12 day Swiss travel plan for May or June

Please go through my tentative travel , I have posted the question at the end

Day 1 - Arrive in Zurich, proceed to Lucerne ,check into hotel
Day 2 - Lucerne day trip to Mount Titlis
Day 3 - Lucerne local sightseeing
Day 4- Post Breakfast , Lucerne to Interlakan , check into hotel . Local sightseeing
Day 5 - Interlaken day trip to jungfrau
Day 6 - Post breakfast , Interlakan to Lausanne , check into hotel . Day tour to Montreux
Day 7- Day trip to Geneva
Day 8 - Post breakfast Lausanne to Zermatt
Day 9 - day trip to Matthorn glacier paradise
Day 10 - post breakfast , Zermatt to St moritz ,Glacier Express, check in to hotel , local sightseeing
Day 11- day trip to Tirano by Bernia express
Day 12 St moritz to Zurich , check into hotel , local sightseein
Day 13 - fly out .

Fact : We ( husband and wife ) are aged around 62. We are not much in to adventure . Would like to travel when it is not too crowded to avoid long queue for train etc. Though weather is unpredictable , would like to avoid rain as far as possible.

Questions :

1) Between May / june which is a better period to visit ( first half or second half of these months)

2) For the time frame work ,is the above travel program ok . Within the time frame work can I add any places . Like for example , Bern.

3) Regarding Swiss rail pass , instead of 15 day pass can I go for 8 days in a month pass.

Regards

Sriram

Hi VSR937-

Welcome to the forum,

May or June are OK.

If you want to include high altitudes, mid to late June is highly desirable, if not a necessity. (Jungfrau. Zermatt...)

Slowpoke

Thanx for the information. Shall plan the trip starting June 15 th . Hope it will be pleasant in the plains . Could you also please tweak my travel plan , if I am missing any "not to miss in Switzerland ". Thanks Sriram

Hi Sriram!

I think your itinerary looks fine. It's all doable this way, but in my opinion it doesn't leave much room to add further activities. Adding a local trip in the Jungfrau region to day 5 would be fine though. The timetable will help you to find traveling times. On day 6-7, you might consider staying in Montreux rather than in Lausanne, as that's generally more attractive to tourists.

I'd definitely prefer a 15 day Swiss Travel Pass over an 8 day Swiss Travel Pass Flex. There's not that much of a price difference (15 day Swiss Travel Pass, 2nd class: CHF 440, 8 day Swiss Travel Pass Flex, 2nd class: CHF 407), and you'll pay a whole lot more than this difference if you have to buy regular full fare tickets on the 6 days that aren't covered by an 8 day Swiss Travel Pass Flex.

Swiss Travel Pass purchase options are listed here. The best option is www.swissrailways.com, allowing you to get a print at home pass without any additional shipping or handling fees.

Hi Sriram.

Your itinerary is well organized and hits many high points.

However, you cannot see all of them in only a few weeks.

And, you may perhaps miss many very good things by going to too many places.

For example, you can spend a week in and around Luzern and enjoy a great variety of things:

www.myswissalps.com/lu cerne

(By the way, i tend to use the German spelling for Lucerne, Lucern, Lucerna or Luzern. It is in the German-speaking region, an all the signs there use "Luzern." )

I'd tend to favor Luzern and the Jungfrau region more, and travel less to some of the other locations. Of course, the others are nice, too, so it is difficult to make choices. ;-(.

And, in the Jungfrau region, weather is changeable, and the wonderful views from the high mountains are not so wonderful ( and rather expensive to boo) when you are inside a cloud. If possible, many travelers allow at least two nights in the region, and stay south of Interlaken at places such as Wengen, Grindelwald or Mürren. Interlaken is not much of tourist destination in its own right....more a good transfer point, with a wide range of accommodation. The scenery is in the valley beyond Interlaken

There are quite a few effective mechanisms for keeping track of the weather at the high altitudes, so it is best to pick a good weather day on short notice in that region, more than any others.

Lots of good information in this link:

www.myswissalps.com/wh eretogo

Slowpoke

Thank you Annika & Slowpoke for your advice .Have changed the base from Intrelaken to Wengen / Grindelwald and Lausanne to Montreux. You are right in suggesting being region specific to accommodate the vagaries of weather but then can I miss the ride in Bernia express ? I guess I need to take the call.

Sriram

<<"You are right in suggesting being region specific to accommodate the vagaries of weather but then can I miss the ride in Bernia express ? I guess I need to take the call.">>

It's tough.

But, you can reassure yourself that, even if you had twice as many days, you'd still be making difficult choices. ;-)

By the way, it is "Bernina."

Slowpoke

Now I have a valid reason to stick to my plan !

Thank you guys for your prompt response and your informative website.

Sriram