11-day itinerary in Switzerland

Hi Annika and Arno,

I and my wife will make a 22-day honeymoon trip to Swiss & Italy. The first half of it is a 11-day visit to Swiss and I plan our itinerary as follows:

Day 1 (14 Jun): arrival at Zurich; a half-day city visit in Zurich.

Day 2: visit Vaduz in the morning, and visit Maienfeld in the afternoon.

Day 3: travel to Lucerne in the morning, then a half-day visit in Lucerne in the afternoon.

Day 4: visit to Mount Rigi in the morning till afternoon (boat-trip to Vitznau then train to Rigi Kulm); then travel to Interlaken/Grindelwald in late afternoon. We will take Grindelwald as our base.

Day 5: visit to First area, and trail walk to Bachalpsee in the morning; visit Gletscher Schlucht in the afternoon.

Day 6: visit Jungfraujoch in the morning; trail walk Mannlichen <=> Klein Scheidegg in the afternoon.

Day 7: go to Lauterbrunnen area; trail walk Grutschalp => Murren in the morning; visit to Schilthorn in mid-noon; then take cable-car to Stechelberg and walk from Stechelberg to visit Trummelbach Falle, and then go back to Lauterbrunnen.

Day 8: move from Grindelwald to Interlaken Ost in the morning (we will accommodate in Interlaken at night); then visit Blausee in mid-noon (Blausee opening till 16:00 on 21 Jun), then visit Oeschinensee. Then back to Interlaken Ost.

Day 9: take Brienzee boat trip to Brienz, then take the steam-train to Brienzer Rothorn; then take the steam-train back to Brienz and then train back to Interlaken Ost. We will then move to Zermatt in late afternoon.

Day 10: visit Matterhorn Glacier Paradise in the morning; then back to Zermatt in mid-noon; then take a trail walk Blauherd => Sunnega.

Day 11: Go to Gornergrat in the morning, then take a trail-walk Rotenboden => Riffelberg, then take train back to Zermatt. We will then head off to Milan in mid-noon.

And I have a few questions:

(i) on Day 8 I understand that it will be quite rush as we plan to take train to depart from Interlaken Ost at around 11:30, then go to Blausee via Spiez/Frutigen, and then go to Oeschinensee (I expect we will arrive at around 16:00). Should we give up one of these two…? If we have to, which one should we give up…?

(ii) on Day 9 we will take the 1-hour steam-train up to Brienzer Rothorn (10:45 – 11:43), stay for about 40 mins and then take another 1-hour steam-train downhill (12:20 – 13:30). We will then take a train back to Interlaken Ost and will arrive at around 14:00, for having lunch and then taking a walk in Interlaken and we will then take a 16:00 train leaving Interlaken for Zermatt. Will it be boring for taking the 2-hour steam-train railway journey…? Or should we just take a half-way up (just to experience the steam-train) and then go downhill so as to save some time (ie going back to Interlaken earlier)…?

Thanks a lot.~~~

Curly