Suggestions to firm up my 8 day Swiss itinerary

Hi Travel experts.

I am travelling to Switzerland from UK with my family (wife and 18 month old kid ) in late august . As per the availability of flights and checking my work schedule I have book the flights from Manchester to Basel on 26th august reaching at 4 :00 Pm to Basel and return on September 2nd from Basel in afternoon.I am planning to stay 3 nights in Grindelwald/wengen and 4 nights in lucenre. As I have a small kid so I preferred apart hotel /self catering apartment

.I have done the booking and prepare the below schedule as per best availability and my understanding.

Day 1 (26th August) Arrive Basel at 4 PM and take the train to lucern, . Here I will stay in Hitrental apartment at allmend Zihlmattweg 44 | CH-6005 Luzern

Question– Any recommendation for any other apartment /location that will be central and economical to cover Titlis Pilatis/Rigi and lucerne region

Day 2 (27th august) Excursion to Mt Titlis in first half , chapel bridge , lucern town in evening

Day 3 (28th August ). Visit to transport museum and Excursion to Mt Rigi .

Question - Can both of these be done in one day and if yes what route I should follow can swap day 2 and 3 based upon the best weather for Titlis , Is there any other peak better than Rigi which is all covered in swiss pass.

Day 4. 29th August Its sort of free day in Lucerne Need suggestion what can be done on this day. If I had alreadydone Titlis and Rigi then should I go to do mount Pilatis ,as view may not be dramatically different . Is there any other good location to cover on this day , Any children park or activity area like paragliding etc is something I would like to go .Not sure if I can do the roundtrip to zermatt/ matterhorn on this day as it will be a long trip with kid.

Day 5. 30th August.Check out from the hotel at Lucerne and take train to Interlaken. Will stop at brienz and put the luggage in locker at station. Take the bus to ballenberg museum and spend 3-4 hours in open air museum.Return to train station and take the boat ride on lake brienz to Interlaken. From Interlaken go to hotel at grindelwald or Wengen.

Question- is the above day 5 plan sounds doable , Also suggestion which place to choose between grindelwald and wengen as I have the bookings for both the locations and cancancel one. Both are studio in challets but the one in Wengen is very economical then grindelwald , Difference is almost 300 CHF . Will I be loosing some good views or problem in commutation if I choose wengen to save money Also I want to take golden pass line from interlaken to lucenre,Are all the trains between these two staions are golden pass or this train has some specific route/timing. Can I take one ticket from lucenre to Interlaken and hop-on hop off at brienz

Day 6 31st August Excursion to Schillthorn or Jungfraujoch based on the weather .Need suggestion which one to pick especially when I had already cover Mt Titlis also it is possible to visit Murren/ Lauterburnen on the same day

Day 7 1st September Visit Mt first and need suggestion what else can be done on this day like another small excursion or day trip to Bern to see Beer park/rose garden . Is there any specific activity for the Kid to be cover on this day in this area..

.Day 8 . check out from Wengen and reach to Basel airport by 2 PM, where my flight back to manchester is at 4 PM , Can I do any couple of hours activity on this day.

In the entire trip I am not covering any major cities like Bern/ Zurich or Geneva as Iwant to explore nature more than the cities .

Any suggestion to alter the itinerary for good. also I have not study much about st . Morritz/ Zermatt region and not sure if it can be accommodated in these day .

I have done some maths on travel pass based on train fare from SBB site and mountain railways. It seems the half fare card is approx. 100 CHF cheap than the 8 day swiss travel pass although , I have not added small route bus fare and boat fares which I don’t assume to be much .Need suggestion from experience that is it worth to go for half fare card on the assumption of saving 80-90 CHF or go with 8 day travel pass in case there are sudden changes in itienary depending upon weather and If my train journey increases or it is worth to take regional pass for jungfrau and lucerne region.

.I understand from some forum posts that some trains have kids playing area as well. Are these any special trains. How to search and travel on these trains. Will my pass work on these trains.

lastly pls suggest if my choice of apartment is correct .Kirchbuehl @home in grindelwald / Hotel residence bernerhof in wengen and Hitrental allmend apartment in Lucerne .I do have posted lot of queries but really appreciate response from the experts to plan the trip correctly

Hi ashutosh123,

Welcome to MySwissAlps! You have certainly done your homework for this trip. I can't answer all your questions, but here's what I can say about your plans:

