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Hello,
We’ll be in Switzerland for about 12 days in late August. We’re a couple in our early 30s and it’ll be our first time in the country – I’d greatly appreciate feedback on our itinerary. We have lodging booked in all these places and am trying to finalize dates to avoid changes later.
We plan to take a rail pass (Swiss Travel pass or the half fare card) for the duration of the trip. Probably a flex travel pass since we’ll be returning to Zurich for a night in mid September after travelling through France for 2 weeks.
I’m trying to identify any place where our time would be better spent elsewhere. Are 3 nights needed in Lucerne for what we have planned? We also have 3 nights each in Appenzell and Wengen and 9 nights is more than what we initially planned to spend in these places. I’m trying to find an extra day for Paris if possible so any suggestions would help.
To shed some light on other kinds of place we’ll be visiting after this trip, we’ll be in Paris (4-5 nights), Bayeux – Normandy(2 nights), Amboise – Loire valley (3 nights) and Nice (3 nights). Maybe a night in Carcassonne.
Day 1 – Thursday – Appenzell overnight
Arrive in Zurich and travel to Appenzell by train. Nothing planned to account for jetlag.
Day 2 – Friday – Appenzell overnight
Early morning hike to Aescher hotel. Santis cable car. Seealpsee hike if we have time.
Day 3 – Saturday – Appenzell overnight
Day trip to Stein am Rhime and Schaffhausen after an early start to the day. No visit to Rhine falls since we’ve been to Niagara falls. Is the plan to visit both towns in 1 day realistic? We’re very interested to visit both towns but shifting base for a night does not seem like a good ides due to the time lost in checking out.
Day 5 – Sunday – Wengen overnight
Check out of Appenzell early morning and travel to Wengen. Explore surrounding areas of Lauturbrunnen, Grindelwalk, Murren
Day 6 – Monday – Wengen overnight
Trip up to Jungfraujoch if weather is good. Explore whatever we couldn’t get to the day before
Day 7 – Tuesday – Wengen overnight
Another Jungfraujoch attempt if couldn’t do it the day before. Schilthorn. Schynige Platte hike.
Day 8 – Wednesday – Lucerne overnight
Check out of Wengen hotel in the morning and head to Lucerne – plan to reach by late afternoon. Drop off bags and try to head to Mt.Pilatus
Day 9 – Thursday – Lucerne overnight
Mt Rigi. Chapel bridge. Explore the lake area.
Day 10 – Friday – Lucerne overnight
Mt Titlis if we keep this day and have time. This looks really interesting but not sue if it’s worth making all 3 of these trips.
Day 11 -Saturday – Montreux overnight
Get an early start from Lucerne. Travel via Golden Pass route with a couple of hours stop in Interlaken. Reach Montreux by late evening.
Day 12 – Sunday – Montreux overnight
Chillon castle. Short trip to Vevey.
Day 13 – Monday – Paris overnight
Start from Montreux and take the train to Paris (undecided if we should take a train to Annecy on the way – we’d love to visit the town but don’t enough time to stay the night . Is it worth making a 2 hour stop? It’s going to be a long day)
Return to Zurich after a couple of weeks – only staying one night and will try to visit the Fraumunster if we have time.
Are we missing any important sights we should definitely be seeing? We like exploring new places and enjoy good food, good scenery and architecture. We only find certain museums appealing and limit our time in most museums to a couple of hours. We’d rather be outside and would like to get in an easy/moderate hike in this trip.
Any inputs on itinerary above would be very helpful, thanks!
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Hi Alpstruck,
I like this itinerary – makes a lot of sense. If it were me and I wanted to cut a day out somewhere to add to France it would be day 3 to Stein am Rhein / Schaffhausen trip.
Day two would be quite long to do Berggasthaus Aescher-Wildkirchli & Säntis. I’d go to Seealpsee after Aescher and do Säntis the next day instead of Stein am Rhein and then head to Wengen. Even doing Säntis on day 1 can be a good idea to help with the jetlag (if you don’t get in to Zürich too late).
Be sure to use the timetable to plan out trips. Make sure the trips can work for you: https://www.myswissalp s.com/timetable
The Swiss Travel Pass Flex wouldn’t be worth the cost if you just need it for that one day in Zurich at the end of your trip. Zurich is a very walk-able city and it didn’t sound like you had any plans to go outside the city that day?
I’d buy a 15 day Swiss Travel Pass for this trip. https://www.myswissalp s.com/swisstravelpass/ price
Interlaken isn’t too interesting of a town. You may have time to visit it from Wengen if you want to. In any case, if you want to take a break for a few hours while doing the Golden Pass route, look at Thun.
Hi Alpstruck
since your in your 30s you may consider these 2 very scenic, classic hikes. Schynige Platte to First (https://www.myswissalp s.com/hiking/first-schynigeplatte) will take 6:30 hrs ,approximately but great views. On the Schynige Platte side take the Panaramaweg route (https://www.myswissalp s.com/hiking/schynigep latte) as it has views of the Interlaken lakes on one side and all the mountains ,Jungfrau,Mönch,Eiger,Mannlichen,Lauderbrunnen valley, on the other side
the other classic is the Eiger Trail. It’s much easier to hike the downhill direction from Eigergletcher to Alpiglen
have fun Mark
Thanks for your suggestions, Lucas and Mark!
Lucas,
Looks like we can keep our days in Switzerland so we’ll be staying as planned from Thursday morning to Monday morning the week. That being said, we’re wondering if 3 nights in Appenzell might be too much? One consideration for us was the travel card but that’s not a big deal if the day can be better spent elsewhere.
Is it a good idea to stay 2 nights in Appenzell (we reach Zurich at 11 am so we might be able to do the Santis cable car that day, we’d like to visit the Aescher hotel the next day and Seealpsee after that) and add the third night to Wengen or Lucerne instead? On a side note, would it be possible to do the Santis ride the same day after a long haul flight? We’ll reach Appenzell before 4 pm I think and I originally had nothing planned.
I’m considering adding the night to Lucerne and doing a day trip to Schaffhaussen from Lucerne (we’d really like to visit Stein am Rhine so this is a worthwhile side trip for us). Not a lot of difference in doing this trip from Lucerne instead of Appenzell but I figure it would give us more nights in Lucerne as a base. If there’s any reason this might be a bad idea, please let me know. I’m curious if 4 nights in Lucerne or Wengen would give us more returns.
Our time in Zurich is only 1 night and we’ll be exploring very little I think, we’ll pass on the flex pass as you suggested and decide between the rail pass and half fare card (most likely the rail pass). We’ll look into Thun, thanks.
Mark,
Thanks for the trail suggestions. We’ll definitely hike the Eiger trail. The Schynige Platte trail looks great but we don’t have a look of experience with high altitude trails, I’ll research the trail. Is the trail you refer to after the cogwheel train ride, or in lieu of it?
Alpstruck, the trail starts after the train ride. You can of course do the hike in the reverse direction too . The trail is well marked and maintained and not difficult except for the length, 15 km, and the short ascent at the Faulhorn. It is not technical Mark
On a weekday the last descent from Santis is at 6pm. So it might be a little tight but you could do it if you get in to Appenzell early enough. Zurich airport to Appenzell is under 2 hours and on to Santis is another 1.5 or so.
I’d plan on the Seealpsee and Berggasthaus Aescher-Wildkirchl on the same day I think.
Adding a day to Lucerne makes sense for Stein am Rhein. Otherwise I think I’d add it on to Wengen as there is a lot to see and do in the Jungfrau region: https://www.myswissalp s.com/jungfrauregion/a ctivities
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