Please help me plan my trip

Hello,

I will be visiting france and switzerland in the month on June 2012.

I have made a rough plan of where I will be staying.But I am totally clueless as to which places I should visit.

I will be staying in Paris initially for 3 days then visiting Tignes,France as I have a resort booked there, will stay here for 3 days.

I will be in Switzerland for 3-4 days, Can you please help me in deciding what places I should visit in Switzerland.

I am thinking of staying at lucerne and visiting the surrounding places like interlaken, Jungfraujoch, etc

Will this be possible?(I mean staying at one place and covering all the surrounding places?)

Since I will be traveling from France to Switzerland, will it be more economical to buy the Eurorail pass or Swiss Pass and buy tickets separately from Paris to Tignes, Tignes to Lucerne.

Please give your valuable suggestions and tips.

PS. We are 3 of us. Me with my Mom and Dad. I am 23.(So will be eligible for youth pass)

Thanks

Regards,
Kunal

Hello Kunal, and welcome to the forum! I think Lucerne would be a great base for a 3 to 4 day stay in Switzerland. The trip to the Jungfraujoch will take quite some traveling time, but it's doable. Lucerne and the Lake Lucerne region and have lots to offer, including some famous viewing points such as Pilatus, Rigi and Titlis.

For your further planning, I suggest that you browse the forum for further ideas. The timetable will assist you in planning your trips. The trips from and to Paris can be found here as well.

It's hard to say whether you're better off with a Eurail France-Switzerland Pass or with a separate Swiss Pass. This depends on the amount of traveling you plan to do in both countries. If Paris-Tignes-Swiss border is the only trip you'll be making in France, the Eurail Pass would probably be too expensive. If you'll be using the main rail network in both countries quite intensivetly, the Eurail Pass might work. Cable cars, mountain trains and other local transport companies aren't covered as much as with the Swiss Pass though. Another difference is that the Eurail Pass is available in 1st class only, whereas the Swiss Pass comes in a cheaper 2nd class variant too. You can best make a list of your plans and then compare both passes. You can even calculate which one is cheapest if you like.

Does this get you started? Have fun preparing for your trip!

Thanks for the info.

I had a doubt, would it be better to make lucerne or Interlaken as the base? Which would be more closer to the places of interest and which has cheaper hotels?

So these 3-4 places that can be visited:-
Jungfraujoch, Mts. Eiger, Pilatus, Rigi, Titlis and Interlaken.

As I told you I will be there for 3 days, what do you think about this plan?

Day 1:- Jungfraujoch, Mts. Eiger & Interlaken
Day 2:- Mt. Titlis
Day 3:- Pilatus & Rigi

Is it doable and will we have sufficient time for site-seeing? If its too hectic, which place can I skip? (i mean could you tell me which are MUST visit places)

One more thing, do you know which is the nearest swiss town from Tignes? Since I will have the swiss pass, the journey from this point to lucerne will be covered, so i will have to pay the minimum fare, from tignes to this point.

Thanks a lot.

Regards,
Kunal

Hi Kunal. Your travel plan should work. Just note that you can't actually visit the Eiger (the train to the Jungfraujoch does cross the mountain though), but you can combine both the Jungfraujoch and Interlaken on one day. Pilatus and Rigi on the same day are doable too. I'd spend the first night in Interlaken, if I were you, and the following ones in Lucerne. Traveling times to and from both towns can be found using the Swiss timetable. You can search for hotels here.

As for your inbound trip: you'll probably be entering from Geneva. The Swiss Pass will cover the entire trip up to Interlaken/Lucerne. The exact trip and traveling costs from Tignes to Geneva can be found using the French timetable.