How to make a fabulous journey from Geneve airport

Hello there...

Could you give me some advice for travelling in Switzerland for 4D3N?

D1 : Arriving at Geneve airport at 8.30am

D2 : jungfraujoch ( stay overnight at interlaken ost )

D3 : No plan ( stay overnight at basel)

D4 : Train to salzburg ( 07.30am)

the place i want to visit :

Luzerne - engelberg - mt titlis

zermatt-matterhorn

grindelwald, wengen, murren, lauterbrunnen

And should i buy swiss travel pass for this itinerary?

Many Thanks for ur attention

Hi triasina,

Welcome to MySwissAlps! I would not stay in Basel on the third day. If you stay an additional day in Interlaken you can see more of that region (Grindelwald, Mürren, etc.). If you stay in Lucerne you can visit Mount Titlis from there. Basel is not near anything on your wish list. You could try to visit Zermatt on day 1 and travel to Interlaken in the evening. It would be a very short visit, but if the weather is good you would be able to see the Matterhorn. From the Gornergrat, for example.

With this amount of traveling a Swiss Travel Pass would indeed be very convenient. Please see myswissalps.com/ swisstravelpass for all the details.

All the links provide lots of additional information to complete your planning. Just let us know if any questions remain.

Hi Tiasina -

The itinerary that you suggest includes only 2 nights.....but you say 4D3N.

Could you clarify?

If you are going onward to Salzburg, there are quite good connections from Zürich, and, as Arno notes, you would not need to go all the way back to Basel, on the wrong side of the country. You might travel from Interlaken to Zürich via Bern to catch the train to Salzburg

Slowpoke

Yeahh my mistake, i didnt see the map first, and i already bought a ticket from basel to salzburg. Should be from zurich. Yesterday i wrote an email to oebb.at to ask is it possible change route to salzburg from zurich? Still waiting their answer.

Here's my plan, kindly need ur advice/input :

Day 1 : geneva airport - lucerne - mt titlis - interlaken

Day 2 : jungfraujoch - interlaken

Day 3 : interlaken to zermatt and stay in basel

Day 4 : basel to salzburg

on day 2, can i go to grindewald/wengen/murren after visit jungfraujoch ?

Very appreciate and Many thanks

Day 1 and Day 3 look rather long. Without checking the timetable, I'm guessing they are possible, but may not give you much time at the intermediate stops. Hope I'm wrong.

See what the timetable says:

www.myswissalps.com/ti metable

Use Kleintitlis station for Titlis.

The timetable defaults to the fastest routes. They are not necessarily the most scenic.

Use the "via" box in the timetable, once you have opened it, to force routes away from the fastest.

Interlaken to Zermatt is much much more scenic if you have the time to travel through Kandersteg.

Geneva to Luzern- via Zweissimmen takes the Golden Pass route.

www.myswissalps.com/go ldenpass

. That probably is not possible for your schedule, however. But, you can check.

Slowpoke

On day 2 you'll pass by Wengen and Grindelwald so they're easy to visit. See here for the route details. Mürren would be a side trip but doable if you don't start your day too late.

Have fun!

Hi Triasina -

I spent some time with the timetable and came away somewhat confused.

The timetable routed me from Basel SBB to Salzburg via Germany....e.g., via Mannheim. 7 1/2 hours or thereabouts.

If I select Basel SBB to Salzburg with a "via" through Zürich I get 6 1/2 hours, more or less, with fewer changes of train.

The default mode is supposed to b be the fastest route. Did not happen.

Zürich to Salzburg is as short as 5 hours 23 minutes on the fastest trains.. Basel SBB to Zürich - 53 minutes (twice per hour at xx07 and xx33 longer with other connections.)

If your ticket routes you through Zürich already, you might get a partial refund if you get to Zürich by another way....or, at least see what the costs would be.

Inside Switzerland, unless you have reserved seats on a specific train, you can use a ticket at any time on the valid date.

If, indeed, your route is through Germany, then you'd need a whole different ticket for that part of your journey.

