4 1/2 day trip in June in Zurich/Lucerne

Hi,

My wife and I (fairly adventurous in early 30s) are traveling to Switzerland for a 4 1/2 day trip. Here is the itinerary we are currently considering.

Day 1 - Arrive by train to Zurich around noon. Drop bags in Zurich station, do trip to Rhine falls and back, take train to Lucerne.

Day 2 - Trip on Lake Lucerne, and Mount Rigi, and walk around old-town Lucerne.

Day 3 - Trip to Interlaken and Jungraujoch

Day 4 - Trip to Engelberg and Mt. Titlis

Day 5 - Train back to Zurich in the morning. We take the flight out around noon.

We have already made reservations for the 4 nights in Lucerne. We've read enough advise about the uncertain weather in the mountains and so are open to moving days 2,3,4's plans based on how the weather is. Here are some directed questions that we would like help with

Question 1 - Is swiss Travel Pass for 4 days the best pass to take for this trip? The math seems to work out, but just want to know people's opinion

Question 2 - I understand that the Engelberg and Mt. Titlis is only a half-day trip. Is there some hike (2-3 hrs) around Engelberg/Titlis or even Lucnere that we can do.

Question 3 - Is the plan of looking around Lucerne after the trip to Mt Rigi possible on day 2 or will that trip consume the entire day?

Question 4 - how is night life in Lucerne? We're staying near the main train station for ease of commute. Will resturants/bars in the area be open late night?

Thanks in advance for all your help!

Excited about his first trip to Switzerland,

Pradeep.

Welcome to MySwissAlps, Pradeep!

Here are some answers:

Q1. A Swiss Travel Pass is definitely the easiest travel option, as it allows free ticketless traveling on boats, trains and urban transportation. You'd only need additional tickets for Titlis and the Jungfraujoch (up from Wengen/Grindelwald). You will have to pay for the ride Zurich-Lucerne on day 5. I would have advised to travel to Zurich in the afternoon or evening of day 4 in order to avoid such additional costs on day 5, but I understand that your hotel in Lucerne is booked for all 4 nights.

Q2. Sure, there are plenty of hikes. A couple of them can be found at www.myswissalps.com/la kelucerne/activities.

Q3. If leave quite early, you'll certainly be able to return to Lucerne in the afternoon and you can easily explore the town. The Swiss timetable, and the separate attraction timetables we link to from each of our day trip pages (e.g. our Rigi page), allow you to plan such trips in detail.

Q4. That depends on when you plan to visit. In summer months, you shouldn't have any problems finding restaurants and cafés that are open in the (late) evening.