MySwissAlps.com features ads, commercial and non-commercial Switzerland trip, Apr 29-May 9 from UAE
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Hi,
We are just back from our Switzerland holidays (I wanted to call this as holidays than a trip 🙂 ).Before starting, I would like to thank everyone in this group, because of you guys, I could plan my itinerary perfectly. The advice I got from myswissalps, helped us so abundantly to make change in plan when the weather became unpleasant.
Since our 2 yr old son with us, we used to make change in our plan depends on his mood and I think that’s the same with everyone travelling with small kids and we wanted this like a relaxing than to watch places in hurry.
Day 1: Rhine Falls
We started from Abu Dhabi by 01:00 am in the morning and reached Zurich by 10AM with 2 hr layover in Istanbul. From the moment we landed in Switzerland, everything was so perfect. The train travel to collect luggage itself felt like briefing about Switzerland before even exploring. The sound cow bells and so many beautiful things were there in that. On this day, we had a friend who stays in Basel, came to pick us and spent the whole day with us which was even better for us.
Directly from Airport, we went to watch Rheinfalls and it was very beautiful. It was drizzling and we went down all the stairs and it was a nice feel to get water sprayed and our son was enjoying it a lot. As this is our first day and we had a sleepless night in the flight, we thought of going to our hotel by 4 pm.We bought some stuffs for dinner from coop and spent in our hotel.
Day 2: Zurich
We took a zvv day pass and spend the time in Zurich town watch. We had lunch near Lake Zurich with swans and my kid was enjoying it a lot. After that we took a boat ride (Limmat boat) which is covered in day pass. In the next 2 days, our stay will be in 2 different places and so we thought of sending our one big luggage to our main base location Wengen. We went to Zurich railway station and sent the luggage. It was 12 CHF and the weight should not be more than 25 kg. We were so thankful that we did this while travelling in next 2 days.
Day 3: St Moritz
We were planning for Bernina express in our 4th day from Pontresina, we thought of covering the first part of BEX journey in 3rd day.Our stay was in Celerina, we went there first and kept our luggage and took bus to ST Moritz. By noon, we reached St Moritz and we walked to Station; this was one of our good decisions to walk rather than taking a bus. Google map took us through a small road (or I can say smallest) and the view of lake was so beautiful from there.After lunch we took bus to Silvaplana.
Our plan was to go to Maloja.But after getting down in Silvaplana, the place was was so beautiful with frozen lake and snow mountains. We walked to the lake and spent time near lake. Rarely people were coming there and it was so blissful to spend time there. My kid was playing a lot in snow and since it was not crowded place, we were also enjoying. Being from a tropical climate, snow always admires me.
Then we decided to skip the Maloja plan and came back to St Moritz and we bought some items for dinner as the shops were closing bit early and we went back to Hotel. We went out again for strolling through Celerina and very few people were outside and it was very calm and quiet.
Day4: Bernina Express Day
We took bus to Pontresina and by 10.30 we boarded in Switzerland’s most spectacular journey. First it was dark mountains striped with white snow and then it became everything in pure white snow.Every view regardless if you are sitting leftside or rightside, everything was breathtakingly beautiful. The train stops at Alp Grum for 15 mins for photo stop. The view then changing from mountains to valley and we reached Tirano by noon. We had lunch and then we took Bernina express bus to Lugano and were we enjoyed beautiful Italian valleys and from Lugano we took train to Lucerne. Since this day was fully spent in travelling, we were tired and took rest.
Day 4 : Titlis
Our Central Switzeland trip starts from here. From morning, When were checking the webcam, everything was cloudy in Titlis,but was getting better. We availed the clock room for keeping our luggage in station. We decided to go to Titlis and once we reached Titlis, it was snowing heavily and it was windy. We can’t help when the weather is against us, but we could enjoy the snow and we came back. Since it’s a 3 hour journey to Wengen, we thought of leaving Luzern by 3 and we reached Wengen by 6.
Our luggage from Zurich was waiting for us in the station J and we took all luggages to our Chalet.
