8 day trip Oct 16 to 24 itinerary advice

We will be traveling to Switzerland with our 2 daughters age 13 and 15. My wife and I are early 50s. I have the following plans. We will have a 8 day Swiss Travel Pass

Arrive in Zurich at 8 am travel to Lucerne Sunday and Monday. We would like to do boat ride and trip to Rigi on one of those days depending on weather. Visit the city on the other day.

Travel to Wengen via golden pass route and spend Tuesday and Wednesday there perhaps Thursday depending on weather. Hoping to get a couple of late season hikes,walks in but understand weather may prevent this. Perhaps Mannlichen to Kline Scheidegg or a nice walk near Murren. We would consider First or Jungfraujoch or scilthorn. Of course all of this is weather dependant. I have looked at the rainy day activities to do in the area so we have some back up.

Travel to via golden pass route Lausanne or Montreux for Friday Saturday Sunday. We would like to visit Gruyere and Broc one day and Chateau Chillon. I lived in Lausanne 30 years ago for 6 months. I'm wondering if any have opinions on whether to base in Montreux or Lausanne for those three days.

Return Sunday night for a Monday flight back to the USA. Our flight leaves at 13 15 on Monday.

Here are my questions.

1 Is it unreasonable to do Rigi on Sunday if the weather is good? It appears poosible based on the time table.

2. Is a day trip advisable to zermatt from Wengen if the weather looks better there than in the Jungfraujoch region

3. If the weather is poor in any of our regions is a day trip feasible to one of the Swiss Italian cities. Is any better for a day visit. I have looked at the timetables and know this would mean most of the day on a train, but wonder if an option particularly if Wengen weather is bad.

4. Is Lausanne or Montreux a better base for that part of the trip?

5. Our travel pass runs out on Sunday. We can either stay near the airport or stay one night in Bern and purchase a ticket to the airport Monday am. Would Bern be worth a Sunday afternoon visit?

5. Any tips or suggestions are welcome. We are most interested in mountain scenery, but understand that weather may severely limit this. We all enjoy train rides so travel isn't too much of a problem.

I appreciate all the information in the forum

Richard

Hi Richard,

1. That's certainly an option. You can take a boat or a train from Lucerne: myswissalps.com/ rigi.

2. Well, it takes over 3 hours to reach Zermatt from Wengen. So you're looking at 6.5 hours of just traveling, and even more if you would consider the scenic route via Kandersteg. Personally I would prefer something closer, but if the weather is considerably better and you don't mind the long trip you can certainly do it. It won't cost you anything as a Swiss Travel Pass holder. It would be great to visit the Gornergrat (50% off).

If Wengen is cloudy the nearby lakes (Lake Thun and Lake Brienz) could be sunny. No guarantee, but it's worth it to keep that in mind.

3. That would also take a lot of time from Wengen. You can check the timetable for a round trip Wengen - Domodossola - Locarno - Bellinzona, then either Lucerne - Wengen or Göschenen - Andermatt - Brig - Wengen or the bus from Göschenen to Meiringen. But all of this is very time consuming.

4. It doesn't make a difference for your trip to Gruyères. You can check our Lausanne and Montreux pages to see which town you prefer. Lausanne is much bigger than Montreux and farther from the mountains.

5. Yes, the historical town center of Bern is definitely worth a visit. You can find airport hotels here. You could visit Bern and still go to Zurich in the evening.

I hope this was useful!

Bern-

A few pictures.

The Rosegareden will still be nice, but past its prime.

Slowpoke