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Hi all,
My fiancee’ and I will be traveling to Switzerland in June for our honeymoon and we are obviously very excited. I’m been using this website to help with my itinerary and it’s been incredibly helpful. I’m provide some details here about the trip and I’m hoping for some advice as to which pass to buy and what trains to utilize.
6/11 – Train from Paris to Lausanne, then will boat across to Evian, Fr for 2 nights.
6/13 – Boat back to Lausanne and travel to Zermatt for 2 nights. In Zermatt, would like to take the Gornergrat up and maybe hike a portion down. If time, maybe head to Klein matterhorn for a different view.
6/15 – Leave Zermatt and travel to Lucerne for 3 nights. This seems like the most difficult train situation. Doable, but lots of changes I think. In Lucerne, would like to do 2 separate trips to Pliatus and Titlus while also spending some time around the town and lake.
6/18 – Leave Lucerne, although no rush and head to Basel which is basically just to hang out, relax and catch a train on the 19th to head back to Paris to finish our trip.
I looked into taking the Glacier express from Zermatt to Andermatt then heading to Lucerne but I’m worried that train won’t match up well with others from Andermatt. I think we can take a faster train on the same line which will help get us to where we need to be on time. Just not sure which ones.
Questions:
1. Would the Swiss 8 day consecutive pass work the best if I don’t start using it until we leave Evian for Zermatt? Valid from 6/13-19 Also, will it work to take the boat from Evian to Lausanne since that trip starts in France?
2. With a 1 1/2 days in Zermatt, and 2.5 days in Lucerne, what would be the must do’s, can’t miss things or adventures? I do plan on booking a morning paragliding trip first morning in Lucerne followed by a trip to Pilatus.
3. Any other advice, tips, or pointers are great appreciated.
Thanks in advance,
Rick
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I couldn’t think of a better place to spend a honeymoon than Switzerland.
I’ll answer question 3 by saying what you’re thinking of is very feasible but consider regular trains instead of the Glacier Express.
I would suggest going from Zermatt via Kandersteg and what I know as the Brunig line (from Interlaken Ost to Luzern).
Sure, it will mean a few changes of trains. But Swiss timetables are co-ordinated and the transitions are generally very smooth. I just created a “personal timetable” from the http://www.sbb.ch and found the journey would take about six hours with “straightforward” connections.
But since there are hourly services, at least, you could always take a break (for lunch) somewhere along the way. Whatever, you should be able to complete the trip with an after breakfast departure from Zermatt and a before dinner arrival in Luzern.
The reason for suggesting the Lotschberg route via Kandersteg (instead of the newer tunnel) is for the scenery. The same with the ZentralBahn (Brunig line). I can be confident you’ll be blown away.
I’ll leave it to others to make comments and suggestions about your other plans.
As a matter of general interest, I find the “personal timetable” option at the SBB website very helpful. I like to get a pdf file of ALL the travel options for the desired route/journey on the planned day of travel. It can come up with some very interesting options that are well worth considering. Travelling by public transport in Switzerland is nothing like the (motorised) USA so it will be a whole new and wonderful experience for you and your wife to be.
This site has some wonderful resources (you’re encouraged to use them) with support from some friendly, helpful and knowledgeable experts and general travellers. PPPPP (prior planning prevents poor performance) always applies. Planning is part of the wonderful travel experience.
Enjoy!
Hi Rick, welcome to MySwissAlps!
Glad to hear our website has been useful so far.
1. Yes, the 8-day Swiss Travel Pass is a good option, and it might make sense to compare that to the Swiss Half Fare Card option:
- http://www.myswissalps.com/sw isstravelpass
- http://www.myswissalps.com/sw isshalffarecard
- http://www.myswissalps.com/tr ain/ticketspasses/prac tical/chooserailpass
2. You can best take a look at our suggestions first and see what appeals to you:
3. Traveling via Andermatt will work fine for sure. There are plenty of trains, schedules can be found here: http://www.myswissalps.com/ti metable. If you prefer to travel on the Express trains only, please see “Glacier Express and Gotthard Panorama Express route in one day” at http://www.myswissalps.com/gl acierexpress/gettingth ere.
Thank you both very much. I’ll certainly try and utilize the timetable as long as i can figure it out. I think we might be looking forward to this trip more than our actual wedding. 🙂
I’m trying to figure out whether the scenery or the time is more important when going from Zermatt to Lucerne. My hope was to be in Lucerne around 3-4pm local.
Also, does anyone know a place to rent kayaks near Evian on Lake Geneva or near Lucerne. The soon to be Mrs. is making that her only request.
Always a good idea to base an itinerary around “her only request”. Hopefully it’s OK to say something like that in 2019 but such modus operandi has worked very well for Robyn and I over several years and many overseas trips!
There are a few kayak and canoe rentals on Lake Lucerne – mostly what I’ve seen is the paddle boats though (many options right on the lake near downtown).
Zermatt – Luzern is easy enough by regular train.
Change trains at Visp, Andermatt and Göschenen
Whilst in Zermatt, you could do the Gornergrat railway and in the afternoon you could hike the relatively easy path to Zmutt. This gives a different view of the Matterhorn without the hassle of a cable car ride or more fares to pay!
I find canoe hire to be comparitively rare on the large Swiss lakes
@1960man thanks for the info. We do plan on a hike on the way down from Gornergrat. Would like to check out Riffeslee (the lake reflecting the matterhorn) then train down a bit farther and hike the remaining way back to Zermatt. Everything I read and watch tells me how easy train travel is in Switzerland, I’m just concerned about missing connections and delaying the trip to the next location. I think we’ll be fine, just a lingering concern.
Do not worry about missing a train in Switzerland, on the majority of the network there are trains at least once per hour.
The Swiss network is run on the principle of what is called a ‘taktfahrplan’. This means that timetables are designed so that trains meet regularly at nodal points around the country, and within a few minutes you are off away on your connecting train. Trains are scheduled to run at regular intervals (with as far as possible ‘clockface’ departure times ie the same minutes past each hour, all day. Depending on the importance of the line, trains generally run at either half hourly or hourly throughout the day.
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