[Removed user]

9 August 2016 at 19:51:38 #809839

Hello-

We are flying into Geneva airport on Saturday Aug 27th morning from the US. We are leaving Geneva on Sunday Sep 4th morning. So we have 8 solid nights to spend in Switzerland. We are a family of 4 (two adults and 2 kids age 3.5 and 1.5) .We have a place to stay in Geneva for all of our travel time in the country (relatives house). So here are my questions:

1. We would like to cover Lake geneva, Lusanne, Montreaux, Gryere, Bern, Lucerne, Interlaken, Zurich and any other must see peaks and such. Want to go to a sandy beach one day if at all possible for the kids to have fun. Any such beach exist in Switzerland? What would be the best iterinary to cover all?

2. Is it feasible to keep leaving from Geneva every morning to go visit a new place (mentioned) everyday for our whole trip? Or is it better we leave for a few days stay local to the site-seeing area and start exploring?

3. What would be the best iterinary without wasting a lot of time but also with relaxing a bit?

4. Given our time and base location what would be the best method of travel? I mean which pass?

5. What sort of temperature should I expect while packing for end of aug/beg sep?

6. Anything else you think is necessary for me to know before getting there.

Thanks a bunch. Hoping to get some practical and honest answers from the forum. Than you!

PJ

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[Removed user]

10 August 2016 at 22:16:25 #854931

Hi-anybody? Please help!!!

[Arno]

11 August 2016 at 7:11:58 #854932

Welcome PJ! Please be patient, everyone gets an answer here.

1./2. Geneva isn’t the best base as it’s in the utmost south western corner of Switzerland, pretty far from most of the tourist attractions. But I understand if you can stay there in the house of relatives. If you skip Interlaken, Lucerne and Zurich (all are nearly 3 hours one way to reach), day trips will be possible to the other places you mentioned. Please see the timetable for schedules.

3. Just make your plans on a day by day basis, considering the weather forecast and what you feel like doing. And skip some places as recommended above. If it’s an option to stay elsewhere, Bern would be a good base to do day trips to Zurich, Lucerne, Interlaken and Gruyères.

4. You first need to be sure about your itinerary, but if you travel a lot, the 8-day Swiss Travel Pass would be perfect. If you decide to visit nearby places only a regional pass might work: myswissalps.com/ regionalpasslakegeneva.

5. Anything from 15 °C to 35 °C, rainy or sunny. Please see here.

6. This is a good place to start planning: myswissalps.com/ plantrip.

I hope this was useful!

[Removed user]

11 August 2016 at 13:40:51 #854933

Thank you Arno for your response. So here are my questions:

1. Fortunately or unfortunately we are based of off Geneva but we maybe able to go stay at one another place (maybe I will book a hotel) for 2-3 nights which is more central that way we can cover more site seeing? Mostly the ones that I mentioned above.

2. Question is- while staying in Geneva which are the day trips we can do? Like Lake Geneva/Old Town one day? Monteaux, Castle hcillon the next? Gruyere the other day? And then maybe go stay at another central city whichever you recomemnd and then make other trips from there? Which central city would you recommend? bern? and which closer day trips from there?

3. Any sandy beaches is Geneva/around Geneva? Or need to hike down to Italy? Please advise.

4. Can I buy the Swiss Pass when I am there at a train station? Or do I need it well before I depart from the US?

Thank you so much for getting back to me. I truly appreciate the help.

PJ

[Arno]

11 August 2016 at 14:50:23 #854934

Hi PJ,

2. I you do the ones I mentioned from Bern, you can do the others as day trips from Geneva. Actually all combinations are possible as the remaining trips are all along or on the lake. I would suggest to check the weather forecast and decide on a daily basis.

3. I don’t know of any. Plenty of places to swim though. E.g. http://www.geneve-plage.ch.

4. You can, but it’s more convenient to buy it at home and print it yourself. You can avoid waiting for a ticket office, and also you will have an electronic copy, so you can’t loose the pass. All options are on the page I referred to in my previous post (click to the Price tab).

[Removed user]

11 August 2016 at 15:19:34 #854935

Thank you so much Arlo. A few more questions (sorry):

1. So after we and on Geneva on Saturday morning- we will probably stay in geneva that day and may do something local and bookings and stuff.

2. Sunday morning if we take a train from geneva to bern – How long does it normally take? Also any recommendation on hotels near by the train station? We would probably stay in Bern for 3 nights. To cover Interlaken , Lucerne, Gruyere and Zurich in these 3 nights 4 days any outline you recommend in terms of which makes sense to go first versus which last and why?

3. After coming back from Bern into Geneva- we will plan each day to go to Castle Chillon/Monyreaux and others, Lake geneva. Sounds reasonable?

4. With two kids (super spirited and active) we want to enjoy Switzerland but dont want to miss out on the must sees.

5. Oh about Jungfrauch- is it a definote must see for kids? cable cars kind of make me nervous more than the kids.

Thanks a bunch again!

PJ

[Arno]

11 August 2016 at 15:48:28 #854936

Hi PJ,

For train schedules you can check the timetable link I previously gave you. The Bern page I gave you offers various hotel suggestions near the train station. The order of day trips does not matter, just check the weather forecast, specifically for trips to the Alps. There is not much to see in Interlaken, but the surrounding region and nature is stunning (so you need good weather), including Jungfraujoch. You’ll get there by train, not by cable car.

Sounds like you have a plan!

[Removed user]

12 August 2016 at 14:14:45 #854937

Thank you so much Arno. We are really excited!!! Switzerland has been on my to do list for a long time. Hoping for many more come backs after this initial visit. Hopefully the kids will enjoy too. I will post after we are back. But may reach out again for more questions.

Thank you for being so patient with me. Appreciate it.

PJ

[Arno]

12 August 2016 at 14:45:41 #854938

You’re most welcome PJ! You can post a trip report here when you’re back. I’m looking forward to it!

[Removed user]

12 August 2016 at 17:57:57 #854939

Arno-

I kind of modified my itinerary. Does this look reasonable? Thank you so much. This one is a bit laid back at the end. With two toddlers hopefully this wont be too crazy.

26-Aug Flight from IAD to Geneva @ 5:30PM

27-Aug Land at Geneva in the morning/ local site seeing

28-Aug Train to Zurich – site seeing in Zurich- Stay in Zurich

29-Aug From Zurich- train to Lucerne- Site seeing in Lucerne, come back to Zurich/stay in Zurich

30-Aug From Zurich- train to Bern- site seeing in bern, come back to Geneva

31-Aug From Geneva- train to Montreux- Castle Chillon and Golden line train to Interlaken- stay in Interlaken

1-Sep Site Seeing Interlaken- train to Gruyere-Site Seeing Gruyere- Train to Geneva

2-Sep Geneva- Lake Geneva- Old Town and such

3-Sep Geneva- beach and such

4-Sep Flight from Geneva to IAD @ 11:30am

[Arno]

13 August 2016 at 8:23:45 #854940

Hi PJ,

I don’t see much of an advantage to be honest. The trip from Geneva to Zurich will be longer than to Bern. Going all the way back to Geneva, then to Interlaken and staying there too takes a lot of time. If you want to take things (relatively) slow and be flexible, the original plan of staying a few days in Geneva and a few in Bern looks more reasonable to me. Just two places to stay instead of three, and less travel time. It’s all up to you of course!