MySwissAlps.com features ads, commercial and non-commercial Wanting to see as much of possible in Switzerland
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So we bought our Swiss Travel Passes and we’ve got a general guideline of what we want to do each day. We bought backpacks so we don’t have to drop our luggage or store it, it’s going with us. But I’m finding myself so stressed about planning. We’re the travelers that are up at 5 am and on the go all day. We’re into nature, scenery, waterfalls, wildlife… and food.
One never knows how long it’s going to take at each venue (this is a problem everywhere we go and it always works out and we tick everything off our list, but we usually have a car!). As I’m building our itinerary, I find myself listing multiple train options. I get so nervous that without all the times spelled out for us, I’ll be standing around the train station trying to figure out which train to be on, while time is ticking by.
As an example, the day we leave Lugano looks like this, and the foodie in me hasn’t yet made time for a food stop on this day (I’m working on it):
pl3 – 7:34 IC21 (668) to 8:56 Arth-Goldau 9:09 pl8 (IR26 2313) 9:30 Fluelen
Take Lake Lucerne Boat Trip Fluelen 9:46 – 11:48 Vitznau (or 11:00 – 12:48 Vitznau)
Take (R1127) 12:15 to Rigi Kulm 12:47
Take (R150) 2:01 to 2:48 Arth-Goldau 2:58 (IC21 680) pl5 3:41 Luzern 3:47 plA Luzern Bahnhof
Go into town to see Chapel Bridge, Lion Monument, Possibly train up to Chateau Gutsch
6:10 Luzern IR 6:23 Stans – 6:30 Stanserhornbahn FUN 6:54 walk to Stanserhorn for sunset (7:31 pm)
8:15 Stanserhorn FUN 8:39 Stans 9:10 (S4) 9:25 Kriens Mattenhof
I downloaded SBB Mobile, but I won’t have data overseas, so will it work without data, is there wifi in train stations? My travel partner has overseas data so as long as his network is good, we usually use his phone, along with maps.me (offline maps) on my phone.
Every day looks like this and until we get there, we won’t know how difficult it’ll be traveling with our bags, whether we’ll enjoy mountains more than waterfalls, how simple the trains will be to figure out with our itinerary… it is so hard to choose what we want to do.
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Hi Linamary69!
I understand it’s hard to choose. I’m afraid you’ll have to live with the fact that you just can’t see and do it all in one trip. I don’t know if you have the chance to return to Switzerland for another visit, but if so, please count on that and try to relax a bit in the planning of your current itinerary. You can put some trust in the fact that whatever you pick, you’ll probably like it, as you seem to have a broad taste for all kinds of activities. So it’s not very likely you’ll get heavily disappointed and regret that you didn’t decide for alternatives in the end ;-).
The example you provided shows a very full day which leaves little room for flexibility. Also, I’m not sure what you mean by walking up to Stanserhorn, but it’s not an easily climbed mountain top and especially not a hike you should start in the late afternoon or evening. I’d personally prefer to skip some items, however hard that may be, and leave enough room for unexpected occasions, sitting back and enjoying views, and so on.
Having said that, of course such choices are highly personal and you should plan according to your own wishes and preferences! The mobile timetable will be of great help once you’re there. It allows you to find new connections on the spot. You’ll need data to use it though, as far as I know. Train stations have wifi, but trains haven’t (yet) and it would be convenient to check the SBB app while you’re on the move. Did you consider a SIM card or Traveler’s Wifi? You can read about it here: myswissalps.com/simcar d.
Remember that your Swiss Travel Pass, allowing ticketless traveling on trains, buses and boats, really adds to your flexibility. You won’t have to buy tickets (other than for mountain transportation) and you can easily adapt your plans if necessary.
Luggage is usually pretty easy to handle: https://www.myswissalp s.com/train/practical/ luggage.
With regards to Stanserhorn, the mountains are hard to fully understand, especially coming from flat land… I assumed that I take the funicular up and I’m there. I think Google might have said Walk to Stanserhorn, so I copied the terminology. Being that it’s included with our Swiss Travel Passes, I thought it was worth a shot, especially if it’s simply taking a funicular up, taking in the view, the sunset and heading back to our hotel. For that day, I wasn’t planning on any hiking.
It is hard bc we have so many places on our bucket list that we don’t want to go back to any one country. If so, guaranteed my boyfriend would want to go back to Iceland and I’d spend every summer in Jasper Canada or the islands of the Azores… and we’d miss out on sooo much! So we commit to ourselves that we’re going to see it once, as much as we can and then pick another destination. Thanks so much for understanding and helping me to figure out the mountains.
Hi Linamary69,
The peak of the Stanserhorn is easy to reach, you’ll find all details on our Stanserhorn page: http://www.myswissalps.com/st anserhorn/gettingthere.
Hi Linamary69. Likewise, the “Route” tabs of each of our attraction pages explains how to get there: http://www.myswissalps.com/ac tivities. Combined with the timetable at http://www.myswissalps.com/ti metable that should allow you to plan your trips.
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