Switzerland itinerary 7-10 days end of July

Hi,

We are planning to visit switzerland at the end of July for about 7-10 days, i have a rough itinerary and if i know if its sounds reasonable and what can i improve :

1. Arrive to Zurich --> Train to luzern.

2. stay 2-3 days in luzern , explore the city , cogwheel ride to mount pilatus and maybe a hike in the area.

3. go to Andermatt and stay the night

4. Take the glacier express from Andermatt to st. moritz.

5. Stay in st. moritz area for 2-3 days and hike in the area

6.go to Zurich and stay there for a day.

(My wife really wants to go to maison cailler and maison gruyere , but i dont how it is possible with this itinerary ).

Does this itinerary sounds reasonable ? is it boring? what should i change ?

Thanks,
Michael

Hi Michael, thanks for joining us!

Your itinerary looks fine to me and definitely not boring at all. Lucerne is a great town and there are lots of activities besides Pilatus. Please find tips here. The train route to Andermatt is beautiful. You may combine it with a boat ride over the lake if you like, from Lucerne to Flüelen. The St. Moritz region is very pretty and rather far away from the summer tourist crowds, which I think is appealing. Hiking tips are listed here.

Yes, it's hard to include the cheese and chocolate factories in Gruyères and Broc in your plans. There are alternatives that can be done as a day trip from Lucerne though. This topic might be interesting, as it discusses those options.

Once your plans are set, you can start looking into rail passes.

Thanks Annika for you quick reply.

Few more question if i may :)

Is the glacier express worth the money in your opinion?

regarding the stay in lucerne , is it important to be in the center of the city ( for example old town ) , ? or is there any other location that you recommended , as the hotels are quite expensive :(

Hi Mmichael -

Hotel costs -

www.myswissalps.com/pl antrip/doityourself/sa vemoney

www.myswissalps.com/ac commodation

Hotel des Alpes is on the list for Luzern. The prices there are standard (or even a bit low) for Luzern at each season for good hotel with a specially good location. The kitchen is only average; the rooms are quite nice, with great views.

More than likely, their computer raises prices as rooms fill up, so you may be seeing that phenomenon,too.

This thread talks about a good option....still not cheap, but cheaper:

www.myswissalps.com/fo rum/topic/2-night-stay-at-luzern-vs-meggen

Your itinerary as first presented is a good one.

As Annika noted, the visits to Gruyeres and Broc are difficult to do as a day trip from Luzern, although, I think, not impossible. You might be able to fit in one, at least.

The station for Maison Cailler is Broc-Fabrique

The timetable can help you:

www.myswissalps.com/ti metable

Once you have found the route and time, click on the "+" to the left of the entry for a particular journey. In the footnotes that appear, you will find a map of the route.

Another idea is to free up a day by not touring Zuerich, or adding a day to your schedule ( you did indicate some flexibility on number of days) and go from Luzern to the vicinity of Gruyeres,Bulle, Broc for a night, split up the visits over one afternoon and the next morning. From Luzern, take the fast route via Bern and onward, and come into, for example, Bulle from the north. Then take the train to Montreux and down the lakeside and along the Rhone Valley. Three hours 42 minutes to Andermatt from Montreux. The ride down into Montreux from about Montbovon is spectacular - in my opinion, the best part of the Golden Pass route. Adds an hour and 20 minutes from Bulle to Montreux via Montbovon, less from Gruyeres.

About 6 hours if you go all the way from Montreux to St. Moritz and skip Andermatt. That route covers the majority of the Glacier Express routing.

This map may help you:

map.search.ch/?x=-39144m&y=-23536m&z=2

If you try to take the Chocolate Train, it will be difficult to schedule all of that.

Regarding the Glacier Express, it runs on regular tracks, and so do other trains. You can make the journey without booking the Glacier Express, which can give you more flexibility in choosing times and stopovers.

www.myswissalps.com/gl acierexpress

The GEx has larger windows, but you can see the same sights from a regular train. The journey has really nice mountain scenery, so,the ride is worth taking in some fashion.

Whether it worth the extra cost for a reservation and dining car reservation is a matter of personal preference.

Slowpoke

Just another small questions , do you know if the tour in Maison Cailler and Maison du Gruyere is also available for singles and not for groups only ?

Thanks,

Michael

Hi Michael,

Yes, in my opinion the Glacier Express is worth its money. Regular regional trains indeed cover the same route, but you'd have to change trains along the route and you'd loose time that way. The fact that the Glacier Express is a direct train, plus its comfort and panoramic windows, make it a special trip in my view. If you choose a rail pass that allows free traveling anyway, such as the Swiss Travel Pass, you'll only have to pay for the seat reservation by the way.

