10 day Swiss trip report and important points

Dear Forum members

First of all, I thank you all for this wonderful platform. Even before reaching Switzerland I was so much informed about Switzerland that made me so comfortable and the information provided were 100% correct. Me and my husband were there in mid September- such a pleasant weather luckily.

Swiss people in general were very welcoming and friendly. They were helping and guided well, whenever we approached. The culture is very nice, respectful and loving.

Switzerland is a beautiful country and I loved every bit of it! It’s mesmerizing. In those 10 days I have been able to cover a lot and feel blessed to be there

Day 1: Zurich to Rhine falls: we reached Zurich in the morning, left our luggage in the lockers at Zurich airport station (as our stay was at Lucerne). We thoroughly enjoyed the view and took the boat ride to the stone in the middle of the falls…what an experience, a must do for all!!! We reached Lucerne by afternoon and after check-in, we quickly went out for local exploration

Day 2: Mount Titlis and local Lucerne : It was so beautiful to be there on the mountains. The day was bit cloudy but We deliberately went up to experience the snowfall (It was my first experience for snowfall- yeeeeiiii)and it was wonderful. We took the Ice Flyer ride, enjoyed the glacier caves and had so much fun. Later in the evening we spend our time on Chapel bridge, had Swiss dinner and enjoyed the beauty of the place

Day 3: Mount Pilatus and Bern: so as you understand that we wanted to cover a lot in these 10 days; so we headed for Pilatus in morning; we took the cable car up from Kreins, reached Pilatus on a sunny day, loved the views, spend some time up and came back by cogwheel train and the boat ride. By afternoon we were in Bern, had Lunch as we were starving and explored the museums there, old town, fountain street, cathedral, lovely bears, parliament house etc and we had some amazing gelato there. Bern is a beautiful place and a must visit for all. You get to feel the historic culture there because of the buildings there and it is a UNESCO world heritage sight. It was drizzling the day we visited there but worth it!

*An important thing to note is that on weekends everything closes down by 4 or 5 pm except the restaurants; so gotta plan carefully

Day 4: Bellinzona-Fluelen-Lucerne: We took train to Bellinzona and visited the castles there. The castles are so beautiful (we could cover only Castle Grande and Montebello) and took stroll on local streets. It is a beautiful place, another must visit. You get to see the mixed culture there of Swiss and French. We like to explore the city on foot and observe the surroundings. So any place we visit, we keep some time for walking around and we enjoy doing that, in fact every place we visited in Switzerland . Then we went to Fluelen by train and took the last boat back to Lucerne. Fluelen too is a pretty place. There is nothing much to do there but we enjoyed walking around. The boat ride approx. 3 hours was exceptional and thanks to RockOyster for guiding me to do that! We could enjoy all the little villages and stops during the boat ride and instead of getting down at Lucerne. We got down at the second last stop (I forgot the name) just across the Lake Lucerne and walk by the lake side to our accommodation. I can’t share how beautiful the walk was, and view of the sunset at the lake. I just loved it!

Day 5: Bidding goodbye to Lucerne and shifting to Interlaken: Our next stay was at Interlaken, we stayed there for rest of the 6 days. Soon after check-in, we headed for Trummelbach falls, Lauterbrunnen valley. It was so beautiful and peaceful. After that we went to Murren via cable car from Lauterbrunnen. Murren is a pretty village, the plus point for me was when we went up, we could enjoy the snow fall. we walked around and then came down via Stelberg. The cable car for Murren is steep and excellently executed one. I was surprised to see the way Swiss transport system is executed. Kudos for that!!! In the end we went to Wengen…Oh my God!!! It’s the door to heaven. It is something to never miss when you visit Switzerland. In fact in my next visit there, I will stay in Wengen. Just surrounded by mountains and it’s so scenic. Beyond words …

Day 6: Mount Jungfrau and Grindelwald: Finally we were at the top of Europe on a sunny day and enjoyed thoroughly. We enjoyed every ride at the snow park and met our skiing coach Kevin there, who was very kind and respectful. It was so much fun to be there. The views were beautiful as if u were snow covered. Loved it! Later, we were so tired but on our way down we took a halt at Grindelwald and explored it.

