Need help with itinerary for Central Switzerland

Hi

Wondering if someone could help me with the following itinerary. Iam planning a swiss sightseeing trip with my partner for 3 days.

Trip dates before Nov 22'2015.. I will arrive in Zurich from Germany around 12:00

Day 1: Zurich city sight seeing - Important places near Bahnhofstrasse along with schipfe, rathausbrucke and Lake Zurich .. Any other suggestions ?

Want to also go to Rhine falls near schaffhausen - I checked the website but I found that no boat rides are available in November in the rhine falls - is this true?

Take a train to Luzern after dinner around 8 pm and overnight stay in Luzern

Day 2: This is where I have a confusion. As this is November and swiss is in Daylight saving , I am wondering how best to manage the following itinerary.. ( Tellpass winter for 2 days for day 2 and day 3)

Luzern to Mt.Titlis and then Rigi followed by Boat ride in Lake Luzern

After this the golden pass line to interlaken ost - take a walk near lake brienz and overnight stay in Interlaken ( is day 2 itinerary too ambitious? Would I be better off combining Pilatus and Rigi instead of Titlis and Rigi?

Day 3: : Interlaken ost to Luzern to Alpnachstadt and pilatus - Luzern

Luzern to Zurich and back to Germany -- Would I be able to squeeze in any thing more here?

Look forward to valuable suggestions.

Thanks

Hi seshhh, welcome to MySwissAlps,

As for day 1: I would stick to the sights within town, perhaps combined with a boat trip. You won't have time to visit the Rhine Falls: it takes an hour to get there and it will be dark around 4:30 PM. There will indeed be no boat trips to the fall. You can view it from the river side.

Day 2 is indeed too ambitious. You'd better check with the timetable to see your options. If you stick to one mountain you can take your time and complete your day by the time it's dark.

Day 3: this is the same route as day 2. For variety, you could take a boat or train to Thun, then to Bern and a train via Schüpfheim to Luzern. Again, be sure to check the timetable.

Whether a Tell-Pass is best depends on your finalized itinerary. I would suggest to compare the costs of a Tell-Pass, Swiss Half Fare Card and 3-day Swiss Travel Pass as explained here.

Does this help?

Hi Arno

Thanks for responding. I have finalized my itinerary as follows after looking at the options you provided:

Day 1: Get into Zurich from across the German border at 12:00 noon.

Sightseeing in Zurich combined with a short boat trip on Lake Zurich.

Board the train to Lucerne and overnight stay in Lucerne.

Day 2: Buy Tellpass for 2 days

Visit Pilatus followed by visit to Rigi mountain and boat trip in the Lake Lucerne.

Stay overnight in Lucerne.

Day 3: Visit Mt Titlis followed by short tour of Lucerne city and head back to Zurich.

Note: I have already booked super saver tickets to and back from Lucerne ( Thats why the Tell Pass). I have also scrapped the plan to Interlaken as it does look too ambitious for this trip.

Questions: (a)Anything I could add to the itinerary here according to you while still staying in Lucerne?

(b)Could I buy the Tell pass in Zurich Train station?

Thanks

seshhh

Hi seshhh,

This looks like a good plan to me. I don't see a way to add anything extra to your days. You should start day 2 early in order to cover both mountains. Note that the cogwheel train from Alpnachstad to Mount Pilatus will be closed from November 23, so you can only take the cable car from Kriens.

The Tell-Pass is available online or from ticket desks of staffed stations in the region, such as Lucerne. I would assume it to be available in Zurich too.

Now lets hope for good weather!