MySwissAlps.com features ads, commercial and non-commercial 10 days Geneva, Montreux, Lucerne & Jungfrau
-
Hi,
My family is going to arrive into Geneva on 11/24 and depart on 12/3 at 1:30 pm. I would like any advice, criticism or plan changes welcome too, on my plan thus far…..
We are going to bite the bullet and buy the Swiss Rail Pass after using this sites spreadsheet and feeling that for the small extra cost, it will eliminate all stress from the travel portion of the trip.
11/24- arrive Geneva at 10:30- take train to Montreux, stay 2 nights Montreux
11/25- Montreux (Christmas Market… we love them!)
11/26- Depart for Interlaken via Golden Pass Route- Stay Interlaken for (3 or 4 nights… this is where I start to get messed up!)- I would prefer to stay in a Mountain town or Thun but, Thun doesn’t have a lot of lodging options for 6 people and the Mountain Towns this time of year seem like a risk. So, I am using Interlaken as as convenient base.
11/27- Lauterbrunne, Murren and Gimmelwald from Interlaken
11/28-Grindlewald/Glacier Gorge… maybe St. Beautus caves or Brienz- Dependent on time and weather
11/29- Lucerne for the day?
11/30- So… 12/29 and 12/30 are my biggest questions… Should we just continue our stay in Interlaken and do more day trips? Move on to Bern for a day and night? Leave Interlaken after 3 nights and stay in Lucerne for 2 nights?– Keeping in mind the last two days of the trip…SUGGESTIONS ARE SUPER WELCOME!
12/1- Train to Geneva and bus to Annecy, France (concerning above.. I was also considering spending 11/30 day in Bern and then taking a late train to Geneva Airport to spend the night before the bus to Annecy….. 12/1 overnight in Annecy
12/2- Overnight in Annecy (Christmas Market)
12/3- Bus back to Geneva Airport from Annecy- Depart at 1:30 pm.
Can anyone jump in to help with that middle portion? Obviously, we want to spend as much time on the ground as possible and less time traveling but, still get to see as much as possible. We are not interested in Museums but love the outdoors, beautiful landscapes, cobbled streets of cute cities and towns…. not planning on shopping aside from the Christmas Markets but enjoy strolling the small shops…
Thank you!~
-
Hi Marsi,
Glad to know you’ve decided to get the Swiss Travel Pass for your upcoming trip.
Here are my personal thoughts after looking at your itinerary. Firstly, it’s certainly do-able and I think staying in Interlaken is a good option for your family. It has good transportation links and will make it easier for your family to make day trips not just to the Jungfrau region but also to a lot of places. Interlaken to Thun takes half an hour, to Bern about 1 hour and to Lucerne a manageable 2 hours. Other possible day trips: Kandersteg, Hasliberg, Fribourg, for example can be reached in 1.5 hours from Interlaken. So unless you have plans to travel further north /south, my suggestion is to stay in Interlaken for the duration of your stay between 26 to 30 Nov. Some travellers find it exciting staying in different places every 2 or 3 nights and don’t mind packing and unpacking every other day but I personally find it unneccessary and stressful especially if I’m travelling in a big group.
Another thing you should know. The Glacier Gorge is closed to visitors at this time. The St. Beatus Caves is also closed unfortunately 🙁 so you might have to tweak your plans just a little bit. But no worries, since you will be traveling with the Swiss Travel Pass, you can be flexible about your plans. You mentioned you love Christmas Markets, so here’s a link that might be useful 🙂 And a list of other links you could use for your trip:
- Christmas Markets in Switzerland: http://www.myswissalps.com/ac tivities/christmasmark ets
- Golden Pass: http://www.myswissalps.com/go ldenpass
- Hotels near Geneva Airport: http://www.myswissalps.com/ge nevaairporthotels
- Lucerne: http://www.myswissalps.com/lu cerne
- Bern: http://www.myswissalps.com/be rn
- Swiss Travel Pass: http://www.myswissalps.com/sw isstravelpass
- SBB timetable: http://www.myswissalps.com/ti metable
Best regards,
Anna
Thank you Anna! I will definitely take your advice about staying in Interlaken. I like to roam a bit, but I agree with a bigger group it is just a lot of stress and hassle that we don’t need!
My girls like cities, so we will likely take a day trip to Lucerne, Bern or both. Do you have a favorite between the two?
I will also check out your other suggestions since the caves and gorge are closed. 🙁
Having said that, do you think we should stay overnight in Interlaken on the 30th, then training to Geneva and via bus to Annecy, or would that too be stressful?
