Visiting Switzerland from Germany

My self accompanied by wife( both are 60+) are reaching from India via Frankfurt for a stay of 6 days for a meeting In June 2016. From there we would like to travel to Switzerland, Geneva and come back to Frankfurt after 5 days to board our return flight to India. The places we plan to visit Zurich, Grindelwald Jungfrauch , Geneva and any other places u suggest. We will travel by train. I was advised to buy Germany- Switzerland rail pass . I would appreciate very much if you can suggest a convenient and economical itinerary from Frankfurt toMunich Switzerland and back to Frankfurt and advise on the rail tickets we should buy.

i may add that your tips and advice were very useful to me during my visit to Switzerland last year , specially for visiting Zurich and Jungfrauch .

JJ

Glad to hear that you can find the time for a detour to Switzerlad. June is a great month for wild flowers in the meadows, and usually is not too hot, but also may still have some spring rains, and clouds. Also, in early June, the higher alpine trails are usually still snow covered. By the end of the month,they are usually much more accessible.

I was in Switzerland from June 3rd through June 18th this year. The first few days were unusually hot and dry - temperatures up to 33 degrees C in the cities. Then, the temperatures moderated, and we did not have many sunny days until, of course, the day I left (on the 18th.) The sun always shines on the day that you leave. ;-)

Even though it was cloudy, we did not have a lot of rain. But, it did mean that on June 14-16, there were only a few hours of long distance visibility in he Jungfrau Region.

In other years, we have had beautiful weather in June, but it is not easy to predict what it will be, because it is the end of Spring.

Arno and Annika ( the forum moderators) are good at itineraries. I'm not.

I'm sure they will have some good ideas. For your length of stay I would suggest that you pick no more than two "bases" to stay at, and and make day trips from them. Other wise, things get a bit hectic.

Hi JJ, and welcome back!

Of course it's all a matter of personal preference, but with only 5 days I would skip larger cities like Zurich and Geneva to focus on the Alps. You could go to Lucerne for a few days and Montreux or Grindelwald for another few days. In case of bad weather you can easily do day trips to Zurich from Lucerne, to Geneva from Montreux and to Bern from Grindelwald. Please see the links for tips about activities and hotels.

You can best select a rail pass once you have a more detailed itinerary. You can find the details of the passes in our rail pass section. Usually a Eurail Pass does not work well for Switzerland, but since you also visit Germany it might work for you.

Thank you Very much Arno. I was planning to go to Zurich and make the visits from there. I was planning the following itinerary.

18-6-16. Arrival from Munich by train. Check in a hotel holiday Express Inn.

19-6-16 visit to Junfrauch , Interlaken by train.

20-6-16 Sight seeing in Zurich.

21-6- 16 go to Geneva by an early morning train and return by night .

22-6-16. Go to Frankfurt and leave for India

Since I am having Germany Switzerland pass, I assume all the train journeys will be covered by that.. Since we do not want to carry heavy luggage with us ,we thought we can travel light from Zurich to other places. I would like to have your suggestions on this itinerary.

1. Can I book my luggage from Munich to Zurich and from Zurich to Frankfurt by train. ?

2. Can I store my luggage in left Luggage area of Zurich Airport even if I arrive in Zurich by train and not by flight. I am asking this question because airport shuttle is available to my hotel and not from Zurich main railway station.

3. If it is not possible, do we have luggage storage facility at Zurich Flughafen railway station ? Is there such facility at Zurich main station. Sorry for troubling you with questions.

Regards, jose

Left Luggage at the airport is at the train station (actually, at the parking garage which is part of the same building), a very short walk across the street from the airport. The luggage carts available for free near the carousels in the baggage claim room can hold a lot of luggage and can go up and down escalators, so you do not need to seek out the elevators if you use them.Here is some information about the airport that may help you:

www.zurich-airport.com/passengers -and-visitors/airport-services-en/baggage-service/

And, for the railroad station at the airport :Zürich Flughafen (Airport) Railway Station:

www.sbb.ch/content/sbb /en/desktop/bahnhof-services/am-bahnhof/standort/bahnh offinder.posid.3016.ht ml

I do not understand why they list "Luggage Pickup" in the list of services for the Rail Station," instead of "Left Luggage" as it is described at Zürich Main Station. The airport description calls it "Left Luggage."

Perhaps Arno can comment. Or, since you have lots of time, you could drop them a note if you wish clarification. My guess is a poor translation from German to English. The same office is used for drop off and reclaim, which are, in German - Gepäckaufgabe und Gepäckausgabe.

For Zürich main station -

www.sbb.ch/en/station-services/am-bahnhof/railway-stations/bahnhof-finden.posid.3000.html ?WT.ac=service-zh-en

In addition to the Left Luggage Office at the airport and also at Zürich main station, there are coin operated luggage lockers, accessible 24 hours per day, that can hold fairly large bags. You'll need Swiss coins. (Euros will usually work also, these days). The ones at Zürich main station take 9 CHF for a day. It may well cost more for larger ones at the airport .In June, which is not the high season, I'd expect some to be available. Luggage left in those lockers is transferred to the left luggage office after a certain number of days (72 hours) Your locker key + more money will get your baggage back to you.

I cannot comment on your international baggage transfers. Anything you learn will be helpful for me, too!

Don't worry about asking questions. We all learn from the discussions. Hope we can help.

Travel Plans

www.myswissalps.com/ti metable

Zurich to Kleine Scheidegg ( the station where you pick up the train for Jungfraujoch) is 3 hours 18 minutes by train. It takes 52 minutes each way to go up and down from KS to JJ. Trains run every half hour, and may be full at busy times, requiring a wait. If you pick a cloudy day, not uncommon in June, you will not see any scenery once you go up. The clouds have a tendency to come in during the afternoon, so, on average, it is better to be there in the morning.

www.myswissalps.com/ju ngfraujoch

Zurich to Geneva is 2 hr 44 minutes or 2 hrs 39 minutes twice per hour.

Hello jose!

The Eurail Germany-Switzerland pass will indeed cover your regular train journeys. Traveling to Interlaken is for free; the remaining part up to the Jungfraujoch will be discounted by 25%. Please check validity for Switzerland here (it's the Eurail Global Pass page, but the same Swiss discounts apply to the Eurail Germany-Switzerland Pass) and for Germany here.

The Swiss Railways (SBB) offer excellent inland luggage services, but it's less covenient to have your luggage sent to and from abroad. Please check the respective DB (Deutsche Bahn) service and SBB service. You can best take along your baggage to and from Zurich and store it there, either at the railway station or in your hotel. Is this the hotel you're staying in? In that case there's a free shuttle bus from the airport railway station to your hotels, as with other Zurich airport hotels. It doesn't matter that you haven't actually arrived by plane. The driver will help you with your luggage, so you can easily transport your bags that way and leave them in the hotel during your stay in Zurich.

As for your travel plans: Zurich isn't the ideal base for day trips to the Jungfraujoch and Geneva. The Jungfraujoch is doable, but it will be a long day. You may want to consider some further activities in or near Zurich, or a visit to the Lake Lucerne region, instead of traveling to Geneva. Please check the links for Zurich and Lucerne Arno provided in his previous post.