Apr 30. Is there a reason? Can I buy them anyway from the stations?
Hi going ch,
I’m not sure why the tickets are available only until Apr 30. If you are still having issues, you can also purchase the ticket for Matterhorn Glacier Paradise from the Switzerland Travel Centre (see https://www.myswissalps.com/kleinmatterhorn/tickets).
Regards,
Anna
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