Need help in itinerary

Hi Everyone

I'm from Singapore. I need some help in planning my itinerary. As i have never traveled to any European country before i have no idea how i'm going to plan the itinerary and it my be my honeymoon trip i hope to make it a most enjoyable trip for my wife. I'm will be reaching 19th Nov 8am in Zurich Airport till 30th Nov 10.30am flight home.

I know that it isn't the best time to visit switzerland, since ticket has already been booked so i shall make the best out of it.

Places I wish to visit :

1. Zurich
2. Lucerne
3. Bern
4. Basel
5. Lausanne
6. Geneva
7. Interlaken
8. Jungfrau
9. Montreux
10. Zermatt

I'm trying to cut down the transfer of hotel. And also not too rush a trip.

My planning is touch down,

• Zurich transfer to Lucerne make base for 3 night, day trip for Bern and Basel
• 2 night in Interlaken day trip to Jungfrau
• 2 night in Lausanne day trip to Geneva and Monteux
• 1 night in Zermatt
• and 2 night in Zurich

Are there a better way of planning the trip?

I will be buying the Swiss pass too.

Thank you for taking the time to read my post .

Any help will be greatly appreciated

Welcome to MySwissAlps, mwtan79!

Let's take a look at your itinerary. I think your plans are certainly reasonable, although you do aim to visit lots of towns and cities. It's low season indeed, and quite some attractions will be closed down. Cities and museums are a great alternative, especially if weather isn't that great. But in clear weather, I'd personally prefer to cut down on the city trips a bit and focus on the direct regions you're staying in. Especially the Lucerne and Interlaken regions have a lot to offer, including stunning views that are worth exploring.

You can make a wishlist based on good weather and keep city trips in mind as a back-up plan. Your Swiss Pass will offer all the freedom you need to adapt your plans. Please find details about it here. The timetable will help you find out about traveling times between your destinations. More tips on planning your stay can be found here.

If you're up for a scenic train trip, consider the Golden Pass line to travel from Lucerne to Interlaken and from Interlaken to Lucerne/Montreux. And if you don't mind a detour when getting from Zermatt back to Zurich, you might want to travel part of the Glacier Expess route, e.g. up to Andermatt.

These pages may be of help too:

• hotels in popular towns
• information on towns and cities

Hi Annika

Thank you very much for your assistances. I have made some changes to my itinerary and more detail.

ITINERARY

DATE, DESTINATION, BAD WEATHER

19-Nov-14, SG --> ZURICH --> LUCERNE

20-Nov-14, LUCERNE --> PILATUS --> LUCERNE, (BERN)

21-Nov-14, LUCERNE -->TITLIS -->LUCERNE, (BASEL)

22-Nov-14, LURCERNE --> INTERLAKEN(GOLDEN PASS)

23-Nov-14, INTERLAKEN --> JUNGFRAU --> INTERLAKEN

24-Nov-14, INTERLAKEN --> MONTREUX( GOLDEN PASS) --> LAUSANNE

25-Nov-14, LAUSANNE --> GENEVA --> ZERMATT

26-Nov-14, ZERMATT --> ANDEMATT(GLACIER EXPRESS) --> ZURICH

27-Nov-14, ZURICH --> LEICHTENSTEIN

28-Nov-14, ZURICH

29-Nov-14, ZURICH --> SKI

30-Nov-14, ZURICH --> SG

Will this itinerary be too rush or should I skip some places?

As we have never tried skiing before we wish to do that, where would you suggest we can learn it?Which is a better choice, Zurich or Zermatt?

Also may I know what I can do at night? Any place we can visit in all those places? Is it dangerous to roam around?

Thanks

Hi mwtan79,

I would stay in Montreux instead of Lausanne, and skip Geneva and Liechtenstein. Also I would stay just two days in Zurich and add the remaining days to Interlaken and Zermatt. This way it's more relaxed and you have more time to enjoy the places you are staying.

Winter is just getting started when you're in Switzerland. It depends on the weather which ski slopes are open, but Zermatt is your best bet with all year round winter sports. You can't ski in most of the other towns, and certainly not in Zurich as it's not in the mountains.

Note that skiing requires a week of lessons to learn at a basic level. I would not advice to just go and try skiing without experience. If you really want to, you can hire a personal instructor for a day or so in Zermatt. Alternatively you can enjoy the snow with sledging, snow tubing, etc. There are snow parks at the Titlis and Jungfraujoch. See our town pages for activity suggestions.

By the way, your previous post was edited because it seemed to be pasted from Word or something like that, and that causes some issues (e.g. people on mobile devices can't read it very well). So it's adjusted to plain text.

Kind regards,

Arno

Hi Arno

Thank you for the information. I shall re- plan my itinerary again.

Hi I have done up a more detail itinerary for my trips. Hotels have been booked. Swiss pass Bought.

Is this itinerary doable? Or any other suggestion welcome.

