Feedback on planned 10-day itinerary across Swiss

Hi,

I am planing to go to Swiss at the end of the year(around end of December - Early January) for around 10 days. From my initial research, I was thinking about this route of travel:

Zurich -> lucerne -> Interlaken -> Zermatt -> St. Moritz

I wanted to get any feedback on this planned itinerary and if this was feasible to do in 10 days, or if it would be better cutting out a city from this list. Also, I would very much appreciate it if you could give me suggestions on how long to stay in each city.

Thanks.

Hi Longjeong -

Welcome to the forum

You can do that trip nicely in 10 days. You'll wish you hd more time in each place, of course. ;-)

St. Moritz is the outlier in terms of travel time and "off the route" of the other 4 regions/cities.

You will probably want to adjust the time spent in each city and the rail travel time to emphasize time in Luzern, the towns near Interlaken, and, maybe Zermatt.

Most people find Interlaken to be a better transport hub and travel connection point, rather than a destination to explore as a tourist. Nearby villages such as Lauterbrunnen, Grindelwald and Wengen have much more scenic beauty and trains and "ski" lifts to take. See -

www.myswissalps.com/be rneseoberland

Late December is very busy in the alpine resorts. You may find hotels already full. Arno and Annika can offer suggestions after your itinerary is more specific.

The time table will help you with your travel timing -

www.myswissalps.com/ti metable

The "Where to Go" section of this forum, as well as the "What to Do" section will give you more ideas about the locations.

Keep in touch as you lay out a possible itinerary.

Slowpoke

Hi Slowpoke,

Thank you for your reply.

Taking into consideration your initial suggestions, I have drafted a brief Itinerary as follows:

Trip would be from December 28th - January 6th, we havent nailed down the dates just yet.

Zurich (Dec 28th)- Arrive in the morning- Leave for lucerne late-afternoon Lucerne (Dec 28th - Dec 30th) - Arrive evening- Spend 2 nights 3 days - Leave early-afternoon to a city in Interlaken(Lauterbrunnen, Grindelwald or Wengen), (Dec 30th - Jan 3rd) - Arrive mid-afternoon- Spend 4 nights 5 days - Day trip to montreux via goldenpass route- Day trip to Bern

Zermatt (Jan 3rd - Jan 5th)- Spend 2 nights 3 days- Back to Zurich in the morning

Zurich (Jan 5th to Jan 6th)- Arrive afternoon- Spend a night here- Flight out in the morning

I haven't been able to choose a town in Interlaken yet, given that we would be spending our new years and the most days there, which village would you recommend out of the three?

Also, we decided to take out St. Mortiz from the itinerary and instead add in days to take day trips to Bern and Montreux.

Any suggestions on improving or changing the itinerary would be much appreciated.

Many thanks,

LongJeong

<<"I haven't been able to choose a town in Interlaken yet, given that we would be spending our new years and the most days there, which village would you recommend out of the three?">>

Your choice may be dictated by room availability, but a multiday stay often has a better chance in holiday season.

I like Wengen. Others like Mürren. Others like Grindelwald. Others like Lauterbrunnen.

Wengen and Mürren are up on the mountainsides.

All are connected by good public transport; Lauterbrunne, Wengen and grindelwald are on the cograil train which passes over Kleine Scheidegg and has a branch to Jungfraujoch.

Mürren has a couple of connections to the the travel network and the cograil station at Lauterbrunnen either via Stechelberg or via Grütschalp.

Schilthorn is above Mürren and offers an alternative to Jungfraujoch, or a supplement..

Ski season starts in mid-December, and most lifts are operating then. There will be snow at higher elevations and many hiking trails will be closed for hiking. Some may be accessible; don't know which.

Look at a map -

map.geo.admin.ch/?X=160720.00&Y=638120.0 0&zoom=5&topic=swissto po&lang=en&bgLayer=ch. swisstopo.pixelkarte-farbe&layers=ch.swisst opo.swissimage-product

or

map.classic.search.ch/

A fan of Wengen has posted this guide:

www.myswissalps.com/fo rum/topic/tips-about-wengen-and-the-jungfrau-region-by-kim

Enter Wengen in the main search box for this website on the home page, and you will find a lot of posts about choosing one village or another.

This may help with hotels.

Arno and Annika - the forum moderators - know that region well and might have a suggestion about a hotel.

Please let us/them know about the size of your party, and ages if there are any elderly people or very young people.

It can help with suggestions and hotels.

Slowpoke.

As you have suggested, I will choose the town in Jungfrau-region depending on the hotel availability, as all the town seems to be close to each other and all very beautiful.

We will be a party of three as I will be travelling with my brother(early-twenties) and my mom(early-fifties) and I am in my early-twenties as well.

We are looking to have a mix of relaxed sightseeing and activities(hiking and skiing) and looking to stay in affordable hotels.

Kind Regards,

LongJeong

P.S. would it better to buy a rail-pass given the cities we will be travelling ?

Hi LongJeong,

A rail pass will certainly help you save money. How to pick the right one is explained at myswissalps.com/train/ ticketspasses/practica l/chooserailpass. The downloadable pass comparison and calculation sheet there may also be of help.

Looking at the itinerary you've posted above, I suggest you look into a Swiss Travel Pass Flex Combi. It allows days of free traveling, to be used for the longer and more expensive journeys, and a 50% discount for shorter local trips in between. Please find explanation on how it works and a validity overview at myswissalps.com/swisst ravelpassflex and www.myswissalps.com/sw isstransferticket/pric e. Purchase options can be found there too; make sure to pick the "Combi" variant from the drop-down list. The cheapest option for you would be www.raileurope-world.com.