MySwissAlps.com features ads, commercial and non-commercial Lucerne, Interlaken, Zermatt, Geneva in June
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My wife and I are planning a trip to Switzerland in June. We are really excited to both take some time off work together and go on a new adventure. We have spent a few weeks trying to compile an itinerary and we’ve learned a lot, mostly we’ve just learned that we wish we had more time. Our dates for travel are not flexible, but our itinerary is, we have yet to finalize anything, and we are starting to get anxious and want to book some hotels and whatnot. Hoping to get some feedback on our general itinerary and hear any advice to make this once in a lifetime trip for us the best possible. Our trip begins on the morning of 5 June.
Day 1: Arrive Zurich @ 0745 – explore Zurich, take lunch train to Lucerne. Spend afternoon in Lucerne, Hotel in Lucerne.
Day 2: Mid-Morning train to Interlaken. Explore area, Hotel in Interlaken.
Day 3: Day trip to Bern, Hotel in Interlaken.
Day 4: Day trip to Lake Oechenisee. Hotel in Interlaken.
Day 5: take Train to Zermatt. Hotel in Zermatt.
Day 6: leave Zermatt for Montreux. Hotel in Geneva.
Day 7: Explore Geneva, take evening train to Paris.
We have an extra day to spend somewhere, and would love to hear some advice on where to spend it.
I really wanted to tour the castle at Montreux, and hoping it’s not too inconvenient to stop there between Zermatt and Geneva. We are planning to end our trip with 2 days in Paris, because there is a direct flight home from there. Obviously, we are monitoring that situation closely. We did decide to skip the glacier express, mostly just due to the amount of time needed for it, and we have read that it is best seen in Winter (maybe it gives us a reason to come back).
Thanks in advance for any advice on where we may have screwed up, or may make better use of our time.
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A few comments:
You have I think realised now that your trip is going to be too short to be a ‘once in a lifetime’ trip. Some of my comments reflect this problem!
1) You can’t explore much of Zurich between you arrival and a lunchtime train to Luzern
2) One afternoon in Luzern plus a bit of morning is also not a great deal of time . Luzern has its attractions but is really the jumping off point for a huge range of attractions/activities around the whole Lake Luzern area
3) The Glacier Expres s is overhyped IMO – you don’t need to spend time doing that
4) you could skip Paris and concentrate on Switzerland
5) You could include a Thunersee boat trip on Day 4 and possible also fit in a trip up the Niesen funicular (so the day trip would be Interlaken – Kandersteg – Mulenen – Niesen Kulm – Mulenen – Thun – evening boat – Interlaken
6) consider Spiez as a hotel location instead of Interlaken: great views, castle, lido, transport nodal point (I don’t know your budget but there is a splendid upmarket hotel with great views on the hillside at Spiez)
7) By the ‘castle at Montreux’ I assume you mean Chateau de Chillon. If so. in my opinion, just seeing it from the outside is enough – as it is its position on the lakeside that makes it stand out (there are also lots of castles around the Thunersee). It is right by the railway (local station Veytaux-Chillon) so it is indeed possible to stop off between Zermatt and Geneva
Hi Dbanksosu,
Welcome to MySwissAlps.
I agree it’s impossible to see everything in a short time but your itinerary does include some of Switzerland’s popular destinations. On day 2, I suggest spending a bit more time in Lucerne before taking the late afternoon train to Interlaken. On day 3, you could easily combine a trip to Bern with boat rides on Lake Thun. And on day 6, it’s certainly possible to squeeze in a visit to Chillon Castle.
If you have an extra day, perhaps you might want to stay longer in Interlaken and plan excursions to Lauterbrunnen, Wengen and Grindelwald. These are all easily reached by trains from Interlaken.