By the way, when are you traveling? Makes a difference for the Jungfrau region and what you can do there.

Slowpoke

Dear All :)

yupp i'll take 6.30 hours from basel to salzburg.

Im going to geneva on may 5th and to jungfraujoch on may 6th.

i already see the timetable, the short duration from geneva is to lucerne compare to zermatt, so i make a plan to go to lucerne on day 1, but i dont know is it right or not

My friend told me that he bought tageskarte pass, and he bought it in Switzerland, could you tell me the difference between this and swiss pass? Is it cheaper?

Many thanks for ur attention

Hi triasina,

I've not heard of a tageskarte pass before. Tageskarte means day pass. There are day passes for Swiss Half Fare Card holders, but I don't think buying that card and day cards on top of it would make sense for you.

The Swiss Pass was discontinued in 2014. There's the Swiss Travel Pass now. With the amount of traveling you've planned, that should be the cheaper and more convenient option. Of course you can do the math if you want to be 100% sure.

Lucerne is about 3 hours from Geneva, and Zermatt close to 4 hours. The timetable that was mentioned before shows all the details.

<<"yupp i'll take 6.30 hours from basel to salzburg.">>

Since you are going on the Swiss routing, Possibly you could even ignore the first section of your ticket, and consider it wasted money. However, I'd stop in the ticket office at Basel and see if they could issue a revised ticket and give you a credit toward different routing. If your ticket was not issued by Swiss Rail, I don't know if that would work. You could also ask them what happens if you start to use your ticket to Austria at Zürich, rather than Basel.

Slowpoke

@slowpoke: i think on day 1 i only go to luzern and engelberg, Could you tell me which place should i visit? And how to book golden pass route if i want to go to interlaken from lucern. (Sorry i still dont understand)

and for day 3 if i want to go to zermatt and matterhorn from interlaken ost, which station i should go to, could you tell me the direction? Stay overnight in basel

really need ur help, thank you

Hi triasina,

There's nothing to book if you have a Swiss Travel Pass. You simply board the train, pick a seat, and enjoy the ride. Please see myswissalps.com/golden pass/tickets and myswissalps.com/swisst ravelpass/validity.

The trip from Interlaken Ost to Zermatt and any other trip can be found in the timetable Slowpoke mentioned. There's only one station in Zermatt so you can't go wrong. The Gornergrat cogwheel train departs from the other side of the street. It offers the best views of the Matterhorn in my opinion.

@Arno : thank you very much ya, very helpful :)

<<"@slowpoke: i think on day 1 i only go to luzern and engelberg, Could you tell me which place should i visit?">>

Adding to what Arno has said, I am attaching a screen capture from the timetable for a random day in February.

You did not tell us when you are traveling.......so I chose a date at random.

The timetable computer has selected the fastest route to Engelberg +Luzern. It does NOT go through Montreux , then Zeisimmen, which would be much slower. (In fact, that route through Montreux and Zweisimmen is the western most segment of the Golden Pass Route.)

If you open the timetable and make the entries I have shown, then select a journey and open it, you will get some options at the bottom of that section of the timetable. You can get a map, and also a list of all intermediate stations.

The fastest routing is the one shown, which goes through Bern to Luzern, then to Engelberg, then back to Luzern.

That routing shows that you have 8 minutes in Engelberg. Obviously, you will want to take a later train to Luzern if you spend any time at Engelberg or on Titlis. (Back to Luzern at xx01, 48 minutes to Luzern, runs till 2201, with a couple of later connections by bus.)

Another option could be to stay in Engelberg, although Luzen has a lot more to see and do.

<<"And how to book golden pass route if i want to go to interlaken from lucern. (Sorry i still dont understand)">>

I have attached a screen shot. Make sure you tell the timetable to route through Meiringen or else it might choose a routing that is not on the Golden Pass ( or, same thing, Interlaken-Luzern Express.)

Hope this helps you understand the tricks of using the timetable to determine your routing.

