18-day Swiss holiday itinerary, end Aug to Sept

  • RK313
    Participant
    2 posts
    28 July 2022 at 9:09:52 #827904

    Hi there, my partner and I will be travelling to Switzerland for an 18-days holiday from 28 Aug – 15 Sep. I have researched and identified places of interest that we would like to visit. The following is the broad itinerary. I have some difficulties putting the various places/activities together within each canton as I do not know the proximity of places to each other and whether they are grouped in the most time efficient manner. There are also several places that I would like to include but do not know how or where to fit them in. I would also like comments if the proposed itinerary is doable or overly ambitious.

    I will be purchasing a 15-day Swiss Travel Pass and a 3 day Tell Pass for the Lucerne part of the trip instead of another Swiss Travel Pass for 3 days. Is this a good idea?

    Aug 28 – 31 in Lucerne. Day 1 – Arrive in Zurich mid day, travel to Lucerne. Visit Old Town, Chapel Bridge, Lion Monument, Jesuit Church, Glacier garden. Day 2 – Visit Mt Titlis, any other suggestions for the rest of the day?, Day 3 – Visit Mt Stanserhorn, other suggestions? Day 4 – Visit Mt Rigi, take cruise on Lake Lucerne, Day 5 – Visit Mt Pilatus and travel to Interlaken. (if possible, I would like to include Burgenstock, Weggis and Victorinox Museum in one of the days’ programme)

    Sep 1- 3 in Interlaken. Day 1 – Travel from Lucerne, visit Harder Kulm, cruise on Lake Thun / Lake Brienz. Day 2 – Visit Schynige Platte, hiking in the area, and Wilderswil, Day 3 – Visit Aare Gorge and Meiringen before making our way to Grindelwald. (Would it be possible to include a trip to Lake Oeschinen, Niesen Mountain, Ballenberg Open-air Museum during the time in Interlaken?)

    Sep 4 – 7 in Grindelwald. Day 1 – Grindelwald First, Cliff Walk, Hike to Bachalpsee Lake, Day 2 – Visit to Jungfrajoch (flexible/weather dependent), explore Murren (hiking or things to do?) , Day 3 – Doing a bike tour to Furka Pass area, Day 4 – Go to Mannlichen, explore Lauterbrunnen to visit Trummelbachfalle and Staubach Falls or Wengen (Would be great if I can include Schilthorn, Pfingstegg, Grindelwald Glacier Canyon / Gorge, St Beatus Caves ?) Would it be possible to cover one of these on any day or Day 5 before Leaving Grindelwald for Zermatt?

    Sep 8 – 10 in Zermatt. Day 1 – Gorgnergrat, Gorner Gorge / Matterhorn Museum, Day 2 Matterhorn Glacier Paradise, explore Zermatt town, Day 3 – Do the 5 lakes hike and explore Sunnegga. (Possible to do a hike to Lake Riffelsee?)

    Sep 11 – 12 in Tirano. Day 1 – Take Glacier Express to St Moritz onward to Tirano. Day 2 – Day trip to Milan

    Sep 13 – 15 in Zurich. Day 1 – Take the Bernina Express from Tirano to Chur then onward to Zurich. Explore Zurich town (any suggestions?), Day 2 – Visit Rhine Falls (any other suggestions for the rest of the day?), Day 3 – Depart Zurich.

    This platform has been a rich resource for my trip planning. The tips and advice from experts and members have been most helpful. I would be most grateful for your advice and comments on the proposed itinerary. Am I being realistic? Is this achievable? So many places so little time. I will also welcome suggestions to fill any gaps in the itinerary, if any.

    Thank you in advance.

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    Removed user
    Participant
    72625 posts
    28 July 2022 at 19:57:28 #944871

    Hi RK313 and welcome to MySwissAlps.com!

    Sure, the 15-day Swiss Travel Pass and a 3 day Tell Pass for the Lucerne area sound right. You can find the validity maps of these passes here: http://www.myswissalps.com/swisstravelpass/validity and http://www.myswissalps.com/tellpass/validity.