I guess the alternative would be to spend the night of the 30th in Geneva area and then, wake to catch the bus from there. I imagine we could leave our luggage in a locker and spend the day in Bern or Lausanne, then train to a hotel near the bus line and just drop our heads for the night….
Oh! One more thing… I couldn’t find any reasonable lodging for 6 in Thun, but it appears that there may be in Spiez or Brienz. Would those be good alternatives to Interlaken? We will be spending our days mostly away but, it would be nice to be in a town with a few open restaurants/shops and bakeries.
Hi again Marsi,
Yes I agree, travelling in a big group can be a lot of fun and a lot of hassle too, but when everything’s done and dusted I’m sure we’ll only remember the good times 🙂
To answer your questions: If I have to pick between Bern and Lucerne, I would choose Bern. But if you have time you should visit both . Lucerne is very touristy, Bern is a little more local (I think!), but they’re both interesting places and are especially lovely just before Christmas. Lots of things to see in the town centre at this time of the year just a few weeks before Christmas. In Bern, the bear park is open all year and is free. The Parliament is right in the centre of town. And you could ride up the funicular to the local mountain called Gurten Park. You should check out the links which were provided earlier. Here —> Bern: http://www.myswissalps.com/be rn and Lucerne: http://www.myswissalps.com/lu cerne
As for the other question about whether you should spend the 30th night in Interlaken before heading out to Geneva and Annecy, I suggested earlier that you should. But having read your most recent posting, that you were only able to find accommodation for 6 in Brienz or Spiez, I think you need to look at the timetable again. If your base is Brienz, you need travel to Interlaken to take the train to Geneva, and in Spiez, you will probably travel via Bern. In short, longer train journey and extra connnections. Plus the bus journey, you would be spending like 5 hours just travelling point to point. It would be easier to just spend one night in Geneva, you can relax, explore the city, then catch the bus the next day. But if you don’t mind the long 5-hours journey, stick to Plan A . Sounds more like an adventure but entirely up to you really 🙂
I hope this was helpful and you will finally be able to finalise your trip 🙂
Best regards,
Anna
Thank you Anna.
I have decided to book a place on Lake Brienz. I feel this way, if we get stuck in for weather, we will have a beautiful view to make us happy. 🙂
So, because that means that we are further from Geneva, I have decided for our last day/night of 11/30 in Switzerland to depart Brienz, make our way to Bern for several hours and then train onward to Geneva for an overnight before our bus at 11:35 on 12/1 for Annecy.
I haven’t booked the hotel for that night as of yet because it is going to be costly, and I want to make sure that there aren’t any other towns along the train route from Bern to Geneva that might be less expensive and still get us 1/2 the distance or so from Bern to Geneva.
Do you have any suggestions for that? I am assuming that we would spend a good amount of time in Bern and only leave to train to the hotel to spend the night, but if there was another spot to stop and sleep before Geneva, maybe we could leave early enough from Bern to get a glimpse of the town.
I have checked on the sbb website but can’t seem to find a way to check on the route between the two cities.
Hello Marsi,
You can either go Bern to Geneva via Fribourg or Neuchâtel. See attached for places to stop along the way. Via Fribourg is a direct train but the journey takes pretty much the same time either way. Via Neuchâtel you get some nice views of the lakes and across to the Alps in the distance.
Thank you so much! You guys are amazing. I am finally able to rest and know that our trip will be the best it can be. The weather forecast doesn’t even look bad so, who knows? Maybe we will even be able to paraglide out of Interlaken. So looking forward to “starving ourselves” on bread, cheese and chocolate while we are there.
Hi Marsi,
With your Swiss Travel Pass you won’t need to buy tickets but do yourself a favour and get the SBB Mobile app. I reckon it is by far the best way to check timetables, routes and intermediate stops along the way. The app even shows a platform map (at least at the larger stations) to help you make connections.
Enjoy the “diet” – you will need plenty of calories at this time of year. 😉
Hi Marsi,
Nice to see you’re receiving valuable support here on the forum.
Just quickly some supportive links to keep an eye on the weather. I personally use the MeteoSWISS app, which you’ll find in the second link.
– http://www.myswissalps.com/we ather
– http://www.myswissalps.com/ab outswitzerland/practic al/websitesBest,
StephWonderful! Thank you to you both. I have downloaded the apps and am ready to go!
- The thread ‘10 days Geneva, Montreux, Lucerne & Jungfrau’ is closed to new replies.
