[Removed user]

13 February 2018 at 3:38:40 #814349

We are planning a 12-13 day trip to Switzerlandin June/July. . We are youngish(mid 30s), fit and active. We like culture, hiking, great food, art, nature and upscale hotels. We basically work super hard all year for this vacation:)! Below is my plan- please let me know if you see something wonky or if i am missing anything? Does the travel flow work, would you remove or add any day trips? Am i missing an important place- heard Montreux is amazing. Thanks again so much for your help. Flying into Zurich and out of Geneva

Zurich 2 nights with possible day trip to Appenzell

Luzern 2 nights

Interlaken or Grindelwald 3 nights with day trip to Bern

Zermatt 3 nights

Geneva 1 night

Thanks again for your help!

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[Removed user]

13 February 2018 at 10:26:14 #876235

Hi Amyvo, and welcome to MySwissAlps,

After a year of hard work, I can’t think of a better place to spend your holidays.

If you’re not going to Appenzell, I wouldn’t stay two nights in Zurich. I personally can’t tell you whether it’s worth the trip,because I haven’t been there. One of our other moderators wrote a trip report which you might find interesting to read: http://www.myswissalps.com/fo rum/topic/ebenalp-appenzell-from-zurich-day-trip.

My recommendation is not to stay in Interlaken. Grindelwald is a much better choice. Wengen tends to be the town of choice in the Jungfrau Region at MySwissAlps.

I would include Montreux in your trip. If you don’t have a very early flight from Geneva, you may want to skip Geneva and go straight to the airport from Montreux. The famous Montreux Jazz Festival takes place from 29 June – 14 July. If you can, try to be there. Since you like upscale hotels, I could recommend Le Mirador Resort and Spa, which is not too far away from Montreux. The vue from there is absolutely fabulous.

Be sure to check as well:

• Attractions and other things to do in Switzerland
• Plan your trip
• Rail passes and tickets in Switzerland

[Mark]

13 February 2018 at 23:21:51 #876236

Hi Amy

if you enjoy upscale hotels you might consider the Riffelalp resort hotel in Zermatt. we stayed there this past September. It is pricey but has some unique features. It is above Zermatt and you have a great view of the Matterhorn from almost all rooms and even the heated outdoor pool. The spa is first rate and the rooms and common areas have been newly remodeled about a year ago. Check out its website.

The Beausite Park Hote l in Wengen is also very nice with good accommodations and food. I would suggest checking out the TripAdvisor website for reviews from those who have stayed there. You will need to change the default “ best deals” filter to highest rated to see a full list and review.

As for hiking in the Jungfrau region there are many great hikes. If your up for a classic and somewhat challenging hike check out First to Schynige Platte ( or the reverse direction). It is 9.3 miles and rated at 6.5 hrs hiking. THe trail is well maintained and marked. You can get more info on the myswissalps website.. mark

[Peterli]

14 February 2018 at 0:08:37 #876237

Hi Amy,

Since you are flying into Zurich, the beginning of your trip will be the most logical time to go to Appenzell, and you can go up the Säntis, the highest mountain in that part of Switzerland, which is very close to there. Check out the following site and watch the video ! She is talking German but the visuals are amazing: saentisbahn.ch/en/ This entire part of Switzerland is very charming and you will not regret visiting it. See attached map, on which I have indicated Kloten, Zürich, Appenzell, and the Säntis. If you wanted to stay overnight in the Appenzell area, I’m am sure you could find a nice place. There is a very nice hotel in Schwägalp, at the foot of the cable car that goes up the mountain. Check out this and decide if it is upscale enough ! saentisbahn.ch/en/saen tis-the-hotel/

Is this your first trip to Switzerland ? I will get back to you with more suggestions, but for now I will just leave you with a couple of comments and/or suggestions: First, I suspect that 3 nights in Zermatt is over-doing it. Second, you definitely should not miss Montreux and that area along Lake Geneva (the Léman).

One more thing for now: Am I correct in assuming that you will have some sort of rail pass for these 12-13 days ?

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[Removed user]

14 February 2018 at 1:52:39 #876238

Thank you so much for all of your help. Great ideas and i will definitely be going to the jazz festival. Curious about zurich- not a recommendation of yours? I have read great things about it. Thanks again for your help and expertise!

[Removed user]

14 February 2018 at 1:56:32 #876239

Thank you Marki! Definitely doing that hike. i think we are moving our trip to Wengen instead of Grindelwald. Also thank you for the zermatt hotel recommendation- somewhere we definitelymight stay.

[Removed user]

14 February 2018 at 2:14:49 #876240

Thank you so much peterli! I really appreciate the comments and help. To answer a few of your questions.

1- yes first time to Switzerland

2- yes we will be getting a rail pass. I see a lot of discussions on the rail pass but think we can just get a 15 day Swiss travel pass that will allow for u limited travel? This might be a horrible idea but i haven’t put much time or energy into figuring this part out yet.

3-thanks for the zermatt comment. We have changed things up a bit per all of the comments and i think the below is what we will do as of now

Fly into Zurich and head straight to Luzern

2 nights Luzern

3 nights Wenden with day trip to bern

2 nights zermatt

2 nights Montreux

2 nights zurich with day trip to appenzell

We removed Geneva and will be just flying in and out of zurich. It’s hard to not want to see everything- like St. Moritz and Basel look awesome. But i have to realize i can’t see everything!

Let me know your thoughts! Thanks again and again!

