5 nights itinerary Zurich Lucerne Bernese Oberland

Hi.. it's my first post. My first time to Switzerland 9th june- 14th June 16th. After that will take a train to Zurich. Plan is to stay 1 night zurich and 2 nights lucerne and 2 nights bernese overland lauterbrunen or wengen. Would like to cover zurich city tour and shopping, lucerne city tour like chapel bridge etc. , transport museum , Mount titlis, jungfrau. Not sure how to go about arranging. Should we get a Swiss pass for 5 days? We are 2 adults n 2 kids aged 9 and 7. Please advise. Thanks.

Welcome to MySwissAlps, Devi29!

You'll be covering some beautiful regions! What exact help are you looking for, other than finding the right rail pass? Studying our "How to plan" section may help you out with some basic issues. You'll find lots of tips on planning, finding details of your trips in the timetable, getting the right accommodation, etcetera. Please let us know if questions remain.

As for rail passes: a 5 day Swiss Travel Pass doesn't exist. Please find details at our Swiss Travel Pass page. You could get a Zurich Card for your day in Zurich, and then add a 4 day Swiss Travel Pass for the remaining days. I suggest you compare this option to the Swiss Half Fare Card as explained on our "How to choose a Swiss rail pass" page.

I hope this gets you started!

Hi Annika, thanks for your reply. Sure i will look at the 4 day pass vs half card. I have read most tips. However, still stuck.. i am not sure if we should stay in zurich 1 night after arriving from zurich airport at 1330 hrs. If so, next day go zurich tour and evening travel to lucerne hotel. Or should we straight go to lucerne hotel from airport and stay 3 nights there and 2 nights in lauterbrunnen? If stay in lucerne, the next day to go for zurich tour and back to lucerne hotel , is it ok? With kids what can be suggested? Thank you.

Hi Devi29!

Both options would work. Basically, you have to choose from either an extra hotel switch if you spend the first night in Zurich or extra traveling time (50 minutes for a single trip) when heading to and from Zurich if you spend the first night in Lucerne.

Yet another option would be to store your luggage at the railway station of Zurich right after arrival and spend the first afternoon in Zurich for some sightseeing, and then get to Lucerne in the late afternoon or evening. That would prevent you from going back and forth from Lucerne on the second day, but visiting Zurich might be too much of an effort after your inbound flight.

It's a bit hard to advise, as it all depends on your personal preferences, the age and fitness of your children, your actual plans for Zurich, etc.

Hi Annika, agree that we will be tired after flight. Decided to stay in Lucerne 3 nights and 2 nights lauterbrunen.. we are from singapore. Are we allowed to get the swiss family pass sinice kids can travel free.? Or suggest single tickers. We would be using train to go to and from Zurich, jungfrau, titlis and city sightseeing. U think we will be taking alot of trains?

Hello Devi29,

You'll likely be use some kind of public transport every day. Whether you prefer the Swiss Travel Pass (unlimited rides, many free museums and cable cars discounted) or the Swiss Half Fare Card (all rides discounted, museums not included) is up to you. Please see Annika's first reply for instructions to make a choice. In both cases you can order along the free Swiss family Card for your kids to travel along for free.

The Swiss Travel Pass and Swiss Half Fare Card can be printed at home if you go to www.swissrailways.com/ en and select Online Ticket when they ask for your preferred delivery option. They also supply the Swiss Family Card. If you need the ZurichCARD your can obtain it through www.getyourguide.com/z urich-l55/zuerichcard.

Hi Arno, appreciate your reply. Will consider the passes. Can I ask is it cheaper to book the trips and train tickets on my own or to get the tours that include the train tickets and hotels and attraction.?

You're welcome! There are lots of different tours. It's very hard to say what's the cheaper option as a lot depends on your preferences: hotel classifications, guided or unguided trips, all in one package or partly self arranged, flexibility versus a fixed program, etc. Complete packages with hotels and trains included can be found here. For guided and unguided day tours you can take a look at www.viator.com/ Switzerland. These tours tend to have good prices for travelers who don't have a rail pass.

Hi Arno, thanks for the suggestions. Most likely get the 4 days swiss travel pass. Does it cover free transport museum as well? Plan to book the trip myself.

In Zurich can we book the city tour on the day itself? And from where? Or can we go around ourselves? Not sure how convenient?

To go for city tour of Zurich, where is a good place to stay one night?

Next day train to Lucerne. Plan to cover mount titlis. Where is a nice and near place to stay? Also want to go to transport museum and city tour. Would the hotels have the tour packages.?

Day 4 would travel to Lauterbrunen. How do we go from Lucerne? How long is the Train ride? I saw a 1 night package in Jungfrau website with tickets. Should I get that?

What else can we do in Lauterbrunen since another 1 day is available?

Day 6 to Paris by TGV. Need to get separate ticket for the TGV? Thanks for your time.

Hi Devi29,

You'll get a 50% discount on the Transport Museum with the Swiss Travel Pass. Many other museums are free.

There are many city tours in Zurich. I'm not sure which one you mean. You can easily walk around the town yourself, see here please. A tour is recommended if you prefer a guide, some additional information along the way, and make sure you don't miss the best spots. I'm not sure if you can book a last minute tour but you probably can through the tourist office at the main train station.

Regarding hotels: please open a new thread in the Accommodation forum for assistance, and provide some extra information for us to provide better help.

For train schedules, please refer to the timetable.

I don't know which 1-night package you mean, but it's completely up to you whether or not it suits your needs. If you have questions about that specific package, please post the link and let us know how we can help you out. If you plan to have a rail pass while in Switzerland it usually makes sense to buy tickets on your own as they will be discounted with a pass.

Please see myswissalps.com/ jungfrauregion/ activities for what to do around Lauterbrunnen.