From Paris to Switzerland - what to do?

Hi jessicasam,

Welcome to MySwissAlps! This page is a great help to start planning. Also you can have experts plan and book your trip if you prefer. See here for that option please.

One can spend weeks in Switzerland and not do the same things twice, so 3 to 4 nights is quite limited. But it's enough for a first impression. For first time visitors, the Lake Lucerne area and the Jungfrau region are very suitable. Both regions offer a lot to see and do.

Please look into the resources I linked to, and feel free to get back here for further questions. In that case, please let us know when you will be traveling. The season is important as activities in Winter and Summer are very different.

I would recommend not to drive. There's no advantage in renting a car in most cases. The train system is superb: safe, clean, eco-friendly and great views. You can learn all about traveling in Switzerland here. There are wonderful high speed trains to reach Switzerland from Paris much quicker than by car.

Hi jessicasam,

All three places on your list are beautiful. One thing that's important to know about Zermatt is that it is located at the end of a valley, rather isolated, so there's a relatively small area that is easy and quickly to access. To see more of the country, one needs to get out of the valley and that takes time. If there would be bad weather when you're there, that's a limitation because there are not many bad weather activities in Zermatt. For first time visitors, the other two options are better in my opinion. Zermatt is car free, and so is most of the area around Grindelwald. That results in a pretty and quiet Alpine landscape to enjoy.

A 10 minute transfer time is enough most of the time. The required time depends on the rail station and involved platforms. A simple cross platform change only takes in minute. In other cases there's a few minutes of walking involved. Usually no problem at all if you can carry your own luggage and don't dawdle. Even if you miss a train there's always a next one. Apart from the train from Paris to Basel, you don't have to book any trains inside Switzerland in advance. Just get a rail pass (see here) and board any train.

When will you be traveling? Note that in Winter, hiking is limited to prepared Winter trails only.