[docsher]

10 November 2019 at 23:44:18 #824428

My partner and I (we are senior citizens in pretty good shape) are planning to visit Switzerland mid June 2020. We fly into Zurich from NY, USA and have 11 day/ 10 nights in Switzerland. We have to leave from Zurich and will be traveling in Switzerland by train. Thus far, we have the following tentative plans:

Two nights in Zurich. My partner wants to do a bike tour while I would prefer a walking tour and shopping. We both are interested in visiting the art museum and maybe visiting Appenzell.

Then we plan to leave by train to Luzern and stay two nights there, maybe taking in a cruise on Lake Luzern, exploring the town, visiting some museums and taking the cable car or cog railway to Mt Rigi or Mt Pilatus.

We then plan on taking a train to Interlaken and then onto Montreux to visit Chateau de Chillon and then onto Lausanne where we will stay one night, exploring the town and visiting the Fondation de L’ Hermitage andn/or the Olympic Museum.

Then we plan on taking a train onto Zermatt and staying two nights there. We definitely want to hike the Zermatt Lake trail while we’re there and take the cog railway to Gornergrat Mountain.

We will then take Glacial Express to St Moritz and thus far plan on staying one night there. We are unsure if we should stay in St. Moritz that time of year for another night ( are there easy hikes in that area?) or plan something else and we would welcom some suggestions. We plan to return to Zurich after that, stay one more night there, maybe get to see the Chagall stained glass windows if we haven’t already and then leave the next day on a 12:55 PM flight.

Any help in figuring out what to do after the day after we arrive in St. Moritz would be very helpful as would knowing what trains/passes would be best to take/obtain, best times to travel on them, the need for reservations on any of the trains or any of the activities I mentioned. Also, does it make more sense to go to Lauterbrunnen rather than Lausanne/Montreux? Any suggestions as to other sites to see along the way would also be appreciated and advice as to whether our plans are too ambitious or problematic. We also could use some suggestions as to hotels that would be recommended in the places we’re staying (moderate priced $200-300 per night).

.Thanks so much for your help!

Sherrill

[Removed user]

11 November 2019 at 0:29:00 #924950

Can’t see much wrong with your plan.

Towards the end, please note the correct name = Glacier Express

There are plenty of places to stay in the St Moritz area without staying in the high priced ‘famous’ St Moritz hotels themselves. Often, your accomodation will give you a local travel card for free. Samedan and Pontresina are good places to stay. Samedan is especially good as you are at a nodal point of the Rhätische Bahn* (RhB) railway network.

There are plenty of level hikes St Moritz / Samedan area because it is a flat bottom valley. I have done various walks between RhB stations, such as Spinas – Bever – Zuoz; Spinas – Bever – Pontresina. The walks along the rivers are very pleasant and there is lots of wildlife.

As regards replacing Lausanne/Montreux area with Lauterbrunnen. I recommend you don’t as everybody goes there (!) At a guess 80 – 90% of discussion on this site is about Lauterbrunnen/Jungfrau. Your plan to include Lausanne is refreshingly different and (with your plan for Appenzell as well) gives – I believe – your trip a very nice balanced view of the country.

* – The Rhätische Bahn is the ‘national’ train operator in Canton Graubünden, with a network of metre gauge lines, separate from Swiss Federal Railways

[Removed user]

11 November 2019 at 5:33:33 #924951

Hello Sherrill and Welcome to MySwissAlps,

Nice to hear you’re coming to Switzerland with your partner.

I agree that your itinerary seems quite close to perfect, nicely paced, well planned and allowing some time at each destination.

Find more input about all the places you mention in below links. For hikes, go to the “What to do” tab and scroll right to the bottom. You will also find hotel recommendations for each place.
– http://www.myswissalps.com/zu rich
– http://www.myswissalps.com/lu cerne
– http://www.myswissalps.com/in terlaken
– http://www.myswissalps.com/ze rmatt
– http://www.myswissalps.com/st moritz

You can always consider the Lauterbrunnen area as an alternative, but I agree with 1960man that your initial plan is better!

To get an idea of travelling by train generally and about the Glacier Express find helpful links below. Also see the timetable, a very helpful tool for planning.
– http://www.myswissalps.com/tr ain
– http://www.myswissalps.com/gl acierexpress
– http://www.myswissalps.com/ti metable

Last but not least as you’re planning to do some hiking please read below information:
– http://www.myswissalps.com/hi king
– http://www.myswissalps.com/we ather

Hope this provides helpful input. Get back to us anytime for further input.

Best,
Steph

[rockoyster]

11 November 2019 at 21:13:51 #924952

Hello Sherrill,

I think your term Glacial Express is the perfect name. It is, after all, billed as the “slowest express train in the world”. 😉

No glaciers to be seen nowadays, unfortunately. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Glacier_Express

[docsher]

16 November 2019 at 17:13:25 #924953

Thanks for the helpful replies to my initial inquiry. We found them extremely helpful.

We are in the process of making hotel reservations and we have a question about our stay in the Interlaken area. We originally thought we’d be staying in Lausanne but the hotel suggestions given to us were in Interlaken. The day in question involves taking a train from Lucern to Interlaken and then making a visit to Montreux and onto Lausanne. The following day we were going to Zermatt. Should we return to Interlaken for the night and leave from there to Zermatt or stay in Lausanne. Any suggestions for hotels in Lausanne should we stay there?

Thanks so very much.

[Anna]

16 November 2019 at 19:33:49 #924954

Hi doscher,

I think your original plan of staying the night in Lausanne is the better option.

For places to stay in Lausanne, please use this link: http://www.myswissalps.com/la usanne/hotels

Regards,

Anna