You can visit Maison du Gruyère on your own. At Maison du Cailler they let visitors enter in (small) groups, so you may have to wait for a while until there are enough other visitors to start the tour along with you. It's not a guided (group) tour though. Once the first animated part of about half an hour is done, you can explore the factory individually and at your own pace.

Hi Michael -

Since Maison Gruyeres is quite flexible, and, is very close to the train station, I checked the timetable for travel from Luzern to Gruyeres.

If you leave at 0800, you will be in Gruyeres at 1059.

Trains on that schedule every hour. You could also leave at 0700 if you are awake then.They pass through Bulle, which does have accommodations.

The "tour" of the cheese dairy takes about 45 minutes.

So, you could easily do that from Luzern in one day, and have lunch at the dairy. You could also walk up the hill and walk around the town.

If you check the timetable, you can see about Cailler in Broc, station Broc- Fabrique. It might be hard to put that together, but the timetable will guide you about travel times. The timetable defaults to the fastest route. If you wish to have it show another route, you must enter an intermediate point in the "Via" or "Connections" box.

Added in edit-

I had a few minutes to spare and followed up on that trip to include Maison Caillier.

Here is a hypothetical journey schedule.

The constraint will be trains in the region of Gruyeres and Broc. They run once per hour, so you have to fit your visits to that schedule. I looked at going first to Gruyeres, where there is an option to walk up the hill to the town itself. The trip might fit together better by routing to Broc-Fabrique first. Play with the timetable and the web sites for Maison Caillier and Maison du Gruyeres to sort that out.

In the routing that follows I allowed 3 hours at Gruyeres and 2 hours at Caillier. That may not be optimum.

Anyway, here is something to think about:

Depart Luzern -0800

arrive Gruyeres - 1059

depart Gruyeres - 1358

arrive Broc Fabrique - 1424

depart Broc Fabrique - 1636

arrive Luzern - 1900.

Slowpoke

Oops-Misspelled Cailler

Thank you so much slowpoke for your help!,

We changed the route a little bit to something like :

(see attached image )

Sorry-

I can't figure out from your map what you are doing near Montreux, or how long you will be in Luzern.

Comments?

Slowpoke

Hi Slowpoke

The plan is to stay few days in lausanne , hike around maybe to do the "terrasse de lavaux" , and one day to go to Gruyere and to maison cailler from lausanne , and then continue to Glacier express as usual .

Thanks !

Hi mmichael,

So you still plan to stay in Lucerne for a couple of days, before heading to Lausanne? Your map seems to indicate you'll be using the regular train route via Bern when traveling to Lausanne, but the Golden Pass route via Meiringen, Interlaken, Zweisimmen, Gstaad and Montreux would be a lot more scenic.

To most tourists, Montreux is a bit more attactive than Lausanne, and connections to the Gruyère region are easier from Montreux as you'll have to change trains only once (instead of twice from Lausanne). Villages in the Lavaux vineyards can easily be reached from Montreux as well.

How long will the entire stay in Switzerland last according to your new plans?

We booked our flight from 31.07 till 10.08 so 11 days or so , i also added 2 days in Zermatt to visit Mount Matterhorn.

Anything else you suggest me to add ? :)

Thanks,

Michael

Hi Michael-

Re- la Cote -

Here is a detailed map of the area with the overlay for die Wandwerwege turned on.

map.geo.admin.ch/?topic=swisstopo&lang=d e&bgLayer=ch.swisstopo .pixelkarte-farbe&X=151200.00&Y=53 7900.00&zoom=4&layers= ch.swisstopo.swissimag e-product,ch.swisstopo.s wisstlm3d-wanderwege&layers_visi bility=false,true

Here is a link to Switzerland Mobility -

Hiking trails also turned on -

map.wanderland.ch/?lang=de&route=all&bgLa yer=pk&resolution=10&X =550920&Y=147530&layer s=Wanderland

Slowpoke

Hi Michael-

Annika said -

<<"Your map seems to indicate you'll be using the regular train route via Bern when traveling to Lausanne, but the Golden Pass route via Meiringen, Interlaken, Zweisimmen, Gstaad and Montreux would be a lot more scenic.">>

Of course, she is absolutely correct....but check the time table to confirm just how much longer it takes to use the scenic route for each leg - Luzern to Interlaken, then Interlaken to Montreux.

And, if you access Gruyeres (etc.) from Montreux, you will travel on what I consider to be the most scenic part of the western leg of the Golden Pass route. That is Montreux to Montbovon....somewhat better going the other direction, I think....Montbovon to Montreux.

Slowpoke