MySwissAlps.com features ads, commercial and non-commercial 8 day trip WIP itinerary Lucerne & Jungfrau region
-
Hello, new here! I will be making my first trip to Switzerland in May of 2017 (8 days, 9th day for flight).
To get started I will be traveling solo
Ive looked into weather for this time of the year and understand it is unpredictable and can be a hit or a miss for this time of the year depending on which region. If anyone has anymore input on weather please do share. Obviously better weather would be preferred but I’m just happy to be going.
I fly into Zurich and will be arriving in the morning of the 18th and immediately taking the train for Lucerne (i will be getting the travel pass). I plan on staying in Lucerne from the 18th to the 20th. 1st day will be for exploring local lucerne and possibly even a hike around the lake.
2nd day im looking at a day trip to mt. Rigi. I check out in the am on the 20th and will go straight to the boat to start the mt. pilatus day trip (i would have done pilatus the day before but the golden trip does not start till the 20th). Upon returning from that I will take the train to my next base in Lauterbrunnen.
I plan on spending another two full days there exploring the Jungfrau region. This is where I am at in my itinerary so far. Since I will be arriving in lauterbrunnen with half a day left I figured id stay local and check out the falls. Beginning my first full day there I saw a paragliding trip that id certainly would be interested in, after id venture to Wengen and hike Kleine Scheidegg. Upon reaching that point id continue on to grindelwald and spend sometime there. This is where ive run into a question! Id still have half a day left in grindelwald and would like to goto First but i noticed the gondola stops around 4 or 5pm. Would there be any of form of transportation to get back to lauterbrunnen at that point?
The 2nd full day id like to see Harder Klum and possibly venture into Murren. I have yet to decide where to go after this as i am checking out on the 23rd.
Ill have 3 full days left at this point. Any suggestions? Zermatt? Montreux? Lusanne? I plan on heading back to Zurich the day before flying out (26th) so i can the city.
Any and all insight would be welcomed.
I am looking forward to this trip! Thank you!
-
Hi Balan214,
Great that you’re already planning for your trip next May! You’re right, weather is unpredictable, but to be honest that goes for any season. Please see myswissalps.com/weathe r and myswissalps.com/bestti metovisit for further information. Here are some suggestions for your itinerary:
- I assume you plan to get an 8 day Swiss Travel Pass. Please find details and retailers at myswissalps.com/swisst ravelpass.
- day 2: I’m not sure whether you plan to get to Rigi, Pilatus or both. Both would be a bit too much in one day, especially if you need to get to Lauterbrunnen at the end of the day. The pages I linked to describe the journeys, and the timetable will help you to plan your trips in detail;
- you may be a bit optimistic about paragliding, hiking from Wengen to Kleine Scheidegg and visiting First all in one day. If you’re able to arrange for an early paragliding flight this might be doable, but such sports trips generally take a couple of hours and may get delayed due to weather and wind conditions. Please find options at myswissalps.com/activi ties/sports. You’re right, cable cars will be running until the (late) afternoon. It’s absolutely no problem to return from Grindelwald to Lauterbrunnen at that time of the day though, as there’s a frequent train service via Zweisimmen. You’ll find all connections in the timetable I mentioned;
- please find further day trip suggestions for the Jungfrau region at myswissalps.com/jungfr auregion/activities;
- there are lots of options for your remaining 3 days. You could easily spend them all in Lauterbrunnen without getting bored, but if you aim to explore yet another region that’s fine of course. Please see our Zermatt, Montreux and Lausanne pages to find out what attracts you most. Note that all three towns are quite far off from Zurich, so you’ll have to spend a couple of hours on your journey back to Zurich. If you decide to head for the Lake Geneva region, I recommend you use the Golden Pass line.
I hope this helps you out!
Thank you for the Information, as for the Mt. Rigi and Pilatus trips they would be on separate days. I understand trying to take on both in one day would not be practical. As for the hiking, is there a minimum time that they can be hiked? Can you start these trips very early in the morning and continue through sundown for as long as you have a means of transport to get to and from certain points? Thank you for the links, they are providing a wealth of info.
My recommendation would be you can skip Mt Pilatus and instead go for Mt Titlis for next day, I liked Titlis the most because of the longer duration of cable cars and the mountain views, you can check out my trip report as well for any other details
Hi again,
I’m not sure which hikes you’re considering. Our suggestions, including estimated durations, are listed at myswissalps.com/hiking. Sure, as long as there’s daylight and you can still return by public transportation you can hike. I’d be careful about planning hikes at the very end of the afternoon though. Unexpected circumstances may cause delays, and you don’t want to end up in hiking in twilight or missing out on your last connection.
Hi Balan- Looks like you have done some good planing.
The trails are public…no limits on time, except acess bypublictransport.
Check out the timetable:
http://www.myswissalps.com/ti metable
You could easily spend mmore tme ateach of your two listed bases.
Slowpoke
Thank you all, I may reconsider leaving the region, I may just spend my remaining time in the bernese oberland region and take day trips to other parts like Montreux or Bern Then head back to Zurich the day before flight. The links for the hikes and timetables have been most helpful.
- The thread ‘8 day trip WIP itinerary Lucerne & Jungfrau region’ is closed to new replies.
