10 day trip to Switzerland, suggestions needed

Hi,

We (couple with a 2 yo child) are travelling for the first time to Switzerland. We will be spending a week in London and leave on 25/06/2015 for Switzerland. We return back from Geneva to Melbourne on 05/07/2015.

We are open to suggestions as to how to travel from London to Switzerland. The idea of a train journey appeals to use but happy to fly as well.

Would love to see the scenic spots without packing in too much as we have young child and intend to return back again to see more.

Would love any suggestions as to how we should plan the trip.

Ash.

Hi Ash, and welcome to MySwissAlps.com! Great that you get to spend 10 days in Switzerland. A train journey from London to Switzerland is certainly a good option if you want to explore parts of France too. It's quite a long journey though, that requires a change of trains in Paris. Please find further information here.

As for your stay in Switzerland: I think you should focus on one or two regions at the most, since you don't want to be (un)packing too often. The Lake Lucerne region and the Bernese Oberland are highly recommended for first time visitors and both areas offer plenty to do for a 10 days stay. It's hard to provide detailed tips as I don't know your preferences, so I think you should start off with exploring our planning section. Once you have a basic outline, we're happy to answer more specific questions and help you fine-tune your itinerary.

Does this get your started?

Hi Annika,

Thanks a lot for the reply. There is plenty of useful information on your site.

Following is the first draft of our itinerary that I would like you to comment on:

Happy to change the plans and include some local moderate to easy walks if the weather is good and scenery is inviting.

26/06/15

Train from Paris to Interlaken and spend the night in Beatenberg

27/06/15

Jungfraujoch day trip and some local sights if time permits, spend the night in Beatenberg

28/06/15

Day trip to Schiltron or Breinzer Rothorn plus local sights, spend the night in Beatenberg

29/06/2015

Leave for Lucerne and spend the night there (what else can we do on this day?), spend the night in Lucerne

30/06/2015

Day trip to Mt Titlis plus the lake if time permits, spend the night in Lucerne

01/07/2015

Mt Pliatus or something else that can be done, spend the night in Lucerne

02/07/2015

Take the Golden pass to Montreux and travel to Geneva, spend the night in Geneva or Montreux

03/07/2015

Free day, I have to attend a morning meeting in Geneva, could do local sights, spend the night in Geneva

04/07/2015

Thinking of doing a day trip to Chamonix, spend the night in Geneva

05/07/2015

Fly out from Geneva at 4:00 pm

Many thanks again for your advise.

Do you think 8 day pass or a half fare pass will suit our needs.

Regards,

Ash

Hi Ash,

Your plans look good to me! One suggestion though: logistically it makes more sense to start in Lucerne, then travel via the Golden Pass line to Beatenberg (via Interlaken), then the remainder of the Golden Pass line to Montreux and Geneva.

The above links provide a lot of additional information about day trips and suggested hotels.

Hiking suggestions can be found here. The passes you selected are indeed the ones that make sense. The pages below provide all the details so you can choose between them:

• myswissalps.com/ swisstravelpass
• myswissalps.com/ swisshalffarecard

Thanks for your kind suggestions Annika.

If we were to start from Lucerne. Do you recommend a train journey from Paris to Lucerne or we are better off flying to Zurich from Paris and then going to Lucerne by train.

Also, is Gstaad a place worth visiting, heard some good things about it. Where do you think we can fit it in. Shall we replace either Mount Titlis or Pilatus or would you recommend doing both.

I hope that I won't be bothering you with more questions.

Many thanks,

Ash

Hi Ash,

Definitely take the train to Lucerne. It's an easy quick ride to Basel, there you change for Lucerne. Please see here for further details.

You'll pass Gstaad when you're traveling along the Golden Pass line to Montreux/Geneva. So you can take a break there for a few hours. Personally I would not skip a visit to a peak for Gstaad, nor would I change your itinerary for it. It's a nice town but the beauty is in the surrounding region, and you need a couple of days to explore it.

Ash-

I was trying to think about traveling there with a 2yr old.

When I traveled with my 8 year old granddaughter and my daughter in 2009, I was able to find some things that appealed to grandaughter.

Playgrounds, in particular. The one at Männlichen is nice, and there is a spectacular one at the Lido in/ near Lucerne on the lake close by the Transport Museum.

But, I don't know what to suggest for an 2 year old. Perhaps there is no point in doing so...?