MySwissAlps.com features ads, commercial and non-commercial Best of the Swiss Alps 14 day tour: reviews?
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I am so glad for this suggested itinerary. May I know if anyone has done this? If so I would appreciate any tips or suggestions or comments.
Thanks.
Mary Goh
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Hi Mary- Welcome to My Swiss Alps-
What itinerary? None included…
Slowpoke
Hi Mary,
I’ll post a link to the tour for others to see: http://www.myswissalps.com/pl antrip/doityourself/sa mpleitineraries/bestof theswissalps
That way, they can give feedback on the itinerary even if they haven’t done the specific tour.
Other than looking for reviews of the tour, do you have any concerns or questions about it we can answer?Thanks Slowpoke and Lucas.
Can you please suggest where I can slot in one more day and what my husband and I can do on that day. My husband and I are in our sixties and would like a slower paced activity.
Thanks.
Hi Mary,
When are you going to be traveling? Also, for a slow paced activity – would that be a mountain trip or perhaps just relax in a city or village? What might appeal to you? A boat cruise perhaps?
Interlaken, Lucerne and Zurich all have nice lakes where you can take a cruise for the afternoon if that appeals to you – adding an extra night at any of those towns would work well for that.
Thanks Lucas.
We are looking at 3-17 September, 2019. I know it’s a long way off but I am enjoying reading up and planning and can’t wait to take off!! And this website is just fantastic. It is so user friendly.
How about recommending a town or village?
Thank you very much.
Mary Goh
Hi Mary-
That is a great time of year (on average) for good weather in all of Switzerland and the Alps in particular.
<<“How about recommending a town or village?”>>
Other than making it a relaxing trip, we have no guidance on your interests and preferences. If you like cities, add time in Zürich.
If you want the best of the high Alps, staying in a village that has a lot more alpine character and less of a commercial feel than Interlaken, take one day from Interlaken and move it plus one new one to Wengen.
http://www.myswissalps.com/fo rum/topic/tips-about-wengen-and-the-jungfrau-region-by-kim
Interlaken is a good travel base, but for the best experience of the Jungfrau region, you want to be in one of the villages nearer the Jungfrau.
Check this page.
http://www.myswissalps.com/ju ngfrauregion
Slowpoke
Yes, if you’d like a city experience (and to just relax and not travel) on your extra day, then I’d add an extra night in Zurich.
Interlaken makes a good base to explore many places in Switzerland, due to its location and good rail connections – so if you want a day to explore somewhere off the itinerary, the extra night in Interlaken might be a good idea. A nice day trip from Interlaken would be Montreux: http://www.myswissalps.com/mo ntreux via the Golden Pass line (the southern section that isn’t included on your itinerary- http://www.myswissalps.com/go ldenpass/gettingthere
Lastly, if you want to relax in your hotel and enjoy the mountain scenery I’d add a night (or 2) in Wengen which is a very popular location on the forums here: http://www.myswissalps.com/we ngen (not far Interlaken).
Use the Swiss railways timetable to see train/bus connection times between any town or mountain you might be interested in as well: http://www.myswissalps.com/ti metable
Thanks Slowpoke and Lucas for your suggestions. Appreciate your fast responses.
This website is fantastic. Keep up the good work.
Hi. I am thinking of spending the extra day in Bern.
Should I make the return day trip from Lucern? If so which direction. It is a bit confusing as there are trains that take only one hour, others take one and half hours. Would prefer the scenic trip. Please advise. Thank you very much.
Mary
Hi Mary,
The routes are quite similar normally. Either 1 hour direct via Zofingen or 1.5 hours with a change in Olten. These 2 routes are very similar (the two towns being quite close if you check out Google Maps).
The 3rd option, which isn’t always available is also direct but 1.5 hours. This is on the Kambly Zug which takes you via Trubschachen. If it is available and you have the time try that one.
Otherwise go for a direct train taking 1 hour.
This is all found on the timetable: http://www.myswissalps.com/ti metable. Click the train you are thiking of taking to expand the information and see the stops (and note if it says ‘Kambly’).
<<“Should I make the return day trip from Lucern? If so which direction. It
is a bit confusing as there are trains that take only one hour, others
take one and half hours. Would prefer the scenic trip. Please advise.
Thank you very much.”>>
Hi Mary –
I’ve been reading back through the thread. The timetable will really help you with questions like these. Lucas has linked you to it twice.
From reading the posts, I think it might be very useful for you to refer to a map while considering that question…. and others.
