Rail holiday - help required for booking

Hello Nitin Zabak and welcome to the forum. If you'd like to travel according to the itinerary you mention, you don't have to book seats for the train journeys. You can just purchase your tickets on the spot (at a desk at the railway station or a ticketing machine, available in English as well) and get on board. Seat reservation is only required for traveling in special panoramic trains. An example is the Golden Pass, which runs between Interlaken and Gstaad. If you'd like to travel in one of these trains (which, for example, have larger windows than regular trains) when getting to Gstaad, you should book your seats in advance. In order to check possible train connections, please use the online timetable. By the way, if you're travelling from Interlaken to Lucerne, I'd recommend that you select the beautiful route over the Brünig Pass.

The journey you describe is a wonderful one. It allows you to see some of Switzerland's highlights, including Jungfraujoch, Mt. Pilatus and Glacier 3000. What appeals to me as well, is that it still isn't a very tight schedule and that it does leave some room for exploring city centres and their surroundings. There are plenty of alternatives of course, but it's hardly possible to explore all of Switzerland within one week, so you simply have to select a few highlights and these ones would be just fine. If you travel by yourself (instead of participating in a pre-set tour operator program), this will offer flexibility and allow you to adapt your scheme to several circumstances, such as the weather.

If you follow this travel scheme, you'll definitely profit from a Swiss rail pass. In your case, I think the Swiss Half Fare Card would be the most economical option. It allows travelling throughout Switzerland with a 50% reduction and this would save you a lot.

You can book your hotels in Interlaken, Lucerne and Zurich through our booking system. You might want to make us of a hotel close to Zurich Airport with a (free) shuttle service.

I hope this gets you started!

Annika said: An 8-day Swiss Pass includes free traveling by train, bus, boat and urban transportation in many towns. Most mountain transportation is discounted, so you need to purchase tickets in those cases.

The weather varies by region and altitude, but you need warm clothing for the end of October, plus some lighter clothes in case the temperatures in the valleys are still mild. Many trips can be made all year round, but you have to check the timetables of the mountains you want to visit. Mountain transportation can shut down in October, either temporarily for maintenance or for the whole winter. It varies per mountain. The Jungfrau is definitely no problem though.

Some car rental companies are listed at the bottom of this page. I don't know companies who rent private drivers, but I'm sure it's possible. This page might help you.

Hello again! This trip sounds beautiful as well. The main difference with the former one (in Lucerne, Zurich and Interlaken) is that you get to see Geneva and it surroundings as well, so in all it may be a bit more diverse. Both journeys allow you to visit Switzerland's highlights, so it doesn't really matter which one you choose. It's very hard to tell whether it's cheaper to book this yourself. You should calculate the regular costs of your trips using the online timetable. An explanation on this can be found in our rail FAQ. Prices for hotels may vary; this depends on the type of room you book, the moment of booking, and so on. Besides the financial aspect, you should consider which type of travelling appeals to you most: a fixed program, which is comfortable of course but doesn't allow you to adapt your plans or rest if you want to, or a journey on your own in which you're not dependent on fixed dates and day trips. I personally prefer the freedom of planning my own trip, but I understand the advantages of a package deal as well. In a previous topic the pros and cons of both ways have been discussed; it may help you to make a decision.