7 days trip help for Switzerland in April 2018

Hi tsrkrishnan and welcome to MySwissAlps!

Yes, I would suggest Wengen over Interlaken as well. I also wouldn’t move between Grindelwald and Wengen or another nearby village like Murren or Lauterbrunnen (all are great). Pick one for all 4 nights and use it to explore the Jungfrau region(lots to see and do there).

Otherwise you itinerary looks pretty good from here. Be sure to make back up plans for mountain trips like Jungfraujoch – weather can easily destroy any views you want so you should not waste your money (if you are in the area for 3 or 4 days you can wait and see if the weather improves).

Also check with your doctor about taking your infant above 2000 meters – Jungfraujoch is almost 3500 meters and the air is pretty thin (although at nearly two years old it may not be a problem – best to check!)

Hi tsrkrishnan-

This may be useful:

http://www.myswissalps.com/fo rum/topic/tips-about-wengen-and-the-jungfrau-region-by-kim/page/3

Also –

http://www.myswissalps.com/ju ngfrauregion

I note that you are considering April. Time of the year is very important in the high Alpine regions.

April is the tail end of Winter. I have been blocked by deep snow on trails at 2000 meters as late as early June.

Summer hiking season begins at around June 15th. As March moves into April, skiing has lost quality, thus fewer customers.

Although there are many restaurants and tourist services still open, many others have shut down for Spring break or maintenance.

Since there ia wide altitude range near the Jungfrau, plces at lower altitudes, such as Lauterbrunnen, may have lost much of their snow.

Thus, without being too precise, my own thoughts are that an April trip might preferably focus on lower altitude regions, with options for excursions to higher altitudes. Such rather general advice is not as useful as detailed advice, but it can be a basis for your own further planning and questions.

To be more specific, I might focus on Luzern and its nearby mountains, with optional trips to or time in the Jungfrau region.

http://www.myswissalps.com/lu cerne

This may be useful:

http://www.myswissalps.com/ab outswitzerland/nature

Several of the links o tha page are are quite informative.

Slowpoke

Hi tsrkrishnan-

<<“Hi Mr Lucas, thanks again. I have decided to stay at luzern and lauterbrunnen for 3 nights each.

Is it worth taking a train from luzern to lungern and back.”>>

I can see from the thread that no 0ne linked you to two essential sites for trip planning:

First- a map-

map.search.ch/?z=4

This map will let you see the geographic relationships between cities. I have zoomed it in a bit so that you can see Luzerne and Interlaken. Zoom in a few steps further and you will see Lauterbrunnen south of Interlaken.. Zoom in one or two more and you will see the train lines.

At that zoom level, pan the map, or else zoom out and focus on the region between Luzern and Interlaken, near Giswil, then pan in again. You will see the rail lines and Lungern if you go in far enough.

Since you plan to stay in Lauterbrunnen and Luzern, you will likely take the most scenic, and, unusually, in this case, the fastest route between the two. You can see that it will pass through Lungern. The trains run once per hour. If you don’t have luggage with you to burden you, you could get off, walk down the hill to the lake and back up again, and probably be able to catch the next train.

I checked the SBB web site for Lungern station, and sought “Equipment and Services” at the station. The listing is empty. That means, I believe, that it is an unmanned station, which is consistent with my somewhat older memory. That means that you cannot leave luggage there while you walk. It is a bit of a walk down and back, and although pleasant, does not justify the stop in my o[pinion. The best views of the lake with the Alps beyond come from the northern end, which is about 2 km from the station. It would take you more than an hour to do the round trip on foot, unless you are very fast walkers, uphill and down.

The train goes right past that viewpoint, so sit on the right if you are coming from Luzern.

Ralroad station “Kaiserstuhl” is visible if you zoom in at the northern end of the lake. You can aaslo see thatthere is an inn/restaurant. Mouse over the station icon, and you get an abbreviated near term train schedule.

How can you find out how long it would take to get there, and when and whether the trains stop at Kaiserstuhl?

Check the timetable, which is the other essential web site for planning:

http://www.myswissalps.com/ti metable

Enter Luzern as a Start, Interlaken as destination, and your time and date. If your date next year is not yet available, use any date this year, and you will see a journey once per hour. Click on a journey, and then expand the section of the route that is displayed by clicking on the “+”

You will see Kaiserstuhl is a regular stop, approximately 40 minutes from Luzern.

If you check a date in the near future, you will see that one other section of the route has no trains. Track work. A bus will be substituted for that section.

Or, if you do not wish to see the whole route to get perspective, use “Lungern” or “Kaiserstuhl” as a destination in the timetable.

Glacier Express –

Regarding the Glacier Express, check this link in detail, including the description of the route(s) and some “one-day trips” listed.

http://www.myswissalps.com/gl acierexpress

then check it out on the map I linked above ( Mapsearch.ch) and the timetable. It would not be easy to fit the entire Glacier Express in one day from Luzern. You could travel a nice part of it from Luzern to Brig to Interlaken on a roundabout route on your transit day. Go via Andermatt and Brig, and, if you have time use the old scenic upper route from Brig to Interlaken via Kanderstseg.

Slowpoke

Hi fredch –

Thanks for detailed information from a local.

Slowpoke