3 days in Interlaken and Zermatt - what to do

Hi,

I feel the forum is so informative. Can you please help with my queries and suggest places to visit.

Myself and my spouse planning to travel from London to basel in mid sep. We will be there for 3 days.

1. Is climate good to travel to mt.jungfrau.

2. We are planning to buy 3day swiss pass. Should i buy online or in basel airport.

3. First day will reach basel airport and planning to go lake thun and then to stay in Interlaken youth hostel. Please suggest best ways to travel and also places to visit. Also if any nearby villages.

4. Second day to go mt.jungfrau. How many hours required here and what to do rest of the day.

5. Then planning to go Charles Kuonen Suspension Bridge. Please guide how to go there and is it better to stay in zermatt this night.

6. Last day to visit bridge and back to basel airport and board flight by 8pm.

7. I hope all trains and boats will be accesses by swiss pass expect mt.jungfrau. pls confirm.

Thanks.

Hi Saruu,

1. Yes, generally speaking, but check the weather the day before you want to go to see if it is not too cloudy
2. Buying the Swiss Travel Pass online is more convenient - no waiting for line ups at the rail offce and you have an electronic back-up as well.
3. You can use the Swiss railways timetable here to plan your trips. I think visiting Thun, Lake Thun and Interlaken will fill your day! Is there anything particular you want to do? Click the town links to read about what there is to do at each location.
4. I would expect at least 2 hours once you are at the top of Jungfraujoch. Including travel time this is at least 1/2 a day. Read here for more activities in the Jungfrau region.
5. This new pedestrian suspension bridge is at least 6-7 hours of hiking from Zermatt (or 2-3 hours from Randa) so this isn't really possible in one day if that was your hope. There is a little bit more information about the new bridge here (with some links).
6. You can read about what attractions are covered fully or partially with the Swiss Travel Pass here. There is also a PDF map you can open that shows all the routes the Swiss Travel Pass covers as well.

Cheers,
Lucas

Dear Lucas,

I have changed my plan slightly. Also suspension bridge removed from list.

1. Day 1 - London to Zurich ; Train to Rhine falls and then back to zurich. If time permits then go to Lucerne chapel bridge and then to Interlaken night stay else direct zurich to interlaken. Please advice can lucerne be covered.

2. Day 2 and 3 - Jungfrau based on weather, Lake Thun or Briez whichever is best or is both having different landscape and experience.

3. Day 3 - Interlaken to basel airport. Can i cover more places in interlaken?

4. Please suggest a place for para gliding and cable car nearby interlaken.

Does the trip sounds better and achievable.

Cheers,

Saru

Hi Saruu,

Day 1: I would go to Luzern and skip the RheinFall. That's just my opinion. I am not sure when you get into Zurich but unless it is quite early I would take out one of those activities yes.

Day 2: I would go for Lake Thun personally, you can visit St. Beatus caves or one of the castles.

Day 3/4: We have a list of activities in the Interlaken area noted here (including a para-gliding company) for you to look through.

All looks good to me!

Lucas

Thank you Lucas for your suggestion. We will reach Zurich around 10 am.

I assume public transportation available till late night.

Cheers, Saru

Hi Saru,

>> I assume public transportation available till late night.

Yes. You can plan your trips around Zürich here:

online.fahrplan.zvv.ch /bin/query.exe/en

Plans of the network are here:

www.zvv.ch/zvv/en/time table/network-maps.html

Alpenrose

Hi Saruu-

<<"1. Day 1 - London to Zurich ; Train to Rhine falls and then back to zurich. If time permits then go to Lucerne chapel bridge and then to Interlaken night stay else direct zurich to interlaken. Please advice can lucerne be covered.">>

On your first day, you cannot see the Rhine Falls, "cover" Luzern, and go to Interlaken without a harried and hurried schedule, defining "see" to mean a brief glimpse, a puzzling definition of "cover" and a late arrival in Interlaken.

If you want to try, use the timetable as suggested earlier in the thread. The link provided by Lucas will help you understand a visit to the Rhine Falls and travel to/from:

I'd go to Interlaken via Luzern, in which case you can spend some time in Luzern. To "cover" Luzern takes several days or more, depending on what "cover" means.

You would have time to walk round the old city and look at a few of the famous sights. Lucas gave you the link for Luzern.

Slowpoke

Thank you all for your suggestions.. And yes Rhine falls removed from schedule.Tickets booked.

I am using Lyca sym. For net pack, do you have any suggestion or is free wifi available in the city.

cheers, Saru

I don't know anything about Lyca Sim but I have seen their stores around.

I've not heard of any cities offering free WiFi so I would get data if you can.

Lucas