7 Nights 8 Days First Time Visitor Itinerary Help

My Swiss Apls

My name is Austin and my wife and I are visiting Swiss for the first time this July. We are entirely open to suggestions and are really in need of help on what is the best suggested itinerary. A brief synopsis: we land in Zurich July 13 am and are planning on leaving for France on July 20th am in route to Paris. As such we would be moving East to West. Our initial thoughts were to spend one night in Zurich, 2 nights in Lucerne, 2 nights in Interlaken, and 2 nights in Geneva. Does this make sense or would it be better to have ONE base city (Lucerne or Interlaken or Thun) prior to traveling to Geneva? Also, which would you recommend: Geneva or Lausanne? We would like a decent mix of scenic train travel, hiking, and cultural elements. We realize the Golden pass would be a good option and a Swiss Pass is Probably needed. Lastly, we have mostly been looking at AirBNB places, any popular suggestions?

Like I said we are open minded, and would really love so help as we are newbies to this part of Europe. Thanks. Austin

Hi Austin, welcome to our website,

If your interest in cultural elements includes museums then staying in Geneva and Zurich makes sense. Adjustments to consider are:

• To take one night off Geneva and add that to Lucerne or Interlaken. Those towns are near the mountains and activities there require good weather. More time results in a better chance of getting that. Lucerne has some bad weather options too, so you could add the extra night to Interlaken;
• To choose one base, like you said. That makes you even more flexible, weather wise, but of course you would be restricted to a smaller region for day trips. Unless you don't mind to travel a lot. Both Lucerne and Interlaken offer plenty to do. Instead of Interlaken you may want to consider Grindelwald, Wengen or Mürren. They're all prettier than Interlaken. Please see the links for more information about hotels, day trips, etc.

Swiss Travel Pass details can be found here: myswissalps.com/ swisstravelpass

I don't know about AirBNB, but there are lots of hotel suggestions here: myswissalps.com/hotels

Arno

Thanks for the help and suggestions. My wife wants to stay in Thun for 4 nights and 3 nights in either Montreux or Lausanne. My first question would be regarding Thun. Is this a good base to take day trips in and around the Bernese Oberland region along with Jungfrau along with the Grindelwald/Wengen/Murren? Additionally, if we wanted to spend the day in Lucerne to view some of the more cultural things would it be doable?

As far as Montreux or Lausanne, which would you recommend? Is it worth just spending the full 3 days in one of these two cities or is it essential to go to Geneva or Bern? Thanks so much and again we are quite open minded to MUST DO/ SEE activities in your opinion.

Hi Austin,

Thun is a good base as it has perfect train connections to many places. It's a bit further away from the mountains and the Jungfrau region though. Traveling times are in the timetable. I would prefer Montreux as it's smaller. Whether to visit Geneva or Bern is solely based on your interests: do go for museums and a picturesque old town (particularly Bern). But for nature and mountains you can skip them.