This map at the setting that I have chosen will do a good job:
map.search.ch/?pos=641024,215872&z=8
(That map is set to zoom level 8. If you zoom in to zoom level 32, the train lines become very clear):
This view is set to show Zofingen:
map.search.ch/?pos=636416,239888&z=32
This view is set to show Langnau
map.search.ch/?pos=639552,196000&z=32
That expanded version is set to show Langnau and Trubschachen.
Once you read the instruction page that appears when you follow the link that Lucas provided twice, you will learn that the timetable computer picks the fastest route(s) by default. From Bern to/from Luzern, that route goes through Zofingen. There is an extensive stretch of high speed rail on that route, which makes it faster, even if it looks longer than the other older route I’ll describe below. The reason that some trains take one hour and others take longer is because some trains are express and make fewer stops.
The older route which passes through the Langnau and Trubschachen is more scenic, in my opinion. Not for mountains, but because of the lovely villages and farm buildings with very unique and characteristic architecture. that route is slower still.
In order to make the timetable display that route, you must use the technique described in the instructions on the link tha Lucas provided. You mus select an intermediate (” via”) stop, enter it in the “via” box, and search.
You will see a route which passes through Wolhusen, Escholzmatt, Trubschachen, Langnau, Zaziwil, Konolfingen, Worb, and thence to Bern.
Perhaps tha t is the “Kambley Route” mentioned above….I don’t know.
But, it is more scenic in the sense that I describe than the route through Zofingen.
Slowpoke
I hadn’t head of the Kambly train before either!
Have you? It appeared on the timetable when I searched for Lucerne to Bern – 2 or 3 departures per day. Here is a website I found on the train: http://www.kambly.com/de/ausf lug/683/Anl%C3%A4sse-mit-Kambly.htm
Hi Lucas –
<<“I hadn’t head of the Kambly train before either!
Have you?”>>
I had not, but I have noticed that Kambly has had more frequent and prominent advertising than I recall from a few years ago. And, their facility in Trubschachen is much larger these days than I recall from my first trips to the region in the 1980s.
Trubschachen and the nearby region has some nice Emmental sights.
The small museum of an older Swiss household by the Topferei (pottery maker and shop) is enjoyable because of the perspective on how the farmers lived a couple of centuries ago. The Gasthof Bären is a traditional inn with the characteristic and particularly nice facade . It has been there since the 1400’s, and one of my friends with Emmental family roots says that they are known for making their own cheese.
If you cross the highway and climb the hill across from the station….the trail is easy to see…and follow the road on up to the top of the ridge you are on a road which continues toward the paths that eventually lead up to the top of the Napf.
The Napf is the local “family-friendly” mountain with a nice Landgasthof
and a Matratzanlager for hikers on the main trail through the region.
That trail is the Grenzpfad Napfbergland:
http://www.schweizmobil.ch/en /hiking-in-switzerland/routes/rou te-065.html
The Napf is the highest peak in the region, at about 1400 meters, so it is not very high. But, it has nice views over the characteristic Emmental landscape. (Die Eggen und die Graben…the ridges and the valleys). It’s the kind of place that you climb up to with the kids on a nice weekend on one of the many trails and have a beer and some Emmentaler Wienerli with Kartoffelsalat. I learned to pick my trails, because one of them – on the side near Luthernbad- goes through a field with friendly cows at Alp Trachselegg (Trachsuegg). However, the cows leave extensive evidence of their existence on the ground and you have to walk very carefully. 😉 You are definitely, as they say, close to Nature. 😉
Probably not the kind of “Nature” that many visitors to the forum are seeking, however.
I found a parallel route one ridge over to the East.
If you walk along the ridge, after you climb up from Trubschachen, you can look down on Trub inthe valley below, which is an attractive small village with traditional houses and and a few inns and Gasthofs. Its about a 3 km. walk in along the valley from Trubschachen. The valley road continues to Fankhaus ( or Fankhus) and to Mettlenalp, where there is tiny and very nice Gasthof at the foot of the Napf, also with a Matratzanlager. A few CHF to sleep there, but, if you want heat in the winter, you pay a few CHF extra.
Slowpoke
Attachments:Thanks for those details! Never got to the area myself. Would have been a nice change of scenery from the usual train routes in the area.
Thank you very much Slowpoke and Lucas. Have taken note of the links to the maps which are so helpful and new info.
Cheers!
Mary
You are very welcome.
Don’t forget the timetable. 😉
Slowpoke
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