9-day trip to Switzerland in May

Hi All / Destination Experts

I am travelling to Switzerland along with my wife from 24.05.2016 to 31.05.2016 and have prepared the following tentative schedule. Please render your inputs on the same:

24.05.2016 - Arriving Zurich / Leaving for Interlaken

25.05.2016: Matterhorn Glacier Paradise [ I believe this involves Zermatt]

26.05.2016: Excursion to Jungfraujoch

27.05.2016: Not Decided / Day at Leisure

28.05.2016: Leave for Lucerne in morning / for the remaining day, not yet decided

29.05.2016: Excursion to Mt. Rigi

30.05.2016: Lake Cruise

31.05.2016: Leave for Zurich / Rhine Falls

01.06.2016: Leaving for India in afternoon.

Please let me know if this is good enough or something additional / alternate can be planned. I have taken 8 day Swiss Pass for myself. On 31.05.2015 night I will be staying near Zurich Airport so that there is not much of travel required for catching the flight.

I am open for correction in the entire schedule.

Hi pranesh, welcome to MySwissAlps!

Your plans look fine to me. Be sure to not exactly follow your itinerary on a day to day bases, but check the weather forecast and be flexible. The Interlaken and Lucerne pages list lots of things to do if you're looking for more. You haven't included any hiking/walking yet, so that would be my recommendation.

The pass you have is most probably the Swiss Travel Pass, not to be confused with the Swiss Pass, which is something different.

Hotels near the airport can be found here.

Enjoy your stay!

Hi Arno

Thanks for your reply. I wanted to know, if it wise to cover Mt. Titlis or Mt. Pilatus in this plan. I have planned two base for stay 3 days in Interlaken / 3 days in Lucerne and last day in Zurich before leaving for India.

In Interlaken, I plan to stay at Hotel De la Paix. Indian Village is also an option available with me.

In lucerne, I have booked myself, with Hotel Flora. Some one has also suggested Holiday Inn Express or Hotel Seeburg.

Are these places convenient for moving to the places, that I desire to move.

Do you have suggestion for any other places / attractions.

Hi Pranesh,

Indian Village is about 10 minutes on foot from the Interlaken Ost station, and De La Paix just 4 minutes from Interlaken West. The Interlaken Ost station offers slightly better train connections as all trains start or end there.

The Holiday Inn Express is not in Lucerne, but in the area and on the highway. Not very suitable for your purposes. Hotel Seeburg is quite far from the train station. You'd have to take a bus to get there. Good views if you have a lake side room. Hotel Flora is very close to the train station. Good choice I would say.

For things to do, please see the Interlaken and Lucerne pages I linked to in my previous post. You'll find plenty of options there.

Hi Arno !

Thanks for your valuable inputs. As a first timer to Switzerland, can you please help me with convenient and/or scenic train routes for the following:

A] While based in Interlaken

1- Day trip to JungF

2- Day trip to Zermatt

3- Day Trip to Montreaux

B] While based in Lucerne

1- Day trip to Rigi

2- Day Trip to Titlis

3- Day Trip to Lugano

Since I am flying from Zurich on 01.06, I have shifted by base from Lucerne to Zurich on 31.05.2016. Is this right so that I can visit Rhine Falls or should I stay put in Lucerne - visit Zurich back in evening to Lucerne and then morning direct train to Zurich Airport / My flight is at 11:25 from Zurich.

In which of these routes, I can travel through Golden Pass / Glacier Express / William Tell / Bernina or it is not advisable or not possible ?

Thanks in anticipation.

Hi Pranesh

You can plan your trips using the timetable:

www.myswissalps.com/ti metable

This map is useful, too.

map.search.ch/?x=13592m&y=20624m&z=8

By using the menus on the map you can make public transport stations appear or disappear, see the locations of accommodations, and search for hotels by name.

map.search.ch/Dulac-AG-Ameron-Hotel-Flora,Luzern,Seidenhof str.5?x=328m&y=43m&z=256

For your departure, my choice would be to stay in Luzern and not transfer for one night in Zürich. If you wish to see the Rhine Falls, you can do it from Luzern with only modest extra inconvenience, plus train times. And, since you will be spending a lot of your time on other days in Luzern on travel out of the city, you might decide that sightseeing around the city of Luzern or a boat ride to the southern end of the lake or a hike nearby would be more enjoyable than seeing the Rhine Falls.

The benefit is that you do not use your time to move to another hotel and do not need move your luggage in and out. Personally, I find moving from hotel to hotel wastes time that I would rather use on sightseeing.

Trains from Luzern to Zürich airport run twice per hour.

The ones at xx35 take 1 hour and 7 minutes with change of train at Zürich main station. If you miss the connection in Zürich for any reason there are about 5 or 6 trains per hour from Zürich main station to Zürich airport.

The trains at xx07 go direct from Luzern to the airport with a stop in Zürich main station and take one hour and 3 minutes.

See attached screen grab

Since you would be traveling during the morning rush hours, you can expect that the trains will be rather full, so I'd try to get on as soon as one pulls into the station in Luzern. And, you might expect some very slight delays on the busy stretch between Zug and Zürich main station.

Not sure what time you want to be at the airport, but, for peace of mind about a transfer at Zürich main station during rush hour, I would try to take the direct train (xx07) even if it meant that I'd have to leave a bit early. If you need to be at the airport two hours a head of your departure time, the train at 0810 could do the job.

Your airline can guide you about timing at the airport.

If you miss the connection in Zürich for any reason there are about 5

or 6 trains per hour from Zürich main station to Zürich airport. However, there are several levels of tracks in Zürich main station, and getting from one track to another might take anywhere from 1 minute to 8 or 10 minutes, depending on your familiarity with the airport. There are good signs.

In the timetable, if you click on the "+" sign to the left of the individual journey, you will more details including see track numbers for connections and time allowed. In Zürich main station, tracks #3-18 are on the "main" station level and easy to transfer between. You can move from platform to platform at the railhead, or at an underground passage about halfway out under those platforms.

Tracks other than 3 to 18 take a few more minutes to get to, and can be on different levels. The luggage carts can go up and down escalators. Although they are free at the airport, at the main station you need a 2 CHF coin to free the cart from a storage queue. You get it back when you plug the cart back into a different storage queue near where you are finished with iit.

Slowpoke