[Removed user]

21 March 2013 at 4:26:27 #805867

• Day 1 Depart Paris by rail to interlaken(overnight stay)
• Day 2 Explore Jungfrau (Overnight Interlaken)
• Day 3 Interlaken to Lucern(Brunig Pass) and return via simmentral region to Zweisimmem and on to Montreux(overnight stay)

• Day 4 Montreux-Broc- Montreux(Chocolate train)

Hope to visit Nestle factory/Cheese making in Gruyere-How to go about it?

• Day 5 Montreux to St Moritz

Train from Montreux-Martigny-Brig via scenic route to St Moritz?
Am I missing out any major scenic sight should i not do Zermatt to Brig to save time in allowing us to arrive St Moritz not too late?
Travel duration to reach St Moritz from Montreux?

• Day 6 St moritz-Tirano-St moritz(overnight stay)
• Day 7 St Moritz-Zurich Airport

Appreciate your assistance as this is my first time travelling independent to Switzerland (a beautiful country),2 adult age 55 and son age 20.Is advance seat booking necessary? Which rail pass for better saving on our itinerary and any advance booking needed before arriving Switzerland.Hope plan trip not too rush . We plan to be in Switzweland on last week July 2013

Thank you and have a good day

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[Annika]

22 March 2013 at 6:42:16 #838283

Welcome to the forum eddy! First of all, don’t worry; you still have enough time to plan your stay in Switzerland. I do advise not to wait too long with your hotel bookings though, as the last week of July is tourist high season. Hotels close to the railway stations can be found for:

• Interlaken
• St. Moritz
• Zurich Airport
• other towns, including Montreux

As for your itinerary: it looks fine to me. Day 3 isn’t ideal though, as it’s quite a detour to get to Lucerne first and then return to Montreux. It’s doable, but if you want save on traveling time, you can skip the Lucerne-Interlaken-Lucerne part and get to Montreux righ ahead. The Chocolate train actually is an excursion including a visit to the chocolate and the cheese factory. You can (and should) book in advance; more information can be found here.

The most scenic route from Montreux to St. Moritz is the Glacier Express route via Andermatt, Disentis and Chur. You can find all connections by entering the right via-stations in the Swiss timetable. You can either get on board of a Glacier Express train in Brig (seat reservations required) or make the same journey by regular trains (no seat reservations required). As you can see, this journey takes about 8 hours. Including Zermatt would take too much time. And although that’s a beautiful section, so is the rest of the trip. If weather is nice, you’ll have plenty of stunning views!

An 8 day Swiss Saver Pass for the both of you and an 8 day Swiss Youth Pass for your son would be the easiest solution for your trip and will help you save quite some money. These passes allow you to do nearly all trips for free, without having to buy additional tickets. All you’d need are the seat reservations I mentioned and a discounted tickets for the Jungfraujoch (up from Wengen or Grindelwald). Details and purchase options can be found here. Alternatively, you can consider a 4 day Swiss Saver Flexi Pass for all three, using free travel days for day 1, 3, 5 and 7 and discounted travel days for the remaining trips. You will have to buy extra tickets on these discounted days though, and you should make calculations to see whether this is a cheaper option over all.