[Removed user]

1 May 2012 at 9:06:07 #805191

Hi,
I am traveling to Switzerland with my family (Mom, Dad, Sister and my spouse) in May-June.
My mom(57) and dad(60) are bit old to go very long distance walking (half to one hour walk is not a problem). So I am really looking for an itenery that would cover major tourist spots avoiding much exertion for them. I have bought Swiss Pass for 8 days.

We are arriving to Zurich 19:35 on 30 May 2012.
From there we plan to go straight to our Hotel (Lions lodge) in Lucern by train and relax.

Day 1: Leave early morning at 8am and visit Rhine falls. Come back to Lucern by late after noon and do a city tour of Lucern.

Day 2: Visit Mount Titlis from Lucern (any thing else that we can cover on this day?) and back to Lucern.

Day 3: Check out from Lucern to Interlaken by train. Check-In at hotel Villa Sonnenhof in interlaken preferably by 11am.
Leave hotel at Interlaken by 1pm and go to Thun from Interlaken in cruise. Visit Beatus (Dragons) caves on lake thun. Then visit to Bern city, view old town and back to interlaken in train.

Day 4: If wether is clear then Visit Jungfraun from interlaken via Lauterburnen. On the way back go through grindelwald village and Murren. Visit Trumelbach falls from Murren. If time permits visit Schilthorn and Stechelberg in late evening.
Day 5: Take golden pass scenic train from Interlaken to Montreux. Visit to Chillon Castle and back to Interlaken via Montreux.
Day 6: Do Adventure sports like sky diving and bunji jump for me my spouse and sister. Later in evening take a Lake breinz indian dinner cruise (only available on 5th June 2012)
Day 7: Leave from Interlaken by Golden Pass train to Geneva. Take train to paris from Geneva at 12:29pm.

I do not know the exact timings for the trains yet and also how to reach each of these places, i.e. the train/bus staions which i need to go to.
Would appriciate if you can help me with how to reach to these places in easiest ways.
Also I need to know if this is a doable trip with my parents. Or if I should remove or add any other places in this.

Regards,
Shweta

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[Removed user]

1 May 2012 at 13:18:26 #835861

Hello Shweta, my husband and I are in our late sixties so may be able to help with what is doable for your parents as although we do walk for longer than an hour we do it slowly with stops for photos etc! One or two other comments as well which may be helpful. Day 1 – looks fine – pick up from the tourist office a leaflet detailing a suggested city walk – you can take your time and stop for a tea/coffee on the way to give your parents a breather.
day 2 – you may have time for a lake cruise in late afternoon (free with your pass)
day 3 – starting so late in the day this looks like too much to fit in – the cruise from Interlaken to Thun takes 2 hrs 15 and with a stop off for caves en route would not leave much time to visit Bern as well. There is a bus from Interlaken to Thun which stops at the caves which would be quicker though still a lot to do. An alternative idea could be for your parents to take bus to caves on day 6 while you are being adventurous! Then day 3 you can all go to Bern together (using boat and train or bus and train. Do you have separate passes or a saver for the 5 of you to travel together? If it is a saver pass and you split up only one group can use the pass. Your hotel in Interlaken may give you a pass for local buses which would solve that problem. If you visit the caves be sure to wear good footwear as it gets slippy in the caves. Also it is quite a steep walk up to the caves from the boat, not so far from the bus but still a bit steep.
day 4 – again I think this would be a bit too much. I would not do Jungfrau and Schilthorn in one day. You can go up to Jungfrau via Grindelwald and back via Lauterbrunnen, stopping for a brief wallk in the villages as you go. Or go to Murren, then up to Schilthorn from there and come back down to Stechelberg, take bus or walk to Trummelbach (flat walk so easy) – again footwear for Falls needs to be good – there is an elevator which takes you part of the way up in the falls but your parents may find the climb up the last bit too much and may opt to wait part way while you do the last part without them! You can then catch bus or walk to Lauterbrunnen. Make sure you find out time of last bus before you go into the falls.
You can find out all the timings from the SBB website link from this forum by filling in the starting and destination points – it will show buses as well as trains. You can get a timetable for the boats on Lake Thun and Lake Brienz from the railway station in Interlaken.
I know you will want to visit as many places as possible and I hope my comments don’t put you off from doing that – I just know how long it takes to do these things and you won’t appreciate them properly if you try to fit too much in a day.
I do hope you all have a wonderful time. Maggie

[Removed user]

2 May 2012 at 8:48:09 #835862

Hello Maggie,
Your suggestions are indeed good. And since you have been visiting Swiss so often and your age you would be the best to actually understand my parents problems.
Considering your suggestions I would make the necessary changes in my itenary ans post it here again. Would appriciate if you can help me back.
Thank you very much.

Regards,
Shweta