• Be careful with taking young children to high altitudes. Please see our Jungfraujoch page, for example.
• Don't travel to Zermatt as a day trip from Lucerne. It's too far away, especially with a child. Take your time visiting Mount Rigi. You can go there by boat, and also do a simple hike/walk up there. It can easily be a full day trip. Then do the transport museum, and possibly other museums in Lucerne on the day with the worst weather. You may also like the glass factory in nearby Hergiswil. It's free with your Swiss Travel Pass. Further tips can be found on our Lucerne page.
• There won't be bears in the bear park in Bern because of construction works until the end of September.
• Any train on the Golden Pass line between Lucerne and Interlaken is fine.
• Wengen is a wonderful place. And unlike Grindelwald it's car free, you may like that. The main difference regarding traveling is that's 15 minutes extra to reach Interlaken Ost, and 1 change. From Grindelwald, there's a direct train.
• Bases on your calculation I would recommend the Swiss Travel Pass. Note that it also includes all buses you may use, all modes of transport to Mount Rigi, and many museums are free. The transport museum is 50% off with this pass. Also it's much more convenient as you don't have to buy tickets for each trip. In your case you can buy Swiss Travel Passes through www.swisstravelsystem. co.uk, pay in GBP, and get them delivered free of charge.
• The train with playgrounds can be found here: tickipark.ch
• The apartment in Grindelwald is more than 1 km away from the town center and the rail station, so that's not very convenient. Bernerhof in Wengen is centrally located so in that respect it's better. Please note the links I added to your post and make sure we're talking about the same properties.
• The apartment in Lucerne is in the outskirts of town, but not that far from the rail station Kriens Mattenhof. I don't know about alternatives that are still available on such short notice for 4 nights. Most apartments are rented by the week. If you're willing to stay in a hotel there are better locations.

I hope this was useful!

HI Arno,

Thanks for your input, these were really useful Please suggest if it is good to buy the pass now and get it shipped or I can buy at the airport as well. I see some raileurope sites are giving discount . Are those genuine sites , also I will be travelling with Indian passport but currenly living in UK so can I get the discount pass valid for Indians and shipped to my UK address. Any suggestion to visit a chocolate factory that I can cover from lucern or inerlaken

.

Hi ashutosh123,

I'm glad to hear that! All major points of sale are listed here on the Swiss Travel Pass page. You can change the country of residence to see which websites sell to the UK and to India. So yes, you can buy at the airport, or from any of the retailers listed there. We only list genuine websites.

The website I mentioned is a good one for the UK. Unlike buying at the airport, you can pay in GBP, so no exchange rate surprises or bank fees. And shipping is free. It's a time saver too as you don't have to wait at the ticket counter in Geneva and can go straight to the train.

The Indian website only ships to India, but you can order from www.raileurope-world.com/pass/swiss-pass, use the discount codes on www.raileurope-world.com/deals/great-deals-to-tour-Europe, and have it shipped to England (they don't list UK).

There are no chocolate factories near Lucerne that I know of. There's Shoggiland in Flawil, more than 2 hours from Lucerne. Also there's the Swiss Chocolate Adventure at the Swiss Museum of Transport (no factory, but lots of chocolate). You may also want to check www.maxchocolatier.com.

Perhaps you're also interested in this topic.

Thanks Arno..

Will have a look at the links provided by you and come back for questions if any.

HI Arno,

can you let me know if I take the boat from brienz to Interlaken then will I be allowed to take two luggage/suitcase on the board as I will be coming aftr checking out at lucern hotel by train and stop at brienz and go to wnegen via Interlaken thru boat.

Hi ashutosh123,

It's no problem taking along luggage on the boat.

Thanks Arno..

Hey Arno, that link u gave tickipark.ch isn't in English?? Is there one in English that I could see. ?

Hi Barkha,

You will find the option to select English version in the upper left corner of the page.

Hi Arno,

Can you pls tell me if entry to transport museum in lucern and ballenberg museum in Brienz is free with swiss travel pass . or if I opt for half fare card then does it give me 50 % discount to these museums as well.

Hi ashutosh123,

With a Swiss Travel Pass, the Transport Museum is 50% off and Ballenberg is free. The link to such information can be found on myswissalps.com/ swisstravelpass/ details.

The Swiss Half Fare Card does not include any museums.

Hi Ashutosh123!

Sorry for writing late on this forum. But if you have not already confirmed your accommodation bookings, maybe you could add a day to wengen/grindelwald/interlaken and reduce a day in lucerne. You could then have the possibility of making a day trip to zermatt/gornergrat from the interlaken base which is really wonderful!

HI Mistybabu,

Thanks for your suggestion, yes that could have been an option but the hotel in Lucerne was confirmed and advance paid so will not be able to change. I did thought it initially but then trip from wnegen to zermat is 3 hour one way so doing a day trip with kid having 6 hours in a train seems tough. another option was to have a one day stay in Zermatt but again with the kid don't want to change base too much. so may be leaving Zermatt for next time or if the weather is not good for any mountain in Lucerne then will see if anscenic day trip is possible.

Enjoy!