Help with Switzerland Itinerary and Swiss Pass

My husband and I are planning a trip to Switzerland in May. We are from Singapore. Here is our draft itinerary. Is the Swiss Pass worth it for us to buy? Can you please suggest some other places so we can see more during our trip?

May 21 - Arrive at Zurich - take train to Lucerne

May 21 - Visit Pilatus

May 22 - Enjoy Lucerne/ Mt Tiltis?

May 23 - Taken Golden Pass to Wengen/Interlaken - take a lake cruise? Any suggestions are welcome

May 24 - Visit Jungfrau

May 25 - Interlaken - another mountain? Please suggest.

May 26 - Interlaken? Or proceed to Bern? Or Zurich? Please suggest.

May 27 - Back to Zurich

May 28 - Zurich

May 29 -Home

Hi Angeline, welcome to MySwissAlps,

It looks like you will travel a lot. An 8-day Swiss Travel Pass will for sure be the most convenient option as you can simply hop on and off trains and boats without buying tickets. Whether it's also the cheapest option can be calculated once you have finalized your itinerary. The Swiss Pass does not exist any more (see here).

A few suggestions:

• May 22: please see the Lucerne page for suggestions. Mount Rigi is free with a Swiss Travel Pass.
• May 23: you can get off the train in Brienz and take a boat to Interlaken. Before that you could even take the cogwheel train up to Planalp and have lunch in the restaurant. Normally this train goes all the way to the summit of the Brienzer Rothorn, but it's early in the season so it just goes half way.
• May 25-26: there's not much to see in Interlaken, but a lot in the surrounding region. Please see the Bernese Oberland page. I would spend the remaining days here and not stay in Bern too. Bern can be visited as a day trip from Interlaken, or on the day you move to Zurich.

Thank you for your prompt response Annika! How long is the Golden Pass from Lucerne to Wengen/Interlaken please? If it is not too long I would prefer to take it the whole way instead of dropping off at Brienz. We can then do a cruisw on Lake Thun when we get to Interlaken. I hope that is doable if we arrive sometime early afternoon. And may I ask if it is better to stay in Wengen or Interlaken? How far is Wengen to Jangfrau or the Schiltorn please? If it is much nearer from Interlaken we will stay there rather than travel from Wengen. We are not early risers so by the time we leave the hotel it is usually 9.30 am at the earliest. Please suggest popular and nice hotels in Lucerne, Interlaken and Wengen. We prefer to be in the centre of things in Lucerne but in Interlaken we have no preference...a room with a view to die for would be nice.

You're welcome Angeline!

All traveling times can be found in the timetable. Please mind the spelling of places to get accurate information: Jungfraujoch, Schilthorn.

The Golden Pass line goes all the way from Lucerne via Interlaken to Montreux. See the Golden Pass page for route details. Having said that, you've seen the best part of the Lucerne to Interlaken section once you have reached Brienz. The 1 hour boat ride is more scenic than the 20 minute train ride. You'll basically see the same scenery but the train is quicker and crosses tunnels. You'll see more from the boat.

You can find our hotel suggestions here:

• myswissalps.com/ lucerne/ hotels
• myswissalps.com/ interlaken/ hotels

In order to help you with accommodation I would suggest to post a new thread in the hotel forum (find instructions here).

Hi Angeline -

Annika's suggestion to catch the boat at Brienz makes excellent sense, for the reasons she described. . Brienz itself is interesting, particularly the Jobin Wood carving museum and shop, about 10 minutes walk (or less) from the train staion/boat dock. (they are next each other.) So, if you get into Brienz with some time to spare, you might like to take a look.

To better understand the suggestion, look at Brienz on the map:

map.search.ch/

And, the cograil up to Planalp is really a nice experience.

Slowpoke

Thank you Annika and Slowpoke! So we will get off at Brienz. Just a question : the boat ride is on calm water right? Cos my husband tends to get sea sick very easily and he will certainly not enjoy the scenery if he is busy throwing up haha! I just remembered, we will be having luggage with us as we are moving on the Wengen or Interlaken for a few nights...will it be inconvenient for us to lug our bags with us to the boat? And luggage up the cogwheel in Planalp? Not sure if that will work?

The water is calm. Look before you board, if you are concerned.

You may leave your luggage at the station if you choose to do an excursion. Of course, if you have no time, simply take it to the boat and board. Or, stay with the train.

Use the timetable to decide on timing.

www.myswissalps.com/ti metable

Here are the hours for the luggage office at Brienz, where you may leave your luggage and retrieve it: the info was obtained from the SBB website:

0820 to 1140 and 1320 to 1745

Apparently only on weekdays. You'll be OK on Monday the 23rd.

Surprisingly, there seem to be no lockers...(look under the equipment tab.)

The distance between train and boat is bout 150 meters. No steps.

Look at the map and zoom in, using aerial view.

map.classic.search.ch/

Slowpoke