Itinerary planning Zermatt to Lugano

I hope you can help me with my itinerary planning please.

We will be in Switzerland for the first 9 days/9 nights of October 2016. I am happy with my planning for the first half of the trip, ie 2 nights in Zurich, then onto Interlaken for 3 nights (via Lucerne) where we will take day trips to Bern and Jungfraujoch.

We will then go to Zermatt for 1 night and take the Glacier Express the following day. This is where I am having difficulty; where to stay for the next 2 nights as we continue around (on the Bernina Express) to Lugano, our final night before moving on to Italy. Or could we just have one overnight stop and spend 2 nights in Lugano or would the train trips be too long?

One other question: does the train run between Tirano and Lugano in early October or only the bus?

Thank you

Hi RobynB-

Welcome the My Swiss Alps forums.

Wonderful time of year to visit Switzerland, before cold weather arrives.

Why do you wish to spend 2 nights in Zürich? That is a serious question. ;-).

l love the town, but never recommend it to first-time visitors...

Slowpoke

Hi slowpoke. We will be flying directly from Australia 24hrs and felt we would want to stay put to adjust.. what do you recommend?

<<"Hi slowpoke. We will be flying directly from Australia 24hrs and felt we would want to stay put to adjust.. what do you recommend?">>

G'day Robyn -

That makes excellent sense. I do that even when I come from the States with a 6 hour time difference and only an 8 or 9 hour flight.

Certainly, if you stay reasonably close to the main station in Zürich, you can walk around and also easily take some kind of short day trip if you wish. I can add a few more ideas of my own if that remains your plan.

www.myswissalps.com/zu rich

I posted some ideas for walking around Zürich for a few hours for JaneQ, well along in this thread:

www.myswissalps.com/fo rum/topic/swiss-itinerary-for-december-2015/page/2

See also:

www.myswissalps.com/fo rum/topic/traveling-with-kids4-6-yrs-whats-for-them

for a couple of comments about Zürich, part way down.

I note your comment about going to Interlaken Luzern ( German spelling) .

www.myswissalps.com/lu cerne

You could consider going to Luzern directly upon arrival. In October, the hordes of tourists will have become mere crowds, and hotels will be more available. Luzern is usually the first place recommended fora first trip to Switzerland. A great variety of things to see and things to do easily; more scenic than Zürich.

If the idea appeals, I can post a few images to help persuade you when I have my other computer running.

Here's your chance to practice with the timetable:

www.myswissalps.com/ti metable

Start at Zürich Airport or Flughafen (German for airport) and terminate at Luzern. Put in your date and start about 30 minutes after your arrival time. You will see that there are two trains every hour to Luzern.

One is direct (at xx47), the other requires a change at Zürich. That change is a bit tight with some connections, but not impossible, or, you can catch the next one if you miss that one. ( Considerably more detail is available on using Zürich Main Station - Zürich Hauptbahnhof, "Hbf" if you want it.)

www.sbb.ch/en/station-services/am-bahnhof/railway-stations/shopville-zuerich-main-station.html

After a 24 hour flight to a country with a time change of 7 to 9 hours, depending on where you depart from Australia, itr could be a good idea to grab abite and cup of tea in the food court in the train station and wait for the direct.

In the time table, click on the "+" to the left of a journey to get details, and access footnotes which include a map of the journey.

See attached screen grab

The ones at xx47 are direct.

You can then use that tool to check your other plans for time and options about the latter part of your trip.

A map will be useful:

map.search.ch/?x=26840m&y=36816m&z=4

If you use the menu under "Points of interest," you can make icons appear for all the various public transport options.

Slowpoke

The Glacier Express terminates in St. Moritz. The town itself or nearby villages are a wonderful place to stay for a few nights (or weeks!). Plenty to see in that area. Then you can take the Bernina Express (board in Samedan or Pontresina for example) or any regional train to Tirano and the Bernina Express bus to Lugano. The bus operates until October 23. There is no train from Tirano to Lugano. Only to Milan.

Further information is here:

• myswissalps.com/ glacierexpress
• myswissalps.com/ berninaexpress
• myswissalps.com/ stmoritz

G'day Robyn -

I mentioned in my previous post that I could post a few photos from around Luzern and the lake. A lake boat ride is a way to relax when jet lagged. However, it doesn't give you much exercise. ;-) There are several routes available.

Here are a few photos of Luzern and sites close by or within easy travel distance. Some are attached; some are in other posts. The photos in the thread about the Swiss Path are associated with a description of a hike that is not the main reason for posting here. I've linked the thread here just to show some ideas of what Lake Luzern looks like from a lake boat or from places around the lake. Of course, if you are hikers and want to do a short trek for exercise, the thread and the associated information about the Swiss Path may be of interest.

www.myswissalps.com/fo rum/topic/the-swiss-path-and-southern-lake-lucerne

This thread shows some pictures taken when we were lucky enough to get some striking views from Rigi Kaltbad:

www.myswissalps.com/fo rum/topic/best-way-to-visit-mt-pilatus-from-seelisberg

There is a huge quantity of photos of Luzern almost anywhere you might look on the internet. My Swiss Alps has a few:

www.myswissalps.com/lu cerne/pictures

as does the Switzerland Tourism site:

www.myswitzerland.com/ en-us/lucerne.html

www.myswitzerland.com/ en-us/lake-vierwaldstaettersee.ht ml

and the city of Luzern site:

www.luzern.com/en/mult imedia/photogallery

Slowpoke

>> We will be in Switzerland for the first 9 days/9 nights of October 2016. I am happy with my planning for the first half of the trip, ie 2 nights in Zurich, then onto Interlaken for 3 nights (via Lucerne) where we will take day trips to Bern and Jungfraujoch.

We will then go to Zermatt for 1 night

>> We will be flying directly from Australia 24hrs and felt we would want to stay put to adjust.. what do you recommend?

Hi Robyn,

Have I understood correctly that you intend to spend 2 nights in Zürich and the next 3 nights in Interlaken, but are not staying overnight in Luzern/Lucerne?

There is plenty of information already posted here about Luzern, and I agree it would be a nicer place than Zürich to stay for your first two nights :-) (Although I love Zürich too!)

What time does your flight arrive? Even if you could leave your luggage at your hotel, you most likely wouldn't have access to your room until 2pm or 3pm. If your flight arrival time means you would have to wait at least one hour before getting access to your hotel room, you could consider skipping Zürich and going straight to Luzern from the airport, because Luzern is only about 1 hour from Zürich Flughafen (Zürich Airport).

You could then drop off your luggage at your Luzern Hotel and explore the lovely Altstadt (old town) or take a relaxing cruise on the Vierwaldstättersee (known as Lake Lucerne in English) to pass the time until you can have access to your hotel room.

Alpenrose - also from Australia :-)

Thankyou for your detailed replies. I certainly will look into Lucerne. Cheers.