Sent from my iPhone

[Mark]

14 February 2018 at 3:31:27 #876241

As you can probably guess, no one will agree that an itinerary is perfect. My thoughts are that your time is better spent at places other than Zurich,old town is good for a half day of browsing. I would disagree about Zermatt. We stayed there 4 days and found plenty to do. There is good hiking around Fluhalp and Grindjisee. Great hikes around Gornergrat and Riffelsee. We ran out of time before exploring Matterhorn glacier paradise,reportedly good hiking also. Yes Zermatt is touristy but many good restaurants and shops if you so inclined. As stated before we really enjoyed our hotel,Riffelalp resort.

We have stayed in Wengen several times and it definitely has a different feel from Zermatt. More casual and less glitzy. Hiking in Bernese Oberland in my opinion is the best in Switzerland.

I noted you are changing towns and hotels 5 times. Keep in mind each time you move it will take most of the day, by the time you check out of your hotel, transfer to the train station, wait for the train, ride the train,transfer to the next hotel, check in, then unpack. You might consider limiting you base to maybe 3 towns and take day trips es needed. That way you avoid some of the wasted time spent changing hotels. It’s true you may not see quite as much but it may be more enjoyable and less stressful. Mark

[Removed user]

14 February 2018 at 14:59:51 #876242

Thank you so much for this information!

I get the travel and checking in and time that could waste and was worried about that.

I have changed it up a bit- i realize not every itinerary is perfect but this i think would work for us.

Fly into Zurich and head straight to Luzern

Luzern 3 nights

Wengen 3 nights with day trip to Bern

Zermatt 2 nights

Montreux 3 nights

Head to Zurich and Fly out of Zurich

Questions-

if i keep this one would you suggest the 3 nights in Montreux and 2 nights in zermatt or would you swap it?

To have 3 home bases i could remove zermatt and Montreux and add St. Moritz. Of course i hear wonderful things about all 3:)

Again thank you thank you so much! All of the advice has been so helpful.

[Mark]

14 February 2018 at 22:37:18 #876243

I don’t have any special insight to which options would suit you best. Personally I’m more familiar with Zermatt so I’m partial to 3 days in Zermatt. But honestly if it ment only changing hotels 3 times, I would seriously consider St. Moritz instead of Zermatt and Montreux. It will give you an excuse to return to Switzerland again soon.

I would be curious what Chantal,our moderator thinks. Mark

[Removed user]

15 February 2018 at 7:42:42 #876244

Hi Amyvo617,

If you haven’t had a chance to read our web pages on Zermatt and Montreux please do – it might help choosing between them easier.

If you want more mountain experiences and hiking I’d lean to the extra night in Zermatt. Montreux however is a very nice town on Lake Geneva with nearby chocolate and cheese factories, lake cruises, as well as a few nearby mountains like Rochers-de-Naye and the Glacier 3000. It also has the Golden Pass line which you can take to Gstaad (and then bus to Glacier 3000).

I haven’t been to St. Moritz but it certainly has its own charm as well (think similar to Zermatt).

[Removed user]

15 February 2018 at 7:46:33 #876245

Hello, take you for the post above it has been helpful. We (myself, wife and 9 year old son) will be spending 3 weeks in Switzerland. We arrive on the 14th into zurich, staying 2 nights then to lucerne for 7 nights, we plan on using lucerne as our base to travel for day travels, will spend 1 day in bern, Mount Tiltis, Mount Pilatus, Jungfraujoch top of Europe day trip and for the extra day, Day trip to Heidiland and Liechtenstein tour, of course a day to see lucerne. we then travel to geneva for 4 nights, which i think might be too much based on what i am reading, we plan a stop in Montreux on our way via the goldpass rail to montreux then to geneva, from there we go to zermatt then take the glacier express and getitng off at Chur and connecting to Zurich to return home on august 3, 2018. My questions:

1. Is going to Jungfrau form lucerne for a day trip advisable or do we have to stay in interlaken ost(or wenger or grindelwald), if so any suggestions for hotel.

2. is is worth going to tiltis and pilatis or is one better over the other

3. how many days should we stay in geneva, we anticipate leaving lucerne on the 23rd stopping in montreux and getting to Geneva at night. Any other thought s where we could go form geneva if 4 days is too much, we were told Paris is 4 hours away and we would consider a day or overnight trip, any thoughts

4. In Zermatt we plan on a 2 night stay going to the matterhorn mountain then taking the glacier express to chur then zurich where we have another 3 days before heading back home. Should we go to St. Moritz,

5. Any other places we can go for those extra days i think that we don’t need in Zurich anymore and also maybe 1-2 days in Geneva, we are open to traveling nearby countries on an overnight trip or day trip

6. What kind of clothing, should we bring for the summer, knowing we will be up the mountains a lot. Understanding that we will be traveling with a young son and 2 suitcases with backpacks, we want to pack what is the least amount of clothing as possible. Do we need winter coats, if we need to buy winter clothing are they available during the summer months.

7. Lastly, i am getting confused with all the different rail passes, since we will be in Switzerland for 21 days, should we buy a 15 day and a 8 day travel pass or should we buy a 15 day flex pass and buy local tickets for the days we go sightseeing locally.

Will be awaiting your expert inputs. Thank you

[Removed user]

15 February 2018 at 7:50:56 #876246

Hi Moorjani and welcome to MySwissAlps!

Could I ask you to start a new thread with your trip questions here?

It will be easier to keep track of your questions when they aren’t mixed in with Amyvo617’s questions – you’ll also get more replies for your questions on your own thread. 🙂

Thanks!