Day 5: Bern
Since it was raining in the morning we decided not to do mountains and we went to explore the capital city. It was a walking tour and the old town was so beautiful with the cobblestone roads. Our walking tour ended in Bear Park and we took bus back to station. After lunch we headed back to Interlaken. We went to Hohematte Park and came back to lake side as it was crowded. We came back to Wengen and it was raining there. Soon after we got down and started walking, it started snowing and it was my first time experiencing snowfall. We were so happy and enjoyed the snow till our Chalet and it was snowing throughout the night. I am not sure in the month of May, does snowfall happen like this.
Day 6: Brienz
In the morning, Wengen was fully covered in snow and it was like in winters. We dropped plan for Jungfrau and thought of going to Brienz and Ballenberg museum. But my boy wanted to play in snow and we spend almost half a day near our chalet and Wengen.By afternoon, we left for Brienz and still it was snowing. To our surprise, it was snowing there as well. It was snowing everywhere and we couldn’t see much in that climate there. We were planning to come back by boat through lake Brienz but due to this climate, we came back by train. Even though the weather was like this, we did not feel anything bad and we were enjoying the weather so much.
Day 7: Schilthorn
Weather was getting better;but not very clear. We went to Schilthorn and Schilthorn was clear for us.The sky was clear and we could see Sun time to time.We enjoyed the view with a sip of hot soup in the café and we explored Bond Museum as well. While coming back, weather again started playing and it was bit cloudy and we were happy that we could see everything clearly when were on top. We had lunch from Lauterbrunnen(We skipped Trummelbach falls as there were lot of stairs and thought it would be difficult with a toddler). Then we headed to Grindelwald village and spent time in that beautiful village.
Day 8:
It was a clear day and it’s our last day in Wengen. Our plan was for Jungfraujoch; but we did not feel like doing another mountain and we felt like doing some boat ride or something apart from Snow Mountain. We left for Brienz again and took boat from Brienz to Interlaken. The sky was clear and the boat ride was very beautiful. The turquoise colored Lake Brienz became very beautiful in Sun.By afternoon we came back in Wengen and we thought of exploring Wengen as its our last day here. We went for a small hiking for an hour to Staubachbankli, the lookout point where we took rest and had some chocolate and enjoyed the stunning valley view. We were so happy for this hike as we could enjoy this beautiful village and the breathtaking view in Staubachbankli. Sometimes, words or photos can’t express the view which we could see through our eyes.
Day 9: Luzern
As the Titlis day, we couldn’t see Luzern much, we thought of covering Luzern on our way back to Zurich. We reached Luzern by noon and we kept luggage in lockers, and we strolled through Luzern town till Lion Monument and spent time near the monument. While coming back we bought few souvenirs and by evening we reached Zurich airport hotel and it was raining heavily and luckily our hotel was near to the bus stop and we did not get drenched much.Our Swiss Travel Pass was also expiring this day so we came back and took rest
Day 10: We took airport shuttle from our hotel for the morning flight to Abu Dhabi.
Some of our plan did not work; but so many unexpected beautiful things happened.If the weather is clear, we would never get a chance to see the snow fall and stay in snow covered chalet for 2 days. It was like a gift for us and we enjoyed a lot. Apologies for this long post, but I couldn’t shorten anything and a big big thank you for myswissalps forum members for all the advice given.
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Dear Joan986,
Thanks a million for that detailed holiday report you’re sharing with us here and also for your very appreciative words for the forum. We’re happy to hear that the information received is useful and helpful for travellers.
Although I agree that moments can’t always be captured in a photo it would be lovely if you have a picture or two to share. In any case, thanks again and hopefully see you back sometime in the future.
Take good care.
Best,
StephHi,
Here is the link to the photos we could capture
Thanks
Thanks for sharing!!!
Very help ful as i am also planning a trip from UAE.Please recommend the accomodation you stayed in.
HI Madiha sab,
Apart from specific accommodation tips that Joan986 might be able to provide, you’ll find our accommodation tips through the town links in the trip report. We suggest several hotels in all price ranges there.
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