Itinerary advice - 8 days staying at Wengen

I am travelling to Swiss in the last week of Aug 2015 and would request for some advice on the Itinerary and the train pass to buy. I will arrivein Basel Airport on Saturday around 2:30 PM and departing from Geneva on the following Sunday. So I have a total of 9 days including the arrival and departure dates.

• Day 1: Arrival in Basel Airport. Take train to Wengen from Basel.
• Day 2: Rhine falls- Zurich:
• Day 3: Mt Titlis
• Day 4: Wengen - Glacier express. Can you please let me know which will be nearest station from Wengen?
• Day 5: Wengen- Lucerne- Interlaken
• Day 6: Zermatt
• Day 7: Jungfrau
• Day 8 & 9 : Geneva

For this Itinerary we planned to purchase 8 day Swiss pass. Since we are doing an extensive travel, will Swiss pass for 8 days be the apt one? If I get a swiss pass, will the Lauterbrunnen- Wengwald route be covered? Any suggestions would be highly appreciated. Many Thanks in advance.

Thanks for sharing your plans here Edinburgh! It's indeed a whole lot of traveling, so a Swiss Travel Pass would fit your plans (it's no longer called Swiss Pass, see here). You can use it for day 1 to 8. Within Geneva you can reach many sights on foot, and if you need public transport it's free if you have booked a hotel in town (see here). You live in the UK, so you can buy your pass through www.swisstravelsystem. co.uk. That will save you time upon arrival. The pass is ready to use after you've filled out your name and passport number, so you can go straight to the bus to the Basel main station. Further retailers are listed here.

The Glacier Express is not near Wengen. You would first need to travel to Brig and board it there. Then get off the train in Chur, or even further if you like. It will be a very long day. The train is covered by the Swiss Travel Pass, but you do need seat reservations.

Lauterbrunnen to Wengwald is covered as well. Further details about what's covered can be found here.

Hi -

Edinburgh-

Your journey has bits and pieces that do not fit well together, as Arno noted.

Take a look at a map and a train schedule: You might wish to re-order the trips.

map.classic.search.ch/

www.sbb.ch/en/home.htm l

Thanks Arno and slowpoke for the reply.

"Your journey has bits and pieces that do not fit well together" could you please let me know in specific. I am unable to figure out which journey that it doesn't fit?

Many Thanks for all the help.

<<""Your journey has bits and pieces that do not fit well together" could you please let me know in specific. I am unable to figure out which journey that it doesn't fit?">>

The Glacier Express is the hardest part to fit in.

Here is a start -

Day 1- why go to Wengen? Instead, stay up north and see a bit of Zürich on the evening of your arrival day.

Day 2 - Some more Zurich and Rhine falls; transit to Luzern. Explore some of yje city.

Stay in Luzern .

Day 3 - Tilis and return to Luzern, (or Titlis and continue to Wengen, but, only if you are finished with Luzern.

Day 4 - Explore Luzen area - lake boats, Rigi, maybe a walk on one of the trails around the lake region.

Finish with trip to Wengen.

Day 5 and 6 - do not go back and forth from Wengen/Interlaken to Luzern. Explore Jungfrau region for one or two days.. Maybe find your way to Zermatt and some of the train routes used by the Glacier Express.

Day -6 or 7

Not finished this recommendation - had to run an errand.

Itwould be easy to finish up with Zermatt and rail in the mountains, or, alternatively.

Maybe Geneva would fit in in the early sections... still thinking. Your proposal had too many back and forhs to Wengen; it is a bit off the main rail routes, so you lose almost an hour getting out to Interlaken to pick up other trains.

More later

Thank you very much Slowpoke. The Reason why there is lot of to and fro Wengen is , we have booked the apartment for 8 days in Wengen. We depart from geneva and hence we wanted to stay the last two days in Geneva. Please advice accordingly. Many Thanks,

<<"The Reason why there is lot of to and fro Wengen is , we have booked the apartment for 8 days in Wengen. We depart from geneva and hence we wanted to stay the last two days in Geneva. Please advice accordingly.">>

OK.

Will do.

That will take a bit of work, because you have picked some places quite distant from Wengen.

I'll see what I can suggest, but, for a start, I'd spend more time in the Jungfrau region and the Berner oberland, and less traveling to a variety of wide spread places. For an 8 day trip with your interests, I'd normally recommend at least two bases, instead of one.

I would tend to cut back on the more distant excursions Arno has made that point already.

Slowpoke

For activities in the area (Bernese Oberland), please see myswissalps.com/ berneseoberland/ activities.

Pardon me, Edinburgh, but why in the world are you basing in Wengen -- which is the number one most beautiful spot in the entire country in my opinion -- and not planning to be there at all? Your itinerary makes no sense whatsoever. You will spend your entire holiday on trains, watching the country go by like you are watching it on television. Which would be far more relaxing.

Have you actually looked at the wonderful number of things to do and see right under your nose with a Wengen base? Please start with Arno's recommended link. If you want more info about Wengen and the region you will find a series of PDFs at www.myswissalps.com/fo rum/topic/tips-about-wengen-and-the-jungfrau-region-by-kim

Hi Kim-

You said it more bluntly than I would. It is hard to beat me on that score . Congratulations.! ;-)

Edinurgh seems intent to visit a certain number of places with well known names, rather than figure out how to get the best out of his trip. That is my superficial opinion based on skimpy data. ;-(

After one false start without complete data, I have not yet tried again to make sense for him of a Swiss Travel Holiday, based on disparate locations, with added data about end station presented only after I had begun to work on the problem. I'm planning to get to it when I have a couple of of hours free.

