Help regarding my 11day Itinerary

hello Arno/Anika

I have planned a 11 day trip to Switzerland with my cousins from Aug 19 to Aug 31. Initially the plan was for just 7 days and we had already booked our hotels keeping 7 days in mind and hence our route was fixed...but later we icreased our days to 11. Now we can change our route as our hotels are already booked and thinking of rebooking them means taking a big risk considering that most hotels are running full. Hence we stuck with this crazy itinerary trying to do as much as possible.

Day 1 : Arrive Zurich early monring 7.30. Our check in is at 2 , so we would just stroll around Zurich , have lunch and then check in at hotel. Later leave for Appenzell. Overnite at Zurich.

Day 2: Leave for Montruex. Again the check in is at 2. So would keep the luggage at the lockers and take stroll to chateau. Then go to Vevey and Lavaux vineyards. Overnite at Montreux.

Day 3: Visit Saanen & Gstad. On our way to Interlaken. Overnite Interlaken.

Day 4: Jungfrau and Lake Bachlapsee hike. Overnite Interlaken.

Day 5 : Mt.Schillthorn and Tumbellach falls. Visit Lauterbrunnen. Overnite Interlaken.

Day 6 : Leave for Lucerne. Lucerne sightseeing. (if time permists Altesch glacier) or we can just skip it. Overnite Lucerne.

Day 7 : Mt.Titlis. Over nite Lucerne

Day 8 :( These are the added days to our already fixed itineary.) Leave for Brig. Go to sion. post bus to Evolene. Overnite Brig.

Day 9 : Zermatt..if weather is good Matterhorn. Overnite Brig

Day 10 : Brig to Locarno. Verzasca valley. Overnite Brig.

Day 11 : Leave for Zurich. On the way visit Bern. Afternoon...Rhine falls.. Overnite Zurich

Day 12: Fly out.

My query is: Is the Ittinerary okay considering we cant do much to change the route as our hotels are already booked?

Can we do Jungfaru and Lake bachalpsee hike on the same day? when i checked the train from Interlaken to Jungfrau leave at 11. Theres no early train and thats what is making me doubt that i would be able to both. I really dont wanna miss the hike. Jungfrau itself will take 5 hrs for the whole journey and 3 hrs for hike n back. What time is the last train i can take? What should be my route while getting from jungfrau ..like which station should i get down and hike to Bachalpsee?

Is Day 1 and Day 11 plan good enough or do i change something?

On the day we are leaving for Brig...do u think we should go to brig and then to sion and bck? or Should we go directly from Lucerne to Sion and then to Brig?

We have not booked any special trains and will be taking local regional trains. Hence i wanted to know which train and which route should i take for Brig to Locarno? the route to Domosdolla requires a reservation?

Same thing for Montreux to Gstaad and Saanen...we will be taking the local trains becos we dont have reservations. Are there trains on that route apart from the special train that runs?

I know i have been asking too many questions...but i am really confused with all the information available...Hence wanted a correct idea of things as we are just a month away from our trip. Please help me out.

Thanks in advance.

Hi Divyas,

Thanks for joining us! I think it's wise to not change your hotel booking now. That could indeed be difficult in high season, so you should only do so if you can cancel the bookings and are sure that other hotels are available.

Basically your itinary is fine. It's quite a lot for 11 days, but you know that already :-) A few days are not very practical. For example: on day 1, I don't think you will reach Appenzell before 5:30 PM. There's very little time left to do or see something. I would do that first and check into the hotel upon returning to Zurich. Day 6: the Aletsch glacier is not en route here. You'd better skip that and enjoy Lucerne instead. On day 11: be sure to reach the falls in time to do a boat trip there. That means you may not have a lot of time in Bern. You can check the timetable to see traveling times for all your plans. The timetable also shows which route to take and whether you need reservations.

Yes, you can visit the Jungfraujoch and do the hike in one day. There are trains to the Jungfraujoch all day long, not just at 11:00. Again, see the timetable for details. After the Jungfraujoch you take a train to Kleine Scheidegg, then a train to Grindelwald, where you can walk to the gondola to First.

I would skip Saanen, unless you have a specific reason to go there.

You may have a rail pass already, but if not: a Swiss Saver Pass is the best way to cover all the traveling. See the Swiss Pass page for details, and don't forget about the promotion, because buying online will save you money.

I hope these suggestions and links have helped you out!

Hi annika,

Thank you so much for all your help. This was the most helpful reply i ever got from anybody. I have noted down your advice about Appenzell and Lucerne, and will do exactly as ypu said. Do we keep our luggage in the lockers at zurich airport or appenzell?

You mentioned that we need to get bck on time for the boat trip to Rhinefalls. What time is the boat tour? And schauffasen is the station we need to get down at right or stein am rhein?

Yes i really want to see Saanen. And i checked the train timings on the site u gave. It shows 2 trains one is the one with D mentioned..i guess this is the golden panorama and the other is R mentioned. I am confused as to this R is reservation required or the train name Reggio? If i take the golden panorama from montreux to saanen, do i need to make reservations or i can get in without reservations??

Thanks in advance.

Hi divyas,

I am glad the reply was useful for you! The easiest way to visit Appenzell is to put your luggage in the lockers at the airport rail station, then go to Appenzell. On the way back, get off at the airport, collect your luggage, and take the next train for the last 10 minutes of the ride to Zurich main station.

The Rhine Falls page explains about how to get there (train stop: Schloss Laufen am Rheinfall) and has links to the boat operating times. I think they operate until the end of the afternoon, like 6 PM.