Day 7: Broc-Gruyeres–Montreux: We went to chocolate factory and delighted ourselves, it’s so much fun to be there and bought some amazingly yummy treats to bring back home. Then we went to Cheese factory, which was just ok, except the free cheese samples. And then we went to Montreux, we took the golden pass route and it was so beautiful. Montreux was amazing and fortunately, there was International Montreux Acrobatics going on …so we had such a festive feel; we also visited Chillon castle which is so beautiful. The day was long but so worthy and so different from rest of the days

Day 8: Trift Bridge Grimselwald: So we were set for our hiking experience in Switzerland. It was tricky (tough for me frankly) but worthy. The view is outstanding when you reach the bridge and the experience is so thrilling. Suaansh (my husband) just loved it and enjoyed the most on that day:). This is one of the unique experiences we had. The hike itself is so much fun, its bit tough for non-hikers but stimulating one. And once you reach the bridge, it’s icing on the top. You get to see how a glacier turns into water from a water-body…

*I want to add that the lady we met at the counter for the cable car up to the mountain for trift bridge, was the first bitter experience I had in Switzerland as she was bit rude and did not offer us the return tickets (timings) that we had asked for. Just wanted to add for the feedback.

Day 9: Lake Brienz– Aare Gorge-Interlaken-Unterseen: We took the boat ride from Interlaken to Brienz. The view was so beautiful and mesmerizing. Then we went to see the Aare Gorge, which was so beautiful and unique experience. Nature has no limits when it comes to treat you. After a more relaxing day, we were back in Interlaken and explored the local side of Interlaken and Unterseen. We enjoyed the vibrant nightlife at Interlaken.

*Interlaken OST is more peaceful, if u r someone who likes active streets, Interlaken west is something you must not skip

Day 10: Lake Thun–Spiez village-Shopping at Interlaken-Zurich: Our last day at leisure, we took the boat ride to Thun, we got down at Spiez and explored it on foot. It is another beautiful village; the castle, the view of the city from the garden, its amazing. After Spending a relaxing time there, we headed back to Interlaken, bought some Souvenirs and came back to head towards Zurich as we had our flight the next day.

Day 11: We relaxed before our flight to buckle up. Final goodbye to this heaven on earth, it is a treat to your eyes and soul. I am a mental health professional and I have never felt so peaceful and contended before. We had our afternoon flight to our next destination.

Important points:

*Swiss Travel Pass is such an amazing deal, we just went to all possible corners of Switzerland and explored within our capacity. It helped us to save a lot. It is an excellent deal

*Be mindful of the timings on weekends and the day offs for castles if any and plan accordingly. As because of the forum we were very careful of the weather forecast and planned accordingly and enjoyed every bit

*One mistake that we did was that we took Swiss Travel Pass for 10 days and Our flight was on the 11th day; so when we checked the fare from Interlaken to Zurich airport, it was 75 CHF per person one way :(((. Hence we decided to rather move to Airport hotels a night earlier, as fortunately we got a very good deal at NH Zurich Airport hotel, that costed us the half of what we could have spend otherwise. However, we wasted our one night stay at Interlaken that we booked earlier. So I suggest everyone to keep in mind these things while booking. I wish we could have realized it earlier but nevertheless, a nice learning.

*Another important tip is that If you need to exchange your currency COOP currency exchange offers very good rate and without any commission; wherein If you exchange at train station or post office or banks they have commission charge of 4 or 5 CHF and the rates are not as good;(

*Many of the things were possible because of this forum, it is so full of tips and knowledge about smooth travel in Switzerland that we could do so many things . I want to thank Arno, Rockoyster, Lucas and others for being so kind and advising us.

I definitely look forward to visit Switzerland again. Good luck to new explorers!