4 + 1 Day in Switzerland - Base in Lucerne

Hi

We are two couples traveling to Europe from India in end of July. We are taking the TGV Lyria from Paris (already booked) on 2nd August and will arrive in Zurich by 11:30 AM. We have already booked our hotel for 5 Nights in Lucerne from 2nd Aug to 7th Aug. We will travel from Zurich to Venice on the morning of 7th Aug.

We are thinking of keeping our luggage at Zurich station (in a locker facility!!) on 2nd August, spend a couple of hours at Rhine Falls, come back to Zurich station to collect our luggage and then travel to Lucerne in the evening to checkin at our hotel.

For the remaining 4 days, we have some sightseeing places in our mind such as Jungfraujoch, Grinderlwald, Trummelbach falls etc which we came across on net. We would prefer to skip Mt. Titlis and go to Jungfrau only. Based on the itinerary, we can decide on whether we should book point to point train travel or buy a swiss pass (suggestions welcome on this as well). Also, we are not very keen on spending long hours in train and would skip the famous Bernina express.

Would appreciate suggestions on itinerary for 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th Aug.

Much appreciate. Thanks

Hi Akshay07, welcome to MySwissAlps!

A few suggestions as you mentioned you don't like spending long hours in trains:

• August 2 would be a long day on trains (at least 7 hours). You could consider getting off the train from Paris in Basel and go to Lucerne directly as explained in this recent thread. That way you'll only spend about 4.5 hours on trains.
• Jungfraujoch, Grindelwald and the Trümmelbach Falls are close together but very far from Lucerne. Just visiting Jungfraujoch means sitting in trains for 8.5 hours. You can have a look at www.myswissalps.com/lu cerne/activities for suggestions closer to Lucerne. Mount Titlis would make sense actually; it requires less traveling.
• Skipping the Bernina Express is a good decision as it's also very far from Lucerne.

Hi Annika

Thank you for your response. Need further inputs on the below queries

2nd Aug- Appx. how much time would it take to go to Rhine Falls from Zurich Airport, spend average tourist time over taking the boat ride, spend the evening in Schauffausen and then head over to Lucerne? We will have a relaxed day on 1st Aug in Paris so we can stretch ourselves a bit on 2nd Aug.

3rd Aug - We are planning to cover the famous tourist places in and around Lucerne - Swiss Museum, Boat Ride in Lake Lucerne and City Tour. Yet to finalize from the activities detail page you have shared. Will keep the day relaxed for a long travel intensive next day.

4th Aug- We will do a full day trip to Jungfraujoch. We understand that Titlis is closer to Lucerne. However we are bitten by the Jungfrau bug and are thinking to choose it over Titlis :D Are there any places of interest enroute Jungfrau that we can cover in our return journey such as Lauterbrunnen/ Grindelwald / Trumelbach Falls / Murren? If Yes, please suggest what should our route and itinerary be for the day?

5th Aug- Day Trip to Interlaken. Yet to finalize the places and activities.

6th Aug- Need Suggestions for this Day. We are ok travelling to a place within 1-2 hours of train journey from Lucerne. We will visit the places of interest / cover some activites and then return to Lucerne in evening by 7-8 PM. Montreux is one of the options I could come across. Any better / must see place? OR should we cover Gridelwald /Trummelbach Falls/ Lauterbrunnen / Murren on this day rather than 4th Aug?

7th Aug - Departure

Much appreciate your inputs. Thanks again.

Also, given the above itinerary, can you recommend whether we should take any of the Swiss Rail Pass? If Yes, which one?

Hi Akshay07,

Aug 2: you can find traveling times in the timetable. It takes about an hour to get there. For Rhine Fall details, please see myswissalps.com/ rhinefalls.

Aug 4: just the traveling will take most of the day. Perhaps you can squeeze in a boat trip from Interlaken to Brienz instead of taking the train on that leg. Indeed you can stretch your legs in Wengen or Grindelwald if you like, as you will pass by anyway. A break at Kleine Scheidegg is nice as well. Pretty touristy, but a great view on the mountains Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau.

Aug 5: Interlaken is a central town, but with very little to see or do in the town itself: myswissalps.com/ interlaken. Definitely not worth it as you have already done the train ride to Interlaken (which is very nice) on Aug 4. I recommend to do something else closer to Lucerne.

Aug 6: Montreux as a day trip requires a whole day of traveling. I recommend to study the activity page for Lucerne mentioned by Annika. You won't run out of options in 6 days. I recommend to do some hiking. Suggestions are on that page as well.

You'd best finalize your plans before looking into rail passes, but a Swiss Travel Pass seems like a good idea. Mount Rigi, including the boats, is free if you buy that pass. It could be a nice option for Aug 6. There are plenty of short hikes in that area as well.

Hi Akshay07,

As Arno mentioned it is close to an 1hr from Zurich Airport .( Via Winterthur - Schloss - Laufen am Rheinfall .) If you do not have Swiss pass then you will have to buy an all zone card which does not cover Schauffausen by train . You can walk along the falls. It take more than 3 hrs plus easily to enjoy the beauty of the falls ( boat ride ,climbing up the rock,adventure trail).

Ideally it would be best if you do Paris - Basel - Luzern by TGV . We took the 10.20 from Gare De lyon and connection at 14.10 at Basel to Luzern. This gives more time to enjoy Luzern as it is far more prettier and cooler.

On your way back you can do Rhine falls and Zurich Bahnhofstrasse ,Chocolate factory and leave for Venice. We felt the above comfortable as we avoided long hours on trains.

We did both Jungfrau and Titlis. Both are excellent . Both totally different. You can do Mr. Rigi round trip and enjoy the sunset cruise (free with Swiss travel pass) or Indian dinner cruise for 60 CHF.

Have a wonderful holiday!!

Suganthy