10-day Switzerland trip, need tips and pass advice

Hi,

Need some help to sort out our itinerary for Switzerland. Our plan is to visit during Last week of June.

• Flying from London to Geneva➡️Geneva to Montreux train, At Montreux, visiting Lake side Promenade and walk to Chateau Chillon.
• Second day Vevey & Lavaux Vineyards( will it be too much for a day)
• Third day, Gruyere, either by train from Montreux or a bus route via Vevey . Should we come back to Montreux for 3rd night or head to our next destination I.e Bernese Oberland straight from Gruyere. We can ship off our luggage. How much time should we ideally spend to see and walk around this beautiful village.
• Our base will be Murren for next 4 nights and plans for next days in no particular order and depending on weather
• 4th Day, Plans to hike around beautiful villages (Grutschalp / Murren / Gimmelwald / Trummelbach Falls)
• 5th Day, Visit Jungfrau or Schilthorn ( should be give preference to one mountain over other here)
• 6th Day, Brienz / Ballenberg / Wengen➡️
• 7th Day, Visiting Saanen and Gstaad(optional). We would appreciate any other recommendations for must see or other things to do.
• 8th Day heading to Lucern for 2 nights., Plan is to see Lucern.
• 9th Day, Day trip to Bern from Lucern
• 10th day morning, Flying from Basel to London
• We would have loved to visit Zermatt and Ascona & Verzasca valley but due to our tight schedule it will be good keep it for next time.

And one more thing, should we go for 8 day Swiss pass or half fare card would give us a better value. All suggestions welcome.

Thank you in advance.

Hi Buzzybee, welcome to MySwissAlps!

You've planned for quite an impressive itinerary, including lots of highlights. You're right that you simply can't see it all. I think most of your plans is doable. Here are some recommendations:

• when traveling from Montreux to the Bernese Oberland, use the scenic Golden Pass route rather than the quicker (less scenic) route. If you do so, you could visit Saanen and Gstaad during this trip. This saves lots of additional traveling time on day 7. If this idea appeals to you, you'd better start traveling towards Mürren on day 4, allowing a full day for this trip and the visits to Saanen/Gstaad;
• some prefer the Jungfraujoch, others prefer the Schilthorn. You'd best check the pages I linked to and decide for yourself;
• please check our Bernese Oberland and Jungfrau region pages for additional sightseeing tips;
• a day trip to Bern can be done from Lucerne, but keep in mind that the Lucerne region is splendid and actually deserves more of your time. Tips are listed here. If you do plan to visit Bern, I'd advise to move on to Basel the same afternoon/night. You can spend the night in a hotel close to the airport, allowing for an easy transfer on day 10. Moreover, you won't need expensive additional rail tickets on day 10 this way (see below).

As for a rail pass: you'll be traveling a lot, so I'd definitely prefer a Swiss Travel Pass. It's much easier than a Swiss Half Fare Card and allows free traveling on all regular trains, buses and boats. The 8 day variant won't cover the first and/or last day(s) of your stay. For your current plan, I'd use it for the first 8 days and get regular tickets for day 9 and (if needed) 10. But this all depends on your finalized itinerary. If you want to be sure, you should make calculations as explained at our "How to choose" page.

If you indeed prefer a Swiss Travel Pass, you can find purchase options in the Price section of our Swiss Travel Pass page. The easiest option for you would be to buy through www.swissrailways.co.u k. You can order your Swiss Travel Pass as a print at home ticket without additional fees and pay in GBP.

Thanks Annika for some wonderful suggestions and the links provided.

Sorry to bother you again but I still have some doubts:

For 3rd day as we are planning to visit Gruyere, should we spend whole day there in or can we explore some more things near by. OR May be we can do Vevey in evening and 2nd day just do the Lavaux vineyards .What do u think?

I am not very sure about Sannen and Gstaad, our friends recommended it. Do you recommend visiting them on Golden pass route. And will 4-5 hours are enough to enjoy these places?For Golden pass route do we have to reserve the seats beforehand?

If we get to see Jungfrau or Schilthorn, do u think we should go for Mt. Pilates or Titlis or Rigi when in Lucern.

I agree that spending last night it would be much easier if we spend it in Basel but then we will be there in Lucerne for only one night . and if we do plan for Bern other day, will it be too much , coming back to Lucern and then going to Basel. I do agree though it will save us money which I have not thought before .If you can advice how long does it usually takes from Lucern to Basel and are there direct trains.Morning flight is at 10.30am.

Hi Buzzybee,

As for the 3th day: there's a chocolate factory in nearby Broc (cailler.ch), and a cheese factory in Gruyères (www.lamaisondugruyere. ch), so you can easily spend a full day. Whether that's a good idea depends on your interests.

Saanen is very small, not a place one would typically visit as a tourist. So if you want to see it an hour would be sufficient, unless you have a specific site in mind? Gstaad has a nice main street. You can have lunch there, for example. The whole area is perfect to do some hiking. That's what many people do there in summer.

Annika linked to the Golden Pass page. Please click Tickets for details about reservations.

Mount Rigi, for example, is totally different from Jungfraujoch or Schilthorn. We have pages with lots of details about all these mountains. It would be best to take a look there and see what fits your expectations.

Traveling times can be found in the timetable.

Kind regards,

Arno

Thank you v much Annika and Arno. This was very helpful.

Regards