Arrival in Geneva-stay in Bern,Interlaken,Lucerne?

Thanks in advance for the guidance! I've outlined our rough itinerary below followed by a question.

We are planning on arriving in Geneva on a Tuesday at 13:00. I would like to see Lausanne(Olympic Museum and ferry to Evian on Wednesday), see Chillon Castle and travel by train to Interlaken on Thursday, we plan to stay somewhere around Interlaken Thursday-Sunday nights and visit Jungfrau one day along with two other day trips, Bern Monday and Monday night and train to Innsbruck Tuesday morning.

My question: Is it better to schedule a day trip to Bern while in Interlaken and stay a night in Lucerne instead of Bern to connect via Zurich for Innsbruck? Everything I've read says Lucerne is a must but I don't know if we have time for a quality visit.

Thanks again!

-Travis

Hi Travis-

Welcome to My Swiss Alps.

I'd plan on Bern as a short day trip from either Interlaken or Luzern, or skip it on such a short visit..

However, your possibilities are influenced tremendously by the time of year. 4 Days in the Jungfrau region in April or May are not as good as time in or near Luzern....in my opinion, that is. In the summer or in September, could go the other way.

Your Wednesday is not crowded.

When are you traveling?

This will help your planning -

www.myswissalps.com/ti metable

Slowpoke

Thanks for the reply Slowpoke. I knew I forgot something in my post, we will be traveling the second half of August. What do you think of the following?

Thursday visit Chillon castle and then Interlaken from Montreux with the GoldenPass to Zweisimmen and regional train, Friday to Monday Jungfrau region-take a day trip to Bern, Tuesday early Luzern-Interlaken Express from Interlaken to Lucerne, Wednesday-train to Innsbruck(moved from Tuesday)

Thanks!

First thought...looks good. Needs another look on my part. At least you will see a bit of what you are missing in Luzern. ;-)

Slowpoke

Slowpoke,

Your help is great, thank you. With our trip being in August, would you recommend taking a day out of our Jungfrau stay or castle visit day to make room for another day in Lucerne?

Now you are down to hard choices and individual preferences.

I think I might go for 3 full days at the Jungfrau region, then go on to Luzern for a day and 1/2 or thereabouts.

Stay at Wengen, Grindelwald, Mürren or Lauterbrunnen, not Interlaken

From my perspective, a sunny day up on the easy trail from Männlichen to Kleine Scheidegg beats any other thing you will be able to do.

August is high season, so it might be hard to do this. But, in September or late June or maybe July, I would go to one of the above names villages on schedule. If I got great waether early on, then I'd try to move to Luzern sooner. If the weather was not so clear, I'd try Bern, Brienz, lake boats, Lauterbrunnen Valley floor and hang around waiting for a good forecast.

If you ever hope to go back, you ought to at least get a day in Luzern to appreciate how much you'll have to look forward to. ;-)

www.myswissalps.com/lu cerne

For the Wengen/Männlichen region, check the pictures in this thread, toward the end. There is also nice one of Pilatus from Luzern.

www.myswissalps.com/fo rum/topic/is-my-planned-itinerary-possible

Also, this thread shows some of the southern part of the lake, with a few nice pictures:

www.myswissalps.com/fo rum/topic/the-swiss-path-and-southern-lake-lucerne

Also, some pictures of/from Hammetschwand, near Luzern. Currently, due to construction, a bit awkward/slow to get there by public transportation. Maybe next trip.

www.myswissalps.com/fo rum/topic/the-hammetschwand-lift

Slowpoke