[Removed user]

22 April 2019 at 6:32:02 #821138

Hi, me and my wife would be travelling to Switzerland and below is my draft itinerary :

22nd June : Arrival at Zurich at 2pm. Catch a train to Lucerne and go to Mount Rigi / Explore the city. Overnight stay at Lucerne

23rd June to 27th June : Visit Mount Pilatus next morning. Take the Golden Pass Line and arrive at Interlaken. Local transport from Interlaken to Lauterbrennen and then to Wengen. We would be staying at Wengen till 28th Morning, so we have 4 full days to explore the nearby area. We would like to do hikes / adventure activities etc. (open for suggestions)

28th June – 30th June : Three nights at Zermatt, we will take train from Wengen through Montreux to Zermatt on 28th and explore Zermatt on 29th – 30th June (open for suggestions)

1st July : Take the Glacier Express from Zermatt to St. Moritz, overnight stay at St. Moritz (Open for suggestions… nearby village setup preferred)

2nd July – Flight from Zurich at 2pm

Questions :

1. Is the above itinerary feasible ? Open for Suggestions / Tips… We are looking to explore nature beauty of Switzerland and not particularly inclined towards cities / culture / museums etc.

2. Suggestions of places to visit / recommendation of hikes during our stay at Wengen given we would be visiting during the last week of June.

3. Given that we will be in Switzerland for 10 days out of which 5 days would be in Wengen and balance in Zermatt, what type of STP is advisable ?

Thank you!

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[Annika]

22 April 2019 at 7:29:52 #910069

Hello Rajdirect99! Thanks for joining MySwissAlps. Let’s take a look at your questions:

1. Yes, most of your itinerary looks fine. Your plans for June 22 might be a bit ambitious, as I don’t know if you’ll feel jet-lagged after your inbound flight. Suggestions for Zermatt can be found at myswissalps.com/zermat t/activities. Recommended towns near St. Moritz are listed at myswissalps.com/stmori tz/hotels.

2. You’ll be visiting Wengen in high season, so pretty much all attractions and hiking trails will be accessible. Please find tips at myswissalps.com/jungfr auregion/activities.

3. Which pass is most economical, can only be told if you make detailed calculations according to the explanation at myswissalps.com/train/ ticketspasses/practica l/chooserailpass. At first glance, I’d say a Swiss Half Fare Card suits your plans: myswissalps.com/swissh alffarecard. It’s not the most convenient option though, as you’ll have to buy (discounted) tickets for each journey. A 15 day Swiss Travel Pass, covering the whole of your stay, might be easier: myswissalps.com/swisst ravelpass. And then there’s the option of combining several regional passes (myswissalps.com/region alpasses). However, that’s not the best option in your case, as options for the Zermatt area are somewhat limited (see myswissalps.com/advent urecard, which doesn’t offer huge advantages over the Swiss Travel Pass and Swiss Half Fare Card coverage), and your one day in St. Moritz doesn’t really justify getting some sort of local pass.

I assume you still need to book your accommodation? I wouldn’t wait too long if I were you. You’ve listed some popular towns such as Wengen and Zermatt, and hotels can get full rather quickly. Our hotel suggestions at myswissalps.com/hotels might be helpful.

[Removed user]

22 April 2019 at 8:00:46 #910070

Thank you for your inputs! I really appreciate it. Loved this website!

Yes, i would check out the stay options mentioned above. Is staying at Zermatt for three nights worth it? Or should we take the Glacier Express a day prior? Any other suggestion along the Glacier Express route towards St. Moritz for scenic stay / hike etc. ?

We were inclined towards Bernina Express as well from St. Moritz but that would be too much travel in limited amount of time! We would rather stick to the Glacier Express towards St. Moritz and then go directly to Zurich.

Thank you once again!

[Annika]

22 April 2019 at 13:54:31 #910071

I think Zermatt is definitely worth a 3 day stay, but such choices are really up to you. There are plenty of nice towns and regions along the Glacier Express route (myswissalps.com/glacie rexpress) that are worth a stop, but that will even further prolong the journey to St. Moritz (which takes more than 7 hours). If I were you I’d just stick to the base towns/regions you’ve planned now and don’t add any new ones.

Indeed, I don’t see how to incorporate the Bernina Express (myswissalps.com/bernin aexpress) in your schedule, other than leaving from Zermatt one day earlier. That would give you a full day in or near St. Moritz to travel part of the Bernina Express and back, before leaving for Zurich on your last day.

[Removed user]

23 April 2019 at 6:39:28 #910072

Thank you! So my Itinerary would be Zurich – Lucerne – Wengen – Zermatt – St. Moritz – Zurich.

We would be covering Golden Line and Glacier Express. We would miss the Bernina Express since we would also like to explore natural beauty and get a feel of the countryside rather than just keep travelling.

I’ll evaluate the cost benefit analysis of the amount of travelling required against the cost of various Pass that Switzerland has to offer. Also, i would draft places to visit during our stay at Wengen and Zermatt and ask for suggestions.

Thank you!

[Removed user]

26 April 2019 at 4:32:45 #910073

Hi, Thank you for all the inputs! I’ve kind of figured out what type of travel pass would be cost effective for our trip. I’m planning to buy half fare card + saver day passes on specific days. It would be great if you can provide a sense check if my conclusion is correct by looking at the day wise amount of travelling involved :

Day 1 : Zurich airport to Lucerne + Mount Rigi (Saver day pass for CHF49 along with half fare card)

Day 2 : Mount Pilatus + Golden pass line from Lucerne to Interlaken + Train from Interlaken to Wengen (Saver day pass for CHF49 along with half fare card, understand that the cogwheel train up to mount Pilatus is not covered under Saver Day pass but is covered for 50% disc under half fare card)

Day 3 to Day 6 : Wengen and surrounding areas, would be mostly doing hikes so will avail 50% discount on mountain trains / cable cars / gondola with the half fare card. Does it make sense to have Saver Day Pass for Jungfrau mountain?

Day 7 : Travel from Interlaken to Montreux to Zermatt (Saver day pass along with half fare card since we will be travelling for almost the entire day)

Day 8 – Day 9 : Hikes around Zermatt, will stick to discounts from half fare card for surrounding hikes.

Day 10 : Glacier Express from Zermatt to St. Moritz – Again Saver day pass + half fare card

Day 11 : St. Moritz to Zurich airport : half fare card.

We intend to travel in second class since there is not much of a difference as compared to cost. It would be great if you can validate the above daily conclusions and let me know if anything needs to be changed. If not, I’ll start buying saver day passes on the days specified above.

Thank you!

[Removed user]

26 April 2019 at 9:25:19 #910074

Hello Rajdirect99,

Quite some maths you’ve been up to lately, I see.

I can’t do all the detailed calculations for you, but if you have used the spreadsheet provided in the link in Annika’s post and have come to this conclusion, you’ll be fine.

To cross-check the validity of the Saver Day Pass and the Swiss Half Fare Card use below links including maps; read the legend:
– http://www.myswissalps.com/sa verdaypass/validity
– http://www.myswissalps.com/sw isshalffarecard/validi ty

For purchase options of both rail passes go here:
– http://www.myswissalps.com/sa verdaypass/price
– http://www.myswissalps.com/sw isshalffarecard/price

Happy journey.

Best,
Steph

[Removed user]

26 April 2019 at 9:46:18 #910075

Thank you! Overall seems reasonable right with respect to the days i would need the saver day passes ? I haven’t done the exact point to point calculation yet as i’m yet to decide the hikes to be done around Wengen and Zermatt.