I have some questions during day 4 going to Thun or Brienz?

For Day 5 Where can i visit in between as i don't think i will be staying up there the whole day.

For Day 6 for the chocolate train my wife is interested how can i or where can i board that train?

Here is the itinerary:

Day 1
Hotel des Alpes --> Historisches Museum Luzern --> Muesum Rosengart --> Lucerne Culture and Congress Centre --> Swiss Museum of Transport --> Stiftung Bourbaki Panorama Luzern --> Musegg Towers --> Chapel Bridge and Water Tower --> Hotel des Alpes
Day 2
Hotel des Alpes --> Engelberg --> Titlis (Glacier cave, TITLIS Cliff Walk ) --> Engelberg Monastery --> Glasi Hergiswil --> Hotel des Alpes
Day 3
Hotel des Alpes --> Bern --> Zytglogge --> Old Town Bern --> The Cathedral of Bern --> Bear Pit --> Hotel des Alpes
Day 4
LURCERNE --> INTERLAKEN(GOLDEN PASS) --> Hotel Interlaken --> St. Beatus Caves --> Thun or Brienz? --> Hotel Interlaken
Day 5
Hotel Interlaken --> Jungfrau --> Where can i visit in between? --> Hotel Interlaken
Day 6
INTERLAKEN --> MONTREUX( GOLDEN PASS) --> La Rouvenaz Hotel --> Freddie Mercury Memorial --> Casino de Montreux --> Chateau de Chillon --> La Rouvenaz Hotel ( Chocolate train? )
Day 7
La Rouvenaz Hotel --> Lausanne --> Musée de Design et d'arts Appliqués Contemporains --> Lausanne Cathedral --> Musée Historique de Lausanne --> Geneva --> La Rouvenaz Hotel
Day 8
Montreux --> Zermatt --> Backstage Hotel -->Matterhorn Glacier Paradise --> Bahnhof St--> Matterhorn Museum --> Backstage Hotel
Day 9
Relax, Ski Lesson
Day 10
ZERMATT --> ANDEMATT(GLACIER EXPRESS) --> ZURICH --> Hotel Limmablick --> Bahnhofstrasse --> Lindenhof --> Fraumünster Church --> Grossmünster --> Bellevue Square --> Zürich Opera House( Ferry back to Swiss National Museum??)--> Swiss National Museum --> Polybahn --> Hotel Limmablick
Day 11
Hotel Limmablick --> Basel --> Vitra Design Museum --> Spalenberg district --> Swiss Paper Museum (Basel Paper Mill) --> Hotel Limmatblick

Welcome back mwtan79,

Thun and Brienz are both worth a visit but I would prefer Thun in your case. It's bigger, and in November it will be more lively than Brienz. Also it makes sense traveling wise, as you can take direct bus to Thun from the caves. By the way, I don't think the caves will be open when you're there. Did you check that? The museum might be open. Information can be found here: www.beatushoehlen.ch.

If the weather is fine on day 5 you can visit Mürren and do a short walk and round trip by cable car and bus as described here.

The Chocolate Train is a full day excursion starting and ending in Montreux. The train does not operate from November to April. You could visit the chocolate factory, cheese factory and the town of Gruyères on your own, but it would still take the entire day. So that does not fit your plans, unless you give up day 7.

Day 1 and 10 are very full. I suggest to prioritize your list and see what you can do once you're there. For example, just the Swiss Museum of Transport could fill your day because there's so much to see there! Remember that day light hours are short in November, so be sure to visit outdoor sites before 5 PM.

Hi Arno

Thank you very much for your help.

One more question. I been reading about the swiss pass but not quite understand on some issue, do i have to register at the train station before boarding? What about buses, ferries and gondolas or cable cars which are included? Or i can just board them by showing them the pass without registering?

Hi,

It's all explained here on the Swiss Pass page. You don't need to show your pass, unless the train personnel asks for it, or if you need to buy a discounted ticket (e.g. for a cable car) from a ticket desk.

One more thing is that your pass needs to be validated, but that's a one time process that needs to be done before you start using the pass for the first time.

Hi Arno

Need some help on the prepaid sim card. Saw from

https://www.swisscom.ch/en/residential/mobile/subscription-tariffs/top-up-easy-credit.html

is this the type i should get? As this is the 1st time i visiting Switzerland I probably need to use lots of datas for google maps to guide me around. And can it be shared among devices by hotspot?

Hi mwtan79,

I don't know that much about SIM cards but I think NATEL Easy is what you need indeed. If you expect to use Google Maps a lot you can prevent using lots of data by storing maps in your phone memory rather than loading them upon request each time. You can do that at home or through the hotel Wifi. The advantage is not only that you don't use that much mobile data, but also quicker loading of the maps and that it will even work if mobile internet is not available.

I think Google Maps can do this but for a limited map size (50 x 50 km or so). There are other apps too. I use Sygic myself but there are more; even free ones.