Accommodation tips for Switzerland, October 2019

Hello

I'll visit Switzerland end of Oct for a week or so. My tentative itinerary below. Need some assistance in determining accommodation. My interest mountain towns, alps and scenic train rides

10/25 - Arrive in Paris from US

10/26 - Paris to Lucerne. Visit Mt Titlis. Stay in Lucerne
(Best transport Train TGV? Any alternate budget train option? Is there discount with STP?)

10/27 - 10/29 - Go to Interlaken. Visit Jungfrau, Murren, Wengen, Gimmelwald, Grindelwald, Schilthorn (weather permitting). Should I stay Interlaken or Murren or Wengen? Prefer scenic towns like Wengen but since end of Oct and weather may be bad there will not be much to do there and also Interlaken has more food options. Please advise

10/30 - 11/01 - Go to Zermatt - Stay 2 nights - Visit Matterhorn

11/02 - Since next day flight from Paris want to stay close to western part of Switzerland. Which place to stay Lausanne or Montreux ? Please advise

11/3 - Flight back to US from Paris

Does above itinerary sound good during this time of the year? Any suggestion on accommodation welcome. Thanks for your help!

Thanks

Surajit

Late October in the alps is pretty quiet. Many hotels close down before reopening for skiing season. Many restaurant , and transportations like cable cars are also closed down. Luzern and Interlaken are better. However lake trips around Interlaken are also closed. Grindelwald is preferable to Wengen and other higher altitude villages during this time. Going in September or early October is much better that end of October.

Hi Surajit77,

Welcome to the forum!

For your ticket from Paris to Lucerne, please check the information on point-to-point tickets here:
www.myswissalps.com/tr aintickets/france

As pvonk pointed out, late October is pretty quiet on the mountains. For your information, most of the cable cars and mountain railways will be closed at this time of the year for maintenance and will only reopen in December for winter activities. If you are worried about things to do and places to eat, best to stay in Interlaken where more choices are available.

You can find information on accommodation in Lucerne, Interlaken, Zermatt, Wengen and Murren from these links:
www.myswissalps.com/lu cerne/hotels
www.myswissalps.com/in terlaken/hotels
www.myswissalps.com/ze rmatt/hotels
www.myswissalps.com/we ngen/hotels
www.myswissalps.com/mu rren/hotels

Since you are travelling to a few places in different parts of Switzerland, we really recommend the Swiss Travel Pass.
www.myswissalps.com/sw isstravelpass
This Pass does cover part of your train trip from Paris to Lucerne and back to Paris later. You can check how it works here: myswissalps.com/swisst ravelpass/howtouse

For the end of your stay, Lausanne is the best option. There's a direct train that goes from Lausanne to Paris-Gare de Lyon 5 times a day. www.myswissalps.com/tr aintickets/france

But please check the timetable before your travels, just to be sure.
www.myswissalps.com/ti metable

Anna

Thanks so much Pvonk and Anna for quick responses!

Understood Sep and Oct first week would have been ideal but I can only go end of October so will try to enjojy what I can at that time. That is why looking for advice which towns will be best to live at that time.

Here is my revised itinenary based on your advice. Please suggest if I should add/remove anything for a better experiece. My interest is visiting Swiss small towns, mountain and scenic places and few scenic train rides.

10/25 - Arrive in Paris from US

10/26 - Paris to Lucerne. Visit Mt Titlis. Stay in Lucerne

(Paris to Basel via TGV? Then Basel to Lucern regional train using STP )

10/27 - 10/29 - Go to Interlaken via train. Visit Jungfrau, Murren, Wengen, Gimmelwald, Grindelwald, Schilthorn (weather permitting). I'll just do day visits to Alps towns like Murien, Wengen, Gimmelwald etc along with Jungfrau, Schilthorn peaks depending on weather

10/30 - 11/01 - Go to Zermatt via train - Stay 2 nights - Visit Matterhorn depending on weather

11/01 - Go to Lausanne via train - Stay at Lausanne

11/2 - Lausanne - Paris via LGV

11/3 - Flight back from Paris

Hi again Surajit77,

The revised itinerary looks good and doable. Just a reminder, most of the mountain railway and cable car in the Jungfrau region will be closed for maintenance from the 28th Oct for a few weeks. If you want to go up the mountains, you might to arrange for an earlier arrival.

To asnwer your question, your inbound travel option could be a TGV from Paris to Basel then a connecting train to Lucerne.
www.myswissalps.com/tr aintickets/france

Be sure to check the timetable before you travel.

www.myswissalps.com/ti metable

Anna

Thanks Anna! Regarding Jungfray region cable car closure i looked up https://www.jungfrau.c h/en-gb/live/operating-info/. Looks like only Firstbahn (Grindelwald - First) and Lauterbrunnen Mürren will be closed during that period. Can I consider this as authentic information or should I call them to confirm?

Hi Surajit77,

Yes, that's for sure accurate information. You will be able to reach Jungfraujoch (www.myswissalps.com/ju ngfraujoch), and you can still reach Mürren (www.myswissalps.com/mu rren) if you take the route Stechelberg-Gimmelwald-Mürren instead of Grütschalp-Mürren (www.myswissalps.com/mu rren/travel).

We stayed in a rental in Zermatt that we found through a group called Mountain Exposure or have a look at accomodations at www.myswissalps.com/ze rmatt/hotels. They were extremely helpful. i'd recommend that you make reservations for dinner since many places are closed until December. We were there in late November and had reservations for each evening, there are places to eat like the Post Hotel which has 2 very nice places, one with hamburgers, sandwiches, etc (Brown Cow) and the other with regular dinners (Stubli). Old Zermatt had fondue and regular dinners. We also ate at some additional upscale restaurants. Have fun it's a great place to visit.

Thanks Annika and Cam223!