In the timetable, you need to look in the column "Comments". That shows whether or not you need reservations, but they're not required for almost all Swiss domestic trains. The column "Travel with" shows the train type, but that's not really relevant. Passes and tickets are valid for all train types.

Best regards,

Arno

Hi,

we just came back from a wonderful trip of Switzerland today. We stayed there for 9 days. First two nights in Basel. Basel Paper museum, Doll museum and the Kunst Museum were really nice. Then we stayed in Interlaken west for 5 days. This was our base. From there, we visited Harder Kulm, schuh chocolate show and a boat trip in the lake Brienz other than roaming around the city. Next two days were raining, so we visited Luzern city. Did a boat trip to go upto Mt. Pilatus. Came back by boat and visited the Transport museum. After that, we took the Luzern city tour. Luzern is a beautiful city. The boat trip is highly recommended. I loved it. Next day, we went to Bern. And on our way back, we took the train to go to Lauterbrunnen. Simply loved it. Next day, the weather was nice, so we went to Jungfrau via Grindelwald and Kleine Schiedegg . It was extremely hot on the top. We did sledging in Jungfraujoch. On our fifth day stay in Interlaken, we went to walk around the valleys. We went to Mürren, Allmendhubel via Lauterbrunnen. We absolutely loved walking around these places. The next day we took the Glacier Express from Zermatt to go to St. Moritz. We reached st. Moritz almost evening. The journey was excellent, though not good for taking pictures as you can't roll down the train windows. But, we enjoyed the relaxed and beautiful journey. Next day in St. Moritz, we went to see the glacier in Piz Nair and in Diavolezza. It was stunningly beautiful. The place was not crowded and we could enjoy the serenity of the place. Today, as we're coming back to Basel to catch our flight, we got down in Zurich and did a city tour and a boat ride in Lake Zurich. This was unplanned, but as our flight was late in the night, we could spend some time in Zurich. And Zurich to Basel is just 1hour train journey. We totally enjoyed our Switzerland vacation. We were very much impressed with the well-connected Swiss transport system. We had an 8 day Swiss family pass, which covered most of our transport needs. Switzerland is expensive, but a lovely country to visit at least once.

Thanks very much

Hi,

I forgot to mention in my previous reply that we also visited the Trummelbach falls on our way back from Allmendhubel. It was amazing!

thanks and regards

Hi Beauty,

Many thanks for reporting back here! If you post this in a separate topic as explained here, your trip report may win you a hotel voucher. And more people will see your story. I am glad you had such a great time!

Thanks very much, Arno. We really had a great time and I sincerely appreciate your effort to keep the forum very active and so helpful. I was very much benefitted by the opinions of different people in the forum. I would surely write about my experience of Switzerland separately as told by you.

Thanks & kind regards,

Beauty

Hello arno, annika and beauty,

Thank you so much for your replies and advice. It helped me a lot. I really appreciate it.

Just one question.. can i do geneva, lavaux and montreux on one day itself considering we will be travelling from zurich the same day.

And can we do verzasca valley and swiss miniature on same day from brig as a day trip?

Hi divyas,

Theoretically you can spend an hour or two in Geneva, take a train ride through the Lavaux area and spend some time in Montreux. But I think you would enjoy it more if you do just one or two things on a day that also includes a long train ride: it takes 2.5 to 3 hours to reach Geneva from Zurich, and you also have to travel back. See the timetable I referred to on July 18 to see what can be done within one day. The same applies to your other plan. Just focus on one thing to make sure you will fully experience and enjoy that one place.

Hi annika,

I think your right. We are skipping geneva :( ..it becomes too tiring also.

can you plz help me with the verzasca valley and swissminiature planning.

We were planning to visit verzasca valley first ..by going to locarno and then to verzasca...we will spend some time there..walk to sognogo village and then bck to locarno..and then to melide for swissminiature...but the prob is..swissminiature closes at 6 , so will we be able to do that??

Or u think we should first do swissminiature and then go to verzasca valley?? I think by the time we reach locarno aftr doing these two places it wud be 7 :(

Hi divyas,

I understand you want to see as much as possible, but it's just too much for a day. You'd better pick one destination only, or pick a base in the canton of Ticino, so that you're close to the sites you're interested in. Brig is at least 3.5 hours from Swiss miniature in Melide. It is impossible to add another attraction/site. My advice is to take the time to enjoy one site and come back to Switzerland later to see more!

Thank you annika. Like u advised i think i will stick to verzasca valley only. Otherwise it wud be too hectic.

Do u think instead of my original plan om Day 4 : jungfrau and Lake Bachlapsee hike. And D

ay 5 : Mt.Schillthorn and Tumbellach falls. Visit Lauterbrunnen. I could do the reverse. Like day 4 : jungfrau with trumellbach falls and lauterbrunnen and Day 5 : schillthorn , murren and bachalpsee hike.

Would that make more sense??

What is the cost of The Ebenalp cable car in appenzell that takes you to wildkirchi ? Is it a short hike to wildkirchi from ebenalb car station omce ur up and then bck to the cable car to go down? Is there a discount with the super saver swiss pass??

Hi divyas!

You can best stick to your original plan: Jungfraujoch and Bachalpsee on day 4 and Schilthorn and the Trümmelbach falls on day 5. That's because First and the Bachalpsee are a bit far off from the Schilthorn and Mürren. You can check traveling times in the timetable I mentioned in my first post (do mind your spelling when entering destinations).

Fares for the Ebenalp cable car can be found here. The Swiss Saver Pass should entitle you to a discount. You can do some easy hiking once you're up there: this page will be of help.