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My hubby & I are planning an 11 night trip to Switzerland in Sept 2020. This will be our first trip to Switzerland. I’m leaning towards getting the Swiss half fare card for us. Our goal is to split our time between exploring the mountains, easy hiking, and enjoying Old Towns and quaint villages. Here is my preliminary initerary and would love any feedback.
Arrive at ZRH on overnight flight from NY
Train to Luzern – 3 nights here
– explore Old Town, Chapel bridge,
– Mt. Pilauts with Golden Round ticket
Train to Wengen – 4 nights here
– Schilthorn with return to Stechelberg for walk to Trumellback Falls and then Stubbach Falls
– Explore Wengen
– Grindelwald First with Cliff Walk & hike to Bachalpsee Lake
Train to Montreux – 3 nights here
– Chateau De Chillon
– Lake Geneva lunch cruise
– Glacier 3000
Train to Zurich – 1 night here before flight home
Is this to ambitious? Too “touristy?” Anything I should be adding or deleting? I was thinking about finding a chocolate making class. Thoughts or opinions on that?
Thank you in advance.
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Hi Navymom, welcome to MySwissAlps!
I think you’ve created a very nice itinerary. It seems to be well-paced and not overly ambitious. You’ve selected some great day trips and I can’t really tell whether you should add or delete anything, as such choices are highly personal. You could look into our recommendations below and decide what appeals to you most:
- http://www.myswissalps.com/la kelucerne/activities
- http://www.myswissalps.com/ju ngfrauregion/activitie s, and http://www.myswissalps.com/be rneseoberland/activiti es if you’d like to explore a somehwat larger area;
- http://www.myswissalps.com/la kegeneva/activities.
Each trip can be planned with the aid of the SBB timetable: http://www.myswissalps.com/ti metable.
How nice that you’re trying to include some sort of chocolate activity! If you do end up staying in Montreux, you may like a visit to the Cailler factory in Broc. Otherwise, there’s the Funky Chocolate Club in Interlaken, Lindt & Sprüngli in Kilchberg near Zurich, and several culinary tours as listed at http://www.myswissalps.com/ac tivities/culinarytours. If you don’t have time to include any of them, then rest assured that entering any Swiss supermarket and choosing from the vast choice of chocolate bars and brands is really fun too :-).
Yes, a Swiss Half Fare Card could certainly work for your plans: http://www.myswissalps.com/sw isshalffarecard. For flexibility and ease of use you may also consider an 8 day Swiss Travel Pass plus additional tickets for the non-covered travel days, or even a 15 day Swiss Travel Pass. The (2nd class) price difference between an 8 day and 15 day pass is only CHF 95, an amount easily reached if you’d have to buy full-fare tickets on the 3 remaining non-covered days with an 8 day pass. You can start calculating your options once your plans are pretty much fixed: http://www.myswissalps.com/tr ain/ticketspasses/prac tical/chooserailpass.
Hi Navymom
since you are going to be in Wengen 4 nights , I would add to what you already have planned the hike from Mannlichen to Kleine Scheidegg. You would take the cable car from Wengen to Mannlichen then walk to KS. It is a well groomed, wide , slightly downhill hike that will take about 1.5 hrs of easy walking. It is quite popular for a reason. You will have very good views of the Eiger, Monch, and Jungfrau peaks as well as Grindelwald valley. An easy hike not to be missed. When you reach KS you can take the train down to Wengen or if you want a little more of a walk hike down from KS to Wengernalp (another hour and down hill) and then catch the train to Wengen.
Mark
Thank you Annika & Mark, I appreciate the information & suggestions!
More about Wengen. Links may be obsolete, but the information is not:
http://www.myswissalps.com/fo rum/topic/tips-about-wengen-and-the-jungfrau-region-by-kim
Slowpoke
Hi Navymom –
A favorite region of Switzeland for easy hikes and some nice villages is the Emmental, easiy reached from Luzern. On those easy hikes you can see a part of Switzerland that is not on the major tourist routes.
That includes a demonstration of the Swiss preference for neatness and cleanliness. I have attached a couple of images of a public toilet in Heimiswil, that is special even by Swiss standards of neatness and cleanliness. In those images, the building was a barn that was given to the church, and has been converted into a dwelling for the pastor, a public meeting room, and the public toilets for the village.
There are lot of nice inns, to. Not sure if you want or need another base, but an inn in the Emmental could be a nice change from the cities.
http://www.myswissalps.com/fo rum/topic/a-particularly-nice-small-inn-in-the-emmental
http://www.myswissalps.com/fo rum/topic/langnau-in-may
The Three Lakes Region offers some nice villages in/near the vineyards. I’ll scrape up a few pictures and add them later. They are a bit out of the way from your bases, however.
This link can be a start –
http://www.myswitzerland.com/ en-us/destinations/jura-threelakes/
Slowpoke
Attachments:Slowpoke-thank you for the great information!
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