Lucerne and St Moritz

Hello, We are planning a trip by rail to Switzerland this August before we meet our Swiss cousins in Bern. We will be in Basel and traveling to Lucern - 1 night, St. Moritz - 1 night, Zermatt - 2 nights on Glacier Express, Interlaken - 1 night. We would like to take a cruise on Lucerne possibly to Alpnachstad,cogwheel train up to Pilatus Kulm, then take the train back to Lucerne. In St Moritz we would like to go to Diavolezza.. We plan on taking an early train both mornings and arriving in St. Moritz by 1:00. Our concern is that we are planning too much and should forgo Lucern and plan 2 nights in St. Moritz. Any suggestions would be appreciated.Thanks!

Hi Spaghetti,

I agree, you're trying to do too much in too little time. One night stays leave you very little time to actually see something. All of the regions you intend to visit offer enough to do for weeks. With one night only, you loose a lot of time on traveling, packing, and booking in and out of hotels. If the Glacier Express is a must, I would personally concentrate on St. Moritz and Zermatt only, and stay 2-3 nights in each town. Please see the links for more information. You can easily visit the Jungfrau region (Interlaken) from Bern, if time allows, and do a boat trip on Lake Thun. Interlaken is less than an hour from Bern. Lucerne is about an hour from Bern.

Be sure to look into the rail passes, e.g. the Swiss Travel Pass and Swiss Travel Pass Flex.

Hi Arno,

Thank you for your advice. We will go spend 2 nights in both St. Moritz and Zermatt. I think the 4 day flex pass will be best for our trip since we will be traveling 5 days but not need it one day in St. Moritz. While in St. Moritz, our hotel has a free pass to use the Mountain Railways. That way the last day we can travel to Interlaken and take the boat ride and travel on the rail pass. Are there any discounts to go to Gornergrat available with the Swiss rail pass? We will visit Lucern with our cousin if time allows at the end of our trip. Thanks again!

Hello Spaghetti,

Gornergrat tickets are discounted by 50% for Swiss Travel Pass (Flex) holders. You can verify such details if you go to the Swiss Travel Pass page Arno gave you, and click "Where it's valid".

Enjoy your time in the Alps!

Hello Arno and Annika,

One last question ( I hope) - we will be traveling with a rail pass from Zermatt to Wengen. After looking at the SBB website that you have given us ( extremely helpful!) it appears we will have 4 different transfers. I was reading in a post on your site that said the rail pass did not cover someone's trip to Wengen. Is that the case? Thank you again!

Hi Spaghetti,

You'll be traveling with the Swiss Travel Pass Flex, right? The map shows what's included. You need to zoom in quite a bit to see the tiny last leg to Wengen, but it's fully covered as well. The entire trip from Zermatt to Wengen is free.

Feel free to post more questions!