11 days across Switzerland with Swiss Travel Pass

Excellent itinerary.

My only comment based on personal experience is to omit Jungfraujoch – very expensive (use the money to contribute to 1st class travel elsewhere?) considered overrated and and too much like a theme park (it wasn’t like that 30 years ago). I would spend a bit longer in Zermatt to mitigate the risk of poor weather spoiling the Matterhorn. Zermatt – Gornergrat is more spectacular than the Jungfrau railway (JB) – open air most of the way whereas the JB is in tunnel nearly all the way. Also Zermatt has many more high peaks – the village is called the ‘Village of the 4000-ers’ as it is surrounded by so many 4000m plus peaks. Also the highest mountain in Switzerland is just across the valley from the summit at Gornergrat

I agree with 1960man regarding Jungfraujoch. A better option will be Mount Titlis.

Since your journey includes almost daily train travel hence 15 days Swiss Travel Pass makes more sense.

If your aim is to take scenic trains in Switzerland then this itinerary makes perfect sense. Otherwise it has less scope for sightseeing

On your post in the other forum we talked about 15 day passes but in this thread you reveal that your trip is actually only 11 days which means an 8 day Swiss Travel Pass Flex might be workable. The usual method is to buy a normal ticket for the first and last days of the trip if the journeys on those days are short (eg many people just go Zurich airport – Luzern after flying in to ZRH). Your problem is you are planning ZRH – St Moritz on the first day.

However, you could opt to buy a separate ticket for your day 11, and on day 6 you could avoid travelling on transport if you wished because in Montreux you can fill a day just walking in the town and along the lake – eg to Château de Chillon (or buy a short hop trolleybus ticket). Another way to ‘lose’ a travel day would be to go Interlaken – Bern – Luzern and spend day 10 within Luzern not using transport

Interlaken is close to Lauterbrunnen. If you prefer a lively town then choose Interlaken. If you would like to stay closer to nature then Lauterbrunnen. Other popular options are Wengen, Grindelwald, Mürren in the region. Find hotels in the Jungfrau region at http://www.myswissalps.com/jungfrauregion/hotels or rentals at http://www.myswissalps.com/jungfrauregion/rentals.

You’ll find more information about the villages below, make sure to check the pictures, it might help you to choose:
http://www.myswissalps.com/lauterbrunnen
http://www.myswissalps.com/interlaken
http://www.myswissalps.com/murren
http://www.myswissalps.com/wengen
http://www.myswissalps.com/grindelwald

First Cliff Walk is great. You can reach it from Grindelwald.

I hope this helps,

Ildiko

Hi Kathleen.

Greetings from Sydney Australia.

Weather permitting, during your stay in Lucerne, consider the following day trip: Train to Alpnach, (takes about 25 minutes). Then the Funicular train up to Pilatus. It’s a must – Fantastic scenery. Then return to Lucerne via the ferry service. If you can, read up about the PilatusHahn. It’s the steepest cog or rack railroad in the world, at a maximum grade of 48%.

Regards. Aidan and Yvonne

Hi Kathleen

Just an observation. I count 5 travel days which usually means checking out of a hotel (except first day of course), transfer to the train station with luggage, arrival to new town, transfer to new hotel to check in and unpack. In my experience this takes a half day, minimum. There’s nothing wrong with that if you so choose. Another option is to pick 2 or perhaps 3 bases and do day trips which eliminates handling luggage and checking out and in hotels on that day. You may not visit as many places but you might find a more in depth visit enjoyable.

There is much to see and do in the Jungfrau area besides Jungfraujoch. Beautiful scenery at First. Schilthorn, Schynige Platte, Mannlichen, Lauterbrunnen valley. Hiking there is very popular. It is well marked and many of the popular trails are quite easy. Those of us who have visited the area several times almost always recommend staying in either Murren, Grindelwald, or Wengen. Lauterbrunnen is also nice but slightly behind the other three. I would definitely reconsider staying in Interlaken.
http://www.myswissalps.com/onedayjungfrauregion

Zermatt is very nice as well. It has a very different feel than Jungfrau area. Zermatt is a high end ski town and would be similar to St. Moritz or Chamonix. Personally the scenery in the Jungfrau area is slightly better but Zermatt is spectacular as well. The Matterhorn is an icon of Switzerland and Gornergrat should not be missed. I have hiked both areas extensively and prefer Jungfrau area for easy to moderate hiking.

If you choose to limit your bases you may find your trip a little less hectic and stressful. But either way you should have a wonderful experience

Mark

Technical point: The Pilatus Bahn is a rack (UK English) cog wheel (US English) railway, not a funicular. In fact the steepest in the world. And, for another year or two only still using cars from the 1930s.