Are you planning to travel with a railpass? You can find information about railpass here: http://www.myswissalps.com/train/ticketspasses
Regards,
Anna
@1960man
Thanks so much for the feedback. Would you recommend spending more time in Zurich, or just getting on the train and heading to Lucerne? There didn’t seem to be a lot to do and see in Zurich, but it’s a big city so I assume we could make a day of it if it made sense.
As far as Interlaken goes, we were considering Wengen or one of the other surrounding areas, but Interlaken seemed to be the larger area so we just put that. We will look into Spiez as our “base” for those few days. Do you have any thoughts on being able to get around from that area?
Anna,
Thanks so much for the feedback! We have spent a lot of time reading other people’s itineraries, but it’s always hard to figure out how much time we’ll have so it’s nice to see some suggested activities!
I’m interested to hear your thoughts on Zurich or Lucerne. Would you think we’d be better off with a whole day in Zurich or just going straight to Lucerne? We haven’t read about much to do in Zurich, but it’s a big city so I’m sure there are things to do.
As for Interlaken, we had been sort of generic as we are still looking at those areas around. 1960man recommended Spiez and you mention Wengen. We had already considered Wengen as our base instead of Interlaken. Do you have thoughts on passing through Interlaken? How easy is it to get around from those other places?
Lastly, yes, we plan to get an 8 day rail pass! We were thinking of splurging for first class, but interested to hear if you’d think it’s worth it.
Hi Dbanksosu,
I would suggest either one of three options for your extra day.
Opt. 1) Spend it in Zermatt. As was explained by 1960man about being in Lucerne, time there, etc, same thing goes for Zermatt (and, basically anywhere in Switzerland, for that matter). In to, one day, and out of, the next day, doesn’t do any justice to Zermatt and its iconic peak, the Matterhorn. This would give you one full day to explore not only the (relatively small) village but perhaps two excursions as well. You can easily take in the Glacier Paradise and the Gornergrat in the same day.
Option 2) Spend it in Montreux. This would give you some time to explore the area. Lausanne, the vineyards, a boat on the lake to see the castle, the walk along the promenade is beautiful, and many other attractions as well. The train to Montreux from Zermatt is only 2.5 hrs. Train to Geneva is a little over an hour. This would allow you to see more, and the next day would allow you to explore Geneva without feeling rushed before heading to Paris.
Option 3) Use it as Anna mentioned for an extra day in Interlaken (the BO region) as you can’t go wrong there.
Again, just some suggestions to try to “economicly squeeze” more into your trip. If you do go with Option 2), leave Interlaken as early as possible on day 5, as a train to Zermatt can be approx 2.5 hrs. Perhaps a bit more or less, depending on departure point.
On day one, you can take the first train to Lucerne and be down there by 1030 or 1100, maybe earlier, depending on customs. That would give you enough time to see Mt Pilatus by the Golden Route. It would give you a ride on the lake, the mountain excursion, and time for exploring the old town. And maybe hit the hay early due to any jet-lag starting to set in. But at least you will have seen one of the several highlights that Lucerne has to offer, (Rigi, Mt Titlis, Stanserhorn, more) and a walk around the town as well.
Day 2, you can easily spend the afternoon upon arrival going into the Lauterbrunnen valley. From Lauterbrunnen you can take a train to Grindelwald via Wengen and Kleine Scheidegg. Spend some time in K.S. (or even Wengen), perhaps have lunch and head to Grindelwald. Or you can go from Lauterbrunnen to Murren and see the Schilthorn. So many options and things to see.
Day 3 there are many options to get to Bern. It’s just a matter of how long you spend getting there. As Anna mentioned you can combine a boat ride along the way. Boat to Speiz, train from there. Or boat to Thun, train from there. Boat to any destination on the northern shore and a bus to Thun. Or any combo along the way. Again, many options.
I fully agree with 1960man about day 4.
