Plan for holiday to Switzerland during Winter

Hello Bluesky, and welcome to the forum! If you want to visit all towns you mention, you can hardly avoid travelling throughout the country quite a lot. So if you'd like to stay within only a few towns, you may have to skip some city visits. My personal preferences would be Interlaken (or a nearby town), as the Jungfrau region just south of this town is truly spectacular; St. Moritz or a nearby town; and Zermatt or a nearby town. These are the genuine tourist 'hot spots', but they have every reason to be as the landscape surrounding these towns is very impressive. Tips for less touristic towns close to the ones I mentioned can be found here.

You may want to get to St. Moritz first, travelling over the beautiful Albula between Chur en St. Moritz. You could spend some days there and make a train journey to Tirano. Then travel to Zermatt by Glacier Express and spend some days there. It's do-able to visit Montreux and Geneva from Zermatt, although this will result in long day trips. Interlaken could be your last resort, before heading back to Zurich. If you don't mind some extra travel time, you could travel by the Lötschberg RegioExpress between Zermatt/Brig/Visp, Goppenstein, Kandersteg and Spiez, instead of taking the quicker tunnel route to the north.

Many combinations and travel routes are possible of course; this is just one option. You can best do some research to each town and its surroundings, try to find out what appeals to you most and then adapt your travel scheme to your own preferences. All trips can be planned through the Swiss timetable.

Yes, your Swiss Pass is valid from and to the Zurich Airport.

I hope this helps! Good luck on your further planning.

Hi again. A day trip to Geneva from Interlaken is possible. A single journey takes about 3 to 3 1/2 hours, so if you want to combine this with a boat trip over lake Geneva, it's wise to leave early. You can plan your trips using the online timetable. Boat trips on lake Geneva can be found through the CGN website. By the way: you could consider heading for Geneva over the beautiful Golden Pass line. It takes a bit longer than some other train connections, but in my opinion this trip is definitely worth your time and attention.

In larger towns, shops will be open between Christmas and New Year, but opening times may be a bit restricted. Whether smaller or larger towns appeal to you most, is a matter of taste. Tourist towns (such as Interlaken, Grindelwald, Zermatt and St. Moritz) and larger cities (such as Geneva and Zurich) will pay lots of attention to a nice Christmas atmosphere. In smalerl towns this may be less obvious, but these may also be more quiet and less expensive.

Have fun preparing for your trip!

Hello ceremalt. I agree with Maggie: Lucerne is a very nice resort for families. Zurich has lots to offer as well, including several musea and boat trips over the lake. Lucerne, however, is closer to the Alps and its surroundings are definitely more impressive than those of Zurich.

If you want to visit viewing points such as Mt. Titlis, the Jungfraujoch and the Black Forest (which is in Germany), it would be best to stay on the northern side of the Alps, so you could choose from Zurich, Lucerne and Interlaken in that case. I'd recommend Interlaken (or a nearby town such as Wilderswil, Lauterbrunnen, Wengen or Grindelwald) in any case, as the region south of it is stunning and offers some of Switzerland's most beautiful mountains.

Unfortunately, Mt. Titlis is closed down during your visit due to maintenance. Fine alternatives in this region, which are open, are Pilatus (which can be reached from Lucerne and Alpnachstad) and Rigi. The Jungfraujoch can be visited all year round. This goes for the Black Forest as well.

I hope this helps you decide!