If you use the timetable to understand the trip from Interlaken Ost to Basel via Zermatt, you will see that it sends you from IO to Spiez to Visp to Zermatt. The total trip duration is 5 hrs 59 minutes to Basel, with almost no time in Zermatt..

Since you will want to have a few hours in Zermatt, obviously, you will take a later train to Basel than what I have shown.

The computer uses the fast route from Spiez to Visp through the new lower "basis tunnel" which goes through the mountains well underneath Kandersteg. Not much scenery in a tunnel.

Going toward Zermatt from IO, there is also a very scenic route from Spiez to Visp by way of the older, higher route through Kandersteg, BUT it adds a significant time to the journey.

If you go from Zermatt to Zürich, instead of Basel, that leg of the trip takes almost exactly the same time....about 3 1/4 hours more or less.

Slowpoke

@slowpoke

Im going to zermat from interlaken on may 7th, when i try to use timetable, it only takes 3hours 16minutes to basel from zermatt,

Why the schedule can be different between feb and may? Hopefully nothing change on may :)

Please advice also on day 2 : jungfraujoch

Which route i should pick? Lauterbrunnen first and after that grindewald/wengen on the way back from jungfraujoch? Is it free take a train to lauterbrunnen /grindewald from interlaken usibg swiss pass or disc 50%?

So what the best itinerary for day 2 if i want to go to grindewald/wengen /murren?

Sorry for many question, many thanks for your kindness

<<"Im going to zermat from interlaken on may 7th, when i try to use timetable, it only takes 3hours 16minutes to basel from zermatt,">>

On the schedule I showed by screen capture attached to my earlier post, it takes 3 hours and 22 minutes from Zermatt to Basel SBB. Pretty close to 3 hours and 16 minutes. Each route with multiple connections can have somewhat different total times for each journey. You need to check different connections for the route at the times near when you want to travel. The timetable helps you by displaying four journeys when you first use it. You also have the option to select earlier or later journeys.

As I said in that post, -

<<"If you go from Zermatt to Zürich, instead of Basel, that leg of the triptakes almost exactly the same time....about 3 1/4 hours more or less.">>

If you do not understand that the screen capture I posted says 3 hours and 22 minutes from Zermatt to Basel, let me know, and I'll mark up the schedule and re-post it for May 7.

Slowpoke.

<<"Which route i should pick? Lauterbrunnen first and after thatgrindewald/wengen on the way back from jungfraujoch? Is it free take atrain to lauterbrunnen /grindewald from interlaken usibg swiss pass ordisc 50%?So what the best itinerary for day 2 if i want to go to grindewald/wengen /murren? ">>

If you look at the timetable and expand the selected journey then select "show intermediate stops", you can see the intermediate stops... Also, if you look at a map, you can clarify the routings.That should make clear the relationships betweenthe towns you mention.

map.search.ch/?x=-24904m&y=-28560m&z=16

Also, perhaps Arno or Annika can help with these questions, since they involve rail passes.. They are the experts on that.

Slowpoke

Hi Triasina,

The link I already gave you shows everything included and discounted in the Swiss Travel Pass. If it's not clear, please let me know and we'll look into it.

Whether you go via Lauterbrunnen first and Grindelwald later is up to you. I slightly prefer that order, but both directions are fine. The route details can be found on the Jungfraujoch page.

Hi Triasina -

You wrote:

<<"Which route i should pick? Lauterbrunnen first and after that grindewald/wengen on the way back from jungfraujoch?">>

Arno wrote:

<<"Whether you go via Lauterbrunnen first and Grindelwald later is up toyou. I slightly prefer that order, but both directions are fine. Theroute details can be found on the Jungfraujoch page.">>

Grindelwald and Wengen are on opposite sides of the Männlichen massif.

Wengen is close to Lauterbrunnen. Mürren is also not too far from Lauterbrunnen.

Grindelwald is a quite some distance away from Lauterbrunnen.

Check the map:

map.search.ch/?z=16&x=-26664m&y=-27472m

Slowpoke