Second time to Beautiful Switzerland - help needed

Hi Arno and Annika !

I'm Pranathi. Already me and my family visited switzerland for 5 days in march 2012 and now we are back as a a group of 2 families (2 adults and 3 children aged 17,17,14) to enjoy summer in Switzerland.

Just a bit of flash back to know my previous trip :

We stayed in a chalet in lauterbrunnen for 5 days and visited JUNGFRAUJOCH ,SCHILLTHORN,TITLIS,RIGI

As well as orientation tour around the cities like Interlaken,Lucern, Zurich,Geneva, Bern, Montreux castle.

Now coming to our summer trip:

We are on a tour in Italy for 7 days then continue to swiss ..staying in St. Moritz for one day and 7 days in my favourite Lauterbrunnen..(buying 8 days SWISS PASS 1ST CLASS for 4 adults and Youth pass for 2 and family card for 1 child who is 14 yrs old)

17th July - 7:24 a.m Board train at VARENNA to Tirano

8:50 a.m - Reach TIRANO (We plan to send our luggages to lauterbrunnen so that we ll collect them next day ..hope it can be done at tirano station after 9:00 a.m- is it FLY RAIL BAGGAGE facility ?I learnas 12 CHF per baggage..am i right?)

10:03 a.m BERNINA EXPRESSfrom Tirano and Reach St. Moritz (Reserved seats already- Staying in Hotel Piz St. Moritz)

I ve read the forms and short listed certain places for this day-

Lake STAZ - Is it an easy walk to this lake (We are Indians and also not equipped with proper hiking boots )

Maloja pass - Post bus till the pass ..have some views and photos and back to St. Moritz

July 18th : 9:02 a.m GLACIER EXPRESS (Reserved seats) and 3:40 p.m - Reach Brig ( After changes with 3 trains and 1 bus- at Brig, Spiez,Interlaken,Lauterbrunnen - we reach our chalet Luterbach 208X at - around 5:40 pm) Collect our luggages from the LB station

July 19th -Lauterbrunnen to Grindelwald (hope this is free with swiss pass)

Grindelwald -First cable car (58 CHF full fare - Hope we get 50 % discount with pass which makes it to 26 CHF and child will travel free ?)

Hiking to Bachalpsee (Hope we can be back to LB around1 pm if we start early )

Afternoon - Boating in BRIENZ LAKE and visit GIESSBACH falls

July 20th - 8:04 a.m Golden pass from INTERLAKEN TO LUZERN (Reserved setas ) - TITLIS trip (Hope it will be 55 CHF with swiss pass and child will travel free )

July 21st -Reach Inerlaken at 9:00 and just stroll around the town (anything in particular that can be planned for 2 hrs ?) before taking train to Zweisimmen at 11:00 a.m

12:50 p.m -Golden pass train from Zweisimmen and 2:15 p.m - reach Montreux (Reserved V.I.P seats already)

We dont want to visit inside of Chillon castle but would prefer to do a boating in the Montreux lake and see the castle from the lake (Hope the boating is covered with swiss pass) Any tips and ideas for this day?

July 22nd - RHINE FALLS trip

(I can see RHYFALL EXPRESS the small trolley type train that tales to the falls in the official website ...How do we take this ? Should we reach Schaffhausen or Neuhausen from Zurich ? And can we take boat ride to the german side ? Is this Journey fully covered with swiss pass?)

Then visit LAKE CONSTANCE - visit any one of the shore towns and take a boat trip around the lake

July 23 rd - Its a tough decision between Jungfrau ather cute little places in Lauterbrunnen area for this day

(Is it possible to send our luggages to Zurich airport from LB)

Grutschalp - Murren hike

Trummelbach falls visit

Afternoon - take KAMBLY TRAIN (is it free with pass ?) from Bern and visit Kamble factory

July 24th - Leave LB at around 8:00 am to reach ZURICH at 11:15

Flight back to Dubai at 2:10 p.m

Thanks for reading my lenghty plans.

I m looking forward for your tips and suggestions .How many days we plan for swiss...its not enough...still your beautiful country offers lots more to see and enjoy

Thanks a lot.

Hi Pranathi,

It's wonderful that you will visit the Swiss Alps again! You are right, any number of days is not sufficient, but I'm sure you'll have a good time.

You can send your luggage from Tirano to Lauterbrunnen. It's the regular luggage service, not Fly Rail as that's only to airports. Links to all the details, such as delivery times, are on myswissalps.com/ train/practical/ luggage.

In order to see the Maloja Pass, be sure to travel as far as Casaccia. This is not a regular pass with a highest point mid way. It just drops down.

Note that the Swiss Pass is called Swiss Travel Pass now. The Swiss Pass is a new electronic card not geared to tourists. Boats are included in the Swiss Travel Pass (see here). The train to the Rhine Falls is included as well (you don't need the mini train, please see here for how to get there). The Kambly Express is included too, as it's just a regular train, but with a special theme and an on board bistro. Be sure to check the Swiss Travel Pass points of sale, and also the discounts.