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Hello! Thanks in advance for such a helpful travel site. We are planning to travel to Switzerland in mid- September. The following is our rough itinerary. We are in are mid-50s and like to hike (nothing to extreme),love the mountains, love history, castles and just exploring new places. Looking to see if it is reasonable or if you have any suggestions of possible changes we should consider. We will have 15 day Swiss Travel Pass.
SEPT 19 Arrive in Zurich 10:30 AM LUCERNE 2 NIGHTS Take train to Lucerne. Visit Old Town, Lion Monument, Jesuit Church, Kapelbrucke bridge, Glacier garden. Boat trip on Lake Lucerne and take cogwheel to Mt Rigi
SEPT 20 Mount Pilatus , Travel Museum, Other ideas?
SEPT 21 Travel to GRINDELWALD 3 nights (Flexible for weather on Jungfraujoch) Visit Grindelwald-First, First Cliffwalk, Hike to Bachalpsee, Trotti Bike down to Grindelwald, If time Grindelwald Glacier Canyon
SEPT 22 Jungfraujoch , then Hike down Eiger Trail to Alpiglen, Travel to Wengen or Murren
SEPT 23 Travel to Lauterbrunnen, Visit Staubbach Falls, Trummelbach Falls, Visit Wengen or Murren if not able to previously, Maybe Schilthorn?
SEPT 24 Travel to Interlaken (store luggage), Harderbahn to Harder Kulm. Looking for ideas that we can do for the day. We will end up at Sonceboz-Sombeval to visit husband’s ancestral town late Saturday, Sunday morning. Lake Brienz, Lake Thun, Oeschinsee Lake, Bern? HOTEL du Cerf Sonceboz
SEPT 25 Morning exploring Sonceboz, Train to Montreux via Lausanne. Get off in Lausanne (store luggage) and walk up to Cathedral. Hotel 1 night in Montreux, walk around Promenade
SEPT 26 Visit Chillon Castle via boat trip, sightsee in Montreux, cogwheel to Rochers de Naye, Travel to Zermatt 3 nights
SEPT 27 ZERMATT Visit Gornergrat Glacier, cog railway to summit, Possible Hikes?
SEPT 28 Matterhorn Glacier Paradise, Possible Hikes? Sightsee in Zermatt
SEPT 29 Glacier Express to Chur, Things to do in Chur? Hotel in Chur
SEPT 30 Take train to Zurich and Fly home
My daughter’s wedding planning has slowed down our travel planning. We should be able to get back to planning in a couple of weeks and would love suggestions.
Thanks in advance!
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Hi Jenbhome,
Welcome to MySwissAlps.
Thanks for sharing your itinerary. It is well-planned and certainly doable. I’ve included a few links in your post so you can easily get information on each destination. Here are my personal suggestions regarding your itinerary:
1. I would do the excursion to Mt Pilatus on the first day and Mt Rigi on the second day. Mt Pilatus is closer to Lucerne so it’s easy to include it as part of a city tour.
2. Sept 22 – I recommend travelling to Wengen after the hike to Alpiglen. If you have time, take the cable car to Männlichen.
3. Sept 23 – Visits to Lauterbrunnen, Mürren and Schilthorn can be combined into a day trip
4. Sept 24 – A visit to Harderkulm can be combined with a boat trip on Lake Brienz. And if you have time, a quick stop in Bern enroute to your next base.
5. Sept 27 – Possible hikes in Gornergrat – Check out the 5km trail from Rotenboden to Riffelalp, a local favourite and mostly downhill.
6. Sept 28 – I suggest just take it easy during the excursion to the Matterhorn Glacier Paradise. The journey involves a series of transportations to get to the summit as explained here: http://www.myswissalps.com/kleinmatterhorn/gettingthere
7. In Chur, if you have time I recommend taking the local train to Ilanz and visit the Swiss Grand Canyon
Hope this gives you additional ideas or options for your trip.
Regards,
Anna
Thank you so much for your quick response and great suggestions! We will definitely look into them.
Thanks again!
Jenni
A few thoughts on the first part of your trip:
1. Lucerne is wonderful, especially the Old Town part. Having the train station and boat docks right next to each other is a real convenience.
2. Boat trip on Lake Lucerne is delightful. Lots of stops at smaller towns, so you can hop off to explore or eat a quick meal, frequent boats stopping at same. And if you get down to Brunnen, you can catch a train back to Lucerne that will be faster than the return boat ride.
3. I’d take Pilatus over Rigi. Pilatus will require an additional ticket to the top but is a better view and has much better facilities at the top. Rigi was kind of boring to me, even though free with the Swiss Travel Pass. If you do go to Rigi, take the cogwheel train down on the opposite (non-lake) side and then catch a train back to Lucerne, it is quicker than the boat.
4. Take time to have an outdoor lunch at the Kleine Scheidegg train station at the Jungfraujoch. A good rosti in the sunshine while gazing at the Eiger, Monch, and Jungfrau is memorable in many ways.
5. Schilthorn was disappointing to me; possibly because of less than perfect weather the morning we were there but primarily because of the jam-packed first two (of four) gondolas required to get to the top. Barely room enough to breathe.
I suggest getting a Traveler’s WiFi for your travels – it worked everywhere we went on our couple of two-week trips. And check the weather cams before heading up any of the mountaintops. For example, it was cloudy & raining in Lucerne but the Pilatus mountaintop weather cam showed clear sunshine, so off we went.
Have a great time!
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