7 days trip to Switzerland, arriving from Salzburg

Hi SmritiM –

Welcome to the forum.

The climates and weather in the regions of Switzerland that interest you change a lot with the seasons. A nice walk in September my be impassible from snow in October.

What time of year will you visit, and what are the ages of your party? Any small children?

When I started to answer your questions, i realized (based on experience from other recent postings here in the forum) that you might be talking about Fall…where the weather can be changeable.

Depending on the time of year, I might want to spend more time up in the higher altitudes of the Alps than you have allotted.

Unless you are from Nepal or Bhutan…..;-)

Slowpoke

<<” I am arriving in Switzerland (first city is Thun) on 30th Aug.Post that I will be there for 7 nights ( as per the plan above). “>>

I assume that you will be arrriving at Thun by train. If not, say so.

Thun is an attractive town to do some wandering in. Castles around the lake my be open…not sure of hours.

http://www.myswissalps.com/th un

http://www.myswissalps.com/bo atlakethun

<<“I am traveling with mom who is 60+ but pretty fit. Can easily do easy trails. My sister and me are in our early thirties. “>>

There are a lot of nice walks around the Jungfrau region. One of the forum members is a fan of Wengen (on your list) so you might find this small report useful for things to do near Wengen:

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

My favorite easy walk for first time visitors to Switzerland is above Wengen. Take the gondola lift (die Luftseilbahn) from the center of Wengen. At the top, either walk up to Mänlichen Gipfel (summit) a hundred meters or so higher on the left; or, stop and have lunch and watch the kids at the playground at about 2200-2300 meters elevation; or, walk 4-5 km to Kleine Scheidegg with magnificent scenery on all sides. The trail is easy, overall a bit downhill. Not enough downhill to give your knees trouble. If you have a camera, it will take you longer to make the walk than scheduled. The Eiger looms over you as you get closer and closer. That adds a lot to the walk. If you do it in the other direction, you don’t get that effect, and you have to keep turning around. Others have been known to disagree, but I think the trail MUST be done from Männlichen to Kleine Scheidegg. Just my opinion, of course. At K.S. you can take a cograil train back down to Wengen (or Lauterbrunnen); or, on the other side, to Grindelwald. At Kleine Scheidegg you also catch the expensive excursion train to Jungfraujoch. Possibly not worth the cost if clouds have come in to obscure the view. Can be a grand experience.

Check at the ticket offices/tourist offices before you go up. They have webcams, etc. Lets you know how cloudy it is way up there at the top.

Nice as the lake boats are, the high alpine experience is unique, and I’d want to take those memories back with me. So, I’d make sure to get up to the higher trails.

I do not have the images to illustrate that walk on this computer, but I’ll add them later when I am at my desktop.

Hi SmritiM,

Yes, an 8 day Swiss Travel Pass certainly makes sense since you’ll be doing quite a lot of traveling. In any case it’s the easiest option, as most of your trips are covered, so you can just board without buying extra tickets. Many museums are included too. Please see http://www.myswissalps.com/sw isstravelpass/validity and http://www.myswissalps.com/sw isstravelpass/details for more information. Retailers are listed at http://www.myswissalps.com/sw isstravelpass/price. For Indian customers, the cheapest option is to buy through http://www.raileurope-world.com.

If you want to check alternatives, you should make calculations as explained here: http://www.myswissalps.com/tr ain/ticketspasses/prac tical/chooserailpass.

When arriving from Salzburg, you only need a regular ticket up to the Swiss/Austrian border (for most connections, the exact station is Buchs SG) if you have a Swiss Travel Pass. Once you’re there, your Swiss Travel Pass takes over and covers the remaining Swiss leg to Thun. This page on tickets from Austria may be helpful: http://www.myswissalps.com/tr aintickets/austria/pri ce.