72625 posts
Hi David & Angela and welcome to MySwissAlps!
The Ticino region (http://www.myswissalps.com/ti cino) would be a good option for food/wine but you may have had your fill in Italy and looking for a more big mountain experience.
I’d look at splitting your time between Lucerne (http://www.myswissalps.com/lu cerne) and a village in the Jungfrau region (http://www.myswissalps.com/ju ngfrauregion) like Wengen perhaps (wengen).
Though Zermatt is a fairly iconic Swiss town, with the ever-present Matterhorn and is worth a visit, could be a day trip but a long one: http://www.myswissalps.com/ze rmatt
Also South-Western Switzerland, around Montreux could be a good option as well: http://www.myswissalps.com/mo ntreux (vineyards are popular here).
I agree that 2 or 3 base towns is best to limit changing hotels over 10 days if possible. Use the Swiss railways timetable to plan out your travel between towns and mountains.
For ideas on what to do around Switzerland, look here: http://www.myswissalps.com/ac tivities
To look through other popular Swiss towns, to see what might interest you as well, look here: http://www.myswissalps.com/wh eretogo/towns
Are you traveling by train in Europe? Will you have a Eurail Pass of some sort (http://www.myswissalps.com/mu lticountrypasses) or perhaps you want to look at a Swiss rail pass while here? http://www.myswissalps.com/sw issrailpasses
72625 posts
Thanks Lucas
My wife wants to see Zurich so think we will start with a few days there.
1 If we travel and stay in the Wengen area as you suggest, could we visit Lucerne as a day trip or multiple day trips from Zurich, that would save changing accommodation.
2I have read in other posts that there is a scenic train to Wengen or Interlaken that travels via Meiringen, is this correct as it does not come up on the train planning site I have used.
3The Montreux area looks interesting so will definitely investigate that option, we did look at Lausanne but hotels seem very expensive.
Regards
David & Angela
8889 posts
Hello D&A,
You might want to consider staying in Luzern and doing a day (or half-day) trip to Zurich.
The Luzern-Interlaken Express is the “scenic” train you are referring to. It is just a regular train but it forms one leg of the Golden Pass Line (http://www.myswissalps.com/go ldenpass). The most scenic part of the Golden Pass Line is from Zweisimmen to Montreux.
Use the SBB Timetable (http://www.myswissalps.com/ti metable) to plan your travel (it’s the Bible). If you are not familiar with using the timetable it will pay to first read the instructions on that page.
72625 posts
Hi David,
You could do day trips between any of those towns. Uses the timetable from Rockoyster’s post to see travel times and see if it works for you personally. Some people don’t think twice about a 2 hour train ride to explore another town – others won’t want to do that.
Zurich is great for museums, art galleries, shopping, fine dining and other “big city” activities so your wife will enjoy it if that is her interest. http://www.myswissalps.com/zu rich/activities