    You can visit Titlis and Rigi on the same day if you want. It will be a long day, but it is doable. So you can save a day for the other activities in the region.

    I think Aare Gorge and Ballenberg Open Air Museum is ok for 1 day if you do not want to visit all the houses in the open air museum.

    Maybe you could add Mount Niesen to your day at Schynige Platte.

    Furka Pass is a bit further from Grindelwald and Interlaken. I am not sure that can fit in the plan.

    St Beatus Caves are closer to Interlaken than to Grindelwald. If you want to visit the caves, you should add them to the Interlaken part of your trip.

    You can visit Schilthorn from Mürren: http://www.myswissalps.com/schilthorn/gettingthere.

    In Zurich I recommend this one: http://www.myswissalps.com/hiking/zurich.

    Near Rheine Falls you can visit Schaffhausen, it has a cute old town.

    To be honest I think you would like to add to many things in your itinerary. I mean that if you would only do what is already in your itinerary that would be a great and balanced itinerary. I totally understand that you would like to see many things while you are here. I suggest you a bot more flexibility. If you see and feel that you have more energy and time left for a day, you can still add more activity on the go while you are here.

    Also, weather can play an important role and it also requires flexibility.

    Also I can see that you’ve worked a lot on your itinerary and you collected many wonderful attractions for your wish list. You’ll see beautiful things on your holiday! That’s for sure 🙂

    Ildiko

    Removed user
    Participant
    72625 posts
    28 July 2022 at 21:38:05 #944872

    To be a bit blunt (sorry!) – your itinerary reads like a complete guide to virtually every single ‘famous tourist site’ in Switzerland.

    Please take care not to over exhaust yourself. There are (a) lots of other places you actually haven’t included (despite what I said above!) and (b) places you might find out about during your stay. In other words I recommend (and its a bit like what Ildiko is saying) making sure you include more flexibility in your itinerary. In my opinion you should not try to include every single mountain top – this can get a bit ‘samey’, arguably

    EASW
    Participant
    121 posts
    28 July 2022 at 23:25:24 #944873

    I think you have an interesting itinerary and have received some good advice here already. I just wanted to add an observation, based on our own experience. On our recent Switzerland trip, we saw about 80% of what I had planned in our itinerary. Weather, visibility on the mountains, open hours of the museums/shops/restaurants/gondolas (etc.) made prioritizing what’s important and being flexible key. And some of the most memorable moments were unexpected—sitting on our hotel balcony at the end of the day and taking in the mountain vistas, stopping for a picnic by a stream while hiking, talking to locals (or other travelers from around the world) on a train or at a pub in the evening. We made sure to see what was most important to us and the rest we decided would be there on the next trip!

    RK313
    Participant
    2 posts
    29 July 2022 at 4:01:55 #944874

    Thank you all for taking the time to comment on my itinerary. I really appreciate the great advice and suggestions.

    For the motorbike trip to Furka Pass, we contacted a few bike rental companies. Most replied that no bike was available except one which indicated that we could pick up the bike at Grindelwald. Location provided was :

    Bekleidung & Zubehor

    Moto-Center Thun

    Bernstrasse 117

    CH-3613 Steffisburg

    I presume this is at or near Grindelwald. Would you have any recommendations?

    Yes, the key is Flexibility. My intention is to be prepared with a comprehensive trip plan so that I am armed with the necessary information eg. location, transportation (best way to get to the location), operating hours etc of a place of interest. In the event, I need to swap an activity due to unfavourable weather or other circumstances, I am prepared with alternatives. It is not a MUST to check off everything on the list.

    Once again, thank you for your time.

    Anna
    Moderator
    6274 posts
    29 July 2022 at 5:08:04 #944875

    Hi RK313,

    Steffisburg is a bit further from Grindelwald. So be sure to ask the shop exactly if they are doing the bike delivery to Grindelwald or whether you will have to pick it up from Steffisburg.

    Regards,

    Anna

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