Stay in Interlaken for Murren/Lauterbrunnen?

Hello...

Me and husband plan to go to Switzerland the end of this week for 5 nights / 6 days. 13-18 Nov 2015. Need some advice for our trip. Here are our tentative itinerary:

• We'll arrive in Zurich 13 Nov morning from Qatar and plan to go directly to Lucerne and stay there for 2 nights. Because we plan to do a day visit around Lucerne on 13 Nov, and visit Titlis on 14 Nov. Note:I have read in Titlis website, they are closed for maintenance from 2-13 Nov. So when we visit on 14 Nov, that will be the 1st day of opening.
• On 15 Nov morning we'll visit Interlaken. Our plan is visiting Murren, Lauterbrunnen. And if time still permits - Jungfraujoch. We plan to stay in Interlaken for 2 nights.
• On 17 Nov late afternoon, we plan to go to Geneva to stay for 1 night. Our main reason to stay in Geneva is only to catch the 15.00 pm flight of 18 Nov back to Qatar. We need to have a peace of mind of not rushing to be in Geneva too close to flight departure on the same day.

Questions:

1. Is it necessary to stay 2 nights in Lucerne instead of only 1 night? Our main destination near Lucerne is Titlis. Exploring Lucerne city isnot really a must. Only because we need to wait until 14 Nov when Titlis is open for visit.
2. For visiting Murren, Lauterbrunnen and Jungfraujoch (if time still permits), is it okay/efficient to stay in Interlaken for 2 nights?
3. For our itinerary, is it efficient to buy Swiss Half Fare Card (valid for 1 month = CHF 120/person) instead of Swiss Travel Pass?

Looking forward to your answers. Thank you.

Regards, Estri

Hi Estri, welcome to MySwissAlps!

Here are some answers:

1. No, that's not necessary, but I think you'll like Lucerne. Visiting the town is a good activity for November 13, after your arrival from Qatar. Personally I wouldn't like to travel more than necessary after a long flight, so even if Titlis would have been accessible on November 13 I'd still advise to just stick to Lucerne. Tips are listed at myswissalps.com/lucern e. After your visit to Titlis on November 14 you can spend another night in Lucerne or move over to Interlaken in the afternoon or evening. That won't make a big difference though.

2. Yes, Interlaken is a good base for the towns you plan to visit. Mürren and Lauterbrunnen are close, so with a 2 night stay in Interlaken you'll definitely have enough time to visit the Jungfraujoch too. You can check traveling times with the aid of the timetable. Further day trips are listed at myswissalps.com/bernes eoberland/activities. Note that November is low season, so quite some cable cars won't be running and you should carefully check availability.

3. A Swiss Half Fare Card should work fine. You can calculate which pass is best following these guidlines: myswissalps.com/train/ ticketspasses/practica l/chooserailpass. Mind that ordering online is cheaper in many cases, but you'll have to act quickly if you're leaving this week. Please see myswissalps.com/swissh alffarecard/price for resellers, prices and further details, including shipping times. In your case, www.raileurope-gcc.com is the cheapest option (about EUR 13,- cheaper per person than buying in Switzerland).

You may also be interested in our Geneva and Geneva Airport hotel overviews.

Hi Annika, thank you for your reply!

Flying hours from Doha (Qatar) to Zurich is only 6,5 hours, that too is a night flight. So we'll have enough sleep before right away exploring Switzerland :-)

Yes, November is a low season and many ski areas are still closed. That's why we plan to visit Titlis on the 1st day of their reopening. And Jungfraujoch, we plan to visit too, as it opens all-year-round. For other areas, yes, we have to carefully check on the operating days / timetable.

Thanks for the calculation simulation link. I have used it to calculate our itinerary. Yes, Half Fare Card is indeed cheaper than if we buy 4 days Swiss Pass. We plan to just buy the card on the spot at the ticket counter by the time we arrive in Zurich. Because there is no time to ship the card if we buy from Qatar.

Again, thanks a lot! We'll share our actual itinerary after we comes back :-)

Have a great time! You can share your itinerary in the trip reports section. That would be wonderful.