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Currently i have a list of places i am interested in visiting, but have yet to figure out how many days etc i should be spending in each place or how i should plan my route. It would be extremely helpful if any of you ladies/gentlemen are able to give me your opinion. My primary goal in Switzerland is to do Skydiving at Interlaken.
The details of my trip are as follows:
Arriving in Zurich: 4th April (Saturday morning)
Departing from Zurich: 19th April (Sunday Night)
Places of interest:
– Zurich
– Interlaken
– Wengen & surrounding villages
– Chillion/Geneva Area
– Zermatt / Matterhorn
What i am looking for on the trip:
I love the swiss alps, and i do love nature, but i am also afraid that too much nature could get too boring. I am unsure if there are lots to do in the Wengen area but i’ve watched youtube and people seem to be having fun. Ultimately, i think my primary focus would still be nature/food, followed by some city life.
Concerns:
As my visit cuts across Good Friday and Easter Monday, i am a little unsure how i should be planning my itinerary. Nature doesn’t take a break so i was thinking Wengen during that period, hopefully all the restaurants closing wouldn’t make life even more difficult for me. I am also unsure if by April are there any winter sports still available, or what specifically can i do in April aside from sight-seeing.
Any tips/advice on how my rough itinerary should be like? Or any additional places i should drop by in-between? I’m also wondering if Geneva is really worth the visit. Either way, it’s been a long post and any kind of advice would greatly be appreciated! Thanks in advance! 😀
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Hi Cherple, and welcome to MySwissAlps!
Restaurants and hotels certainly do not close during the Easter weekend, quite on the contrary. You should book your accommodations well in advance.
Your planned destinations make sense. There should still be snow in Zermatt and Wengen. You may go to Zermatt; whether you will see the Matterhorn or not depends on the weather (reliable forecasts in the Alps no more than 4-5 days ahead). From a Swiss scale and perspective, Chillon and Geneva are at different locations.
Skydiving is probably the sport with the highest number of casualties in proportion to the number of people participating. My only advice is to forget it and go on enjoying life.
Hello Cherple,
Nice to hear you’re planning to come to Switzerland!
Your itinerary makes sense and will allow you to stay some nights at each base you choose. Make sure you read the following link to support you setting up your trip:
– http://www.myswissalps.com/pl antrip/doityourself/co mposeitineraryA very helpful tool for planning is the timetable of the Swiss rail company SBB.
– http://www.myswissalps.com/ti metable
– http://www.myswissalps.com/ab outswitzerland/practic al/websites, the app is fantastic tooAs stated by Snowman the Easter week/season is holiday season for local people too and consequently places will be open and rather full, so planning well in advance makes sense.
You can find information on the destinations you mention by typing them into the search bar of this page.
Happy planning and get back to us anytime.
Best,
StephOooo.. I was in Paris/UK in April this year during the same period and many places were closed.
Any tips on how i should plan my itinerary based on the places i listed? I have been advised on another forum to just visit Zermatt as a day trip using Wengen as my base, is Zermatt worth booking accomodations and staying a few days?
4-19 April: 16 days
– Zurich
– Interlaken
– Wengen & surrounding villages
– Chillion/Geneva Area
– Zermatt / Matterhorn
How should i sequence/slot these places and how many days would you recommend? No pressure, this can purely be your preference but i would just like an idea of how a local would plan their trip based on the places i’ve mentioned(taking into account Good Friday and Easter Monday). Right now i am unsure how i should plan it, or which areas i should be in during the festive period.
< during the same period and many places were closed >
We were discussing hotels and restaurants. These would be open, no problem. Otherwise, Good Friday and Easter Monday are public holidays. It means that museums, schools, public administration etc. are handled like a sunday, i.e. usually closed (museums maybe not). Unless you plan to have your meals at a school cafeteria, you will not be affected as far as restaurants are concerned. Regarding shopping, in many tourist resorts you should find at least some stores open. Trains operate on the sunday timetable (usually no major diffeence with working days). Easter saturday and Easter sunday are handled as normal saturdays and sundays.
Going from Wengen to Zermatt and back, with presumably a ride to Gornergrat, will require that you start early, and will give you a good (and long) experience of Swiss railways (about 3.5 hours one way Wengen-Gornergrat). Sure, it’s feasible.
The way you distribute your 16 days depends entirely on your tastes and priorities: cities, mountains, night life, museums, activity, leasure, etc. The specific aspect for you is that in April the skiing season is coming to an end, high hiking trails are still closed, snow show hikes might not be so exciting (soft and muddy snow), and daytime is still short.
Being Swiss it is not easy to tell you “what I would do”. I have been to all these places but not as parts of a single trip. Let’s say Interlaken itself is not exciting but a good base for lake boat excursions, etc. Zermatt’s chief attraction, the Matterhorn, might be behind clouds on the very day you arrive there from Wengen.
Good luck!
Is there anything i can do in Wengen during these period then? I read that most if not all of the hiking trails are still closed. I was initially thinking of doing some very light hike around the take in the view, but it seems all cable cars wouldn’t be operating, hike trails closed etc. What then can i do around Wengen?
The Wengen-Männlichen cable car operates until Apr. 13. From Männlichen you can hike the Grnny’s Walk to Kleine Scheidegg. That trail should be open. Beyond that, you may opt to skip Wengen.
Winter hiking trails are maintained from 1 Dec to end of March. It is unlikely they would be in good condition by middle of April but maybe still passable the first of April. For a list of maintained trails look at winter hiking on Jungfrau.ch.
I believe the Mannlichen to Kleine Scheidegg trail is not usually open till June and on occasion even the first of July
Mark
Oh my god.. have I chose a horrible time to visit Switzerland? The Swiss Alps was my main focus and I thought I would hike around wengen.. now it seems there’s v limited things I could do there.. 😭
Hiking in the mountains will be limited but you can visit Schilthorn and Jungfraujoch. Hiking in the valleys as Lauterbrunnen and around Interlaken may be ok. Mark
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