It’s very hard to decide on what to see/do in the BO region, let alone where to stay. A little perspective on the area: it’s about 20 min train from Kandersteg (Oeschinen) to Spiez, about 20 min from Speiz to Interlaken, and about 20 min from Interlaken (Ost) to Lauterbrunnen (about 40 min to Grindelwald from Ost). Perhaps that may help in deciding on where to stay, based on your interests. Another thing about Interlaken, after your days of exploring, you can easily go up to Harder Kulm, as it stays open past the sun going down. Great place to end a day with a sunset meal on the patio overlooking the lakes and city. It’s less than a ten min walk from the Interlaken Ost station to the funicular. Again, these are merely some suggestions to hopefully help you along. It’s very difficult to squeeze everything in. The more you look, the more you see and want to do. I hope this helps in some way. Have a great trip.
Regards,
Danielsan
Thank you so much Danielsan for your insightful input 🙂
Hello Dbanksosu,
I am pretty sure you will have a terrific trip when here.
Zurich vs Lucerne, it really depends on your interests. Both offer great charm and a ray of activities.
Spiez is a good base to explore the Bernese Oberland region. It’s close to Lake Thun and you can easily plan day trips to Bern and Kandersteg too. As for getting around, you will soon discover the transportation in Switzerland is terrific, super easy to navigate and you can reach many, many destinations via bus, train or boat.
Wengen is more a mountain setting, good for excursions into the Jungfrau region. If you prefer to have the lake nearby, Interlaken is a good choice, again with good access to the Jungfrau region.
First vs second class, this is very personal, second class is quite comfortable in itself and exactly as you say, splurging on first class: traveling first, will offer you more space, quieter carriages. Have a read through this link for a little more information:
(I have traveled both, first is always a nice treat)
Kind regards,
Yolanda
Hi Dbanksosu, Danielsan and 1960man have given very good suggestions. Switzerland is so picture postcard perfect, it’s really tough to decide how much to cover. We have been there 3x and still can’t get enough of the Alps (we love the mts and nature tho we aren’t hikers – more like walkers). On all the trips, we enjoyed the Wengen region the most and will be returning again this June (arriving on the 4th) but basing ourselves in Meiringen for 9N and 7N in Wengen. There were quite a lot of places we didn’t cover on our last trips (as we were also in Bettmeralp and the beautiful Graubunden area) so we are going to focus more on the Bernese Oberland for mnore walks and also the Blausee etc.
Based on our experience, I would skip spending time in Zurich upon arrival and just go straight to Lucerne or the Bernese Oberland area where even a full week was still not enough to do all that we wanted. Perhaps it is our style of travel where we want to be able to just sit at a cafe and spend a little time just enjoying the scenery around us before moving off. Literally switching off from the hustle and bustle of city life.
There is so much to see and if you rush around too much, you miss soaking in the wonderful ambiance of the area. It’s a pity you only have one week and hopefully will be able return to enjoy the swiss scenery again.
My reply is more to say share my opinion that it’s better for you to head straight to Lucerne rather than try to spend a few hours in Zurich. As for 1st or 2nd class, after our 2nd trip with luggages, we opted for 1st Class on the 3rd trip and will continue to do it simply because there is more luggage space and finding seats is a breeze esp when we don’t need to worry about looking for carriages to place our bags (3 of us) and it is much quieter. Yes it is definitely more expensive but since we are taking a 13hr flight all the way to Switzerland, we feel 1st class is worth it esp for the longer distance trains if you have larger suitcases.
However, since it’s only two of you and if your luggages are of medium size, hopefully it won’t be an issue on 2nd Class since your trip is not in the peak July Aug. Our previous trips were in Sept and even then, there were times we had difficulty finding space of our luggages.
I think once you actually see Switzerland, you will most definitely wish to return if like us, you come from a place where there is no natural scenery like mountains and lakes and their extensive coverage via cable cars, funicular, trains is amazing.
This site is run by such wonderful people and the contributions by fellow travellers is also extensive. Hope you will be able to finalise after reading more. Enjoy your upcoming trip!
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