Swiss Trip (advise)

Hi,

I'm planning for a 7 night trip to Switzerland with my gf and subsequently depart for Italy. Have a few qns here and would like to seek your advise on my itinerary and most appropriate Swiss pass to purchase.

10 Dec - Arrive at Zurich Airport. Travel to Lucerne and spend the day at Lucerne. Overnight at Lucerne
11 Dec - Lucerne > Mt Rigi / Mt Pilatus / Mt Titlis
12 Dec - Lucerne > Grindelwald via Interlaken (thinking of heading to Jungfraujoch and Lauterbrunnen)
13 Dec - Lucerne > Bern
14 Dec - Lucerne - Free and easy
15 Dec to 16 Dec - Lucerne > Zermatt (Overnight stay at Zermatt, 2 nights)
17 Dec - Depart Zermatt to Turin Italy, via Domo and Milan

Both of us have not ski before, would you recommend for us to ski at Mt Rigi / Titlis / Pilatus or Zermatt? As we would like to minimise on the number of hotel transfer, we thought of making Lucerne our base for the first 5 days. With this itinerary, do you think this is a good idea? Also, what swiss pass do you think would be most appropriate for this travel? We are from Singapore.

Thks.

Welcome adversant! Lucerne as a base is fine for this itinerary. You can find travel times from and to Lucerne in the timetable. That will provide insight in traveling times for each day trip. It may also help you decide what to do on day December 11: Pilatus is a lot closer to Lucerne than Rigi and Pilatus. As for skiing: if you haven't skied before, you can't simply start doing so. All you can achieve in one or two days is take a few beginner's classes. There will be quite some options in Zermatt.

If you want to keep your plans flexible and prefer unlimited traveling, an 8 day Swiss Saver Pass would be the best choice. Whether it's the most economical can only be told if you have an exact list of your plans and make calculations based on them. Note that acces to the Rigi is for free with a Swiss Saver Pass. Alternatively, you can consider a Swiss Saver Flexi Pass, picking free travel days for the longest and most expensive transfers, and buying discounted tickets on the remaining days.

I hope this helps you decide!

Thks for the help, Annika.
Am I right to say that given our schedule, it would be recommended to do sightseeing at Mt Rigi / Mt Pilatus / Mt Titlis. For skiing, it would be more suitable to do it at Zermatt as we will be spending 2 days there.

Thks.

Hi adversant. Do you mean whether you should visit all three mountain tops or just one of them? All three would be too much, but one (or even two in one day, such as Rigi and Pilatus combined) would definitely fit into your schedule. Just check the timetable I mentioned for details. And yes, taking some ski classes in Zermatt would the easiest solution.

Hi Annika,

Thks for the advice. Much appreciated :-)