How to spend 5 days in Switzerland in October?

Hello!!

I'm looking for the beat itinerary for a 5 night stay in Switzerland. My plane arrives in Basel on Thursday October 1st at 22:00. Considering the time, I'm not sure what there will be to do the night we arrive. My flight leaves from Geneva very early Tuesday morning. I would like to stay in 2-3 different cities. I was thinking 2 nights somewhere in the mountains. 1 night inn a city with a fun and young night life and my last night in Geneva so I can be close to the airport. I'm most interested in nature. Top things I would like to see are: Matterhorn, Jungfraujoch, Jungfrau and Rhine Falls. And I would like to have an evening of night/party life.

Looking for any tips or suggestions. Thank you!!!!!

Welcome to MySwissAlps, Abbysimonis!

If you're mainly interested in nature, the larger cities are not the best bases. However, an itinerary could look like this: first, spend one or two days in Zurich. That's a good base for the Rhine Falls and you'll definitely get to enjoy culture and night life there. Next, move on to Interlaken or a nearby town in the Jungfrau region for your visit to the Jungfraujoch and some other day trips. For the last leg, travel to Geneva (you can do so by Golden Pass) and spend your last night in Geneva. You can choose from hotels in Geneva or airport hotels, allowing you to easily catch your morning flight. This example doesn't include Zermatt for views of the Matterhorn, but it's a a bit much to combine all your wishes in just a few days. Of course there are many other options, and if you don't mind long trips each day, you would be able to get to Zermatt too. The timetable allows you to plan for such trips.

Please review these planning tips for further ideas on how to create an itinerary that suits your needs.

Thanks for the reply! It was very helpful. Now I'm trying to figure out if I should buy the rail pass. I'll be traveling from Basel to Zurich then to mountain hostel in gimmewald for two nights and then from their to Geneva for one night.

Hi Abbysimonis,

A Swiss Transfer Ticket Combi would work for you. It includes the trips to and from Gimmelwald, and a 50% discount on trips you'll make during your stay. Please see myswissalps.com/ swisstransferticket for details. You'll find retailers there too. The cheapest option currently is www.raileurope-world.com/pass/swiss-transfer-ticket-half-fare.

More about rail passes can be found here.

I just looked into that but it says it is only valid for 2 days within a month and I will be using the train 3 days.

Hi again,

It's valid for up to one month actually. You can use your outbound trip up to a month after the inbound trip. And you'll get a 50% discount on all days in between (just one in your case). It's all explained on the first link I gave you (click "How to use"). Note that I am talking about the Combi variant.