If he can change his locations for sleeping, there is more potential to see all those things in the short time he has available. Or, the simple answer is stay in Wengen and enjoy it. ;-)

At this moment, I believe that Edinburgh should settle in at Wengen, look at the places he wishes to visit WITH MAP AND TRAIN TIMETABLE IN HAND, and select day trips based on his tolerance for long hours sitting on trains. We are not needed for that exercise....many of the targets will be in the B.O. (hopefully.)

Otherwise, he has to adjust his hotel reservations and have a couple of bases more attuned to the travel network.

Slowpoke

PS - Herr Allenspach was very nice to us, and the house exceeded the high standards that are the norm for Switzerland. I found the kitchen to be too creative for my tastes ( not that I did not enjoy my meal), but my 18 year old grandson, who has a rather sophisticated palate, really enjoyed every bit of the food. And, the hotel in general.

Slowpoke, glad to hear your stay at Hotel Schönegg was enjoyable. It is a great place indeed!

<<"Slowpoke, glad to hear your stay at Hotel Schönegg was enjoyable. It is a great place indeed!">>

Here are a couple of strong kitchens that you might enjoy:

Hotel Bergsonne, Rigi Kaltbad First;

and,

Hotel Kreuz Dallenwil.

The bergsonne has a strong kitchen and a wine list from the best regions of the world.

( I did not check what they have from Sicily.)

Hi all!

Slowpoke and Kim, thanks for your tips. You’re both very experienced travelers and we highly appreciate your input here in the forum. But please address all forum members friendly, as asked for in our forum rules. Everyone here’s trying to make the best out of their holidays, which can be a long and complex process if you don’t know that much about the country. Other travelers’ tips are a great help in that case, even more so if they’re friendly, rather than blunt or impatient. In the end, any itinerary is fine as long as the traveler is happy with it, even if it’s very different from your own preferences.

Thanks for your commitment!

Annika

Thank you Arno for the links. I found it useful for replanning my trip.

Thanks for the suggestions Kim11 and SlowPoke . I am replanning my itinerary to make the best use of my 8 days.

Wengen is a bit isolated, to help get away from the rest of the world. There is a lot to do there and near there, as Kim's report demonstrates.

Any train trip starts with the 51 minute connection to Interlaken Ost, where you join the mainline network.

The locations you have listed are a on the order of 3 to 4 (or more) hours from Wengen. They are ceratainly worthwhile destinations. Bern is a bit closer and is a nice town with real character. Only 52 minutes from Interlaken Ost.

I agree with Arno that the Glacier express is quite hard to reach, but it can be picked up in Zermatt. (3 + hours away) or Brig, which is 2 hours from Wengen. But, then it takes you further away from Wengen as it goes eastward.

If you are willing to change your sleeping location you can have a second base at Luzern, as one example. Or, you could finish up at Zermatt before going on to Geneva. No single base or set of 2 bases lets you visit all those places with ease. If you really want to see some of them, you will need to pick the day and make a very long day trip. That can be done on the spur of the moment, but should involve an early start. Train reservations are not needed. Just get on and go.

I can't offer anything more than the timetable and a map, plus the links you have seen.

Actually, I can suggest a way to get more information.

The cities all have their own web sites.

And, these two give a lot of information about all parts of Switzerland:

www.myswitzerland.com/ en-us/home.html?gclid=Cj0KEQjwo7auBRCO toqn_s-G7aMBEiQAxArNrFKf3a1cA H9VHcI6yaon2WGYO4SPZyn ZWp7-H3ixAUkaAt498P8HAQ

and , for all non-motorized transportation (look at the header tabs.) -

www.wanderland.ch/en/h iking-in-switzerland.html

The timetable is essential, as is a map. www.myswissalps.com/ timetable

Other wise, you are going to trade off some very long rides vs. sleeping close to Wengen.

Hi Edinburgh, Im a regular visitor to Wengen during August and you will not be disappointed with this magical resort for your forthcoming trip. There is plenty to do in the area to suit all interests. If you like walking there are plenty of hikes to go on both long and short, these are well marked and you can get a free walking map to help in the information centre. The Lauterbrunnen Valley is beautiful and this can be combined with a circular trip: take the cable car from Lauterbrunnen up to Grutschalp where you get the train to the tiny village of Murren. From there you can get the cable car to the Schilthorn of James Bond fame. Take the cable car from the top of the Schilthorn back down to Stechelberg where a bus will be waiting to take you back to Lauterbrunnen. You can get off the bus on the way back and visit the Trummelbach water falls. A trip to the Jungfraujoch is a must and this is easily achievable from the railway station at Wengen. Take a trip to Grindelwald either by train or via the cable car to the top of the Mannlichen where you then get the gondola cable car down to Grindelwald. In Grindelwald there are many things to do; a trip up the First where there is an easy hike either to Bachalpsee or to Grosse Scheidegg. A trip on Lake Brienz is well worth it with a stop at Isetwald and the Geisbach Waterfalls. Whatever you do, you will not be disappointed and hopefully these suggestions will help.

And, Schynige Platte, and Bern, also Thun.

Thank you very much Jayjay and Slowpoke for the input. I have reduced my travel with all these wonderful suggestions .

Kim11, your guide on the Wengen was the most useful one for me to plan it. It is an end to end guide for me to know more about WENGEN area. Thank you very much for your inputs.