[Removed user]

19 June 2013 at 11:03:12 #806067

I have a family of four (husband, wife, 14 year son, 9 year old daughter).
We land in Zurich airport on a Tuesday morning and then go back on Sunday morning. For the five full days that we have, I want to travel as follows:
1. Day 1: Travel to Zermatt (via Goeschenen, if possible).
2. Day 2: Gornergrat and then to Interlaken.
3. Day 3: Jungfraujoch: evening to Luzern.
4. Day 4: Titlis; tour on Lake.
5. Day 5: To Zurich: spend day in Zurich.
6. Day 6: Back to airport in early morning.

Please suggest any ideas for trip, travel, passes, etc.
Thank you…

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[Annika]

21 June 2013 at 11:00:16 #838936

Hi midwestern! You’ve planned some very intensive traveling (did you check the timetable?). Note that you can also choose to focus on one or two regions closer to Zurich. But if you don’t mind making long journeys each day, your itinerary is fine of course. Which pass is best, depends on your final travel scheme. For the itinerary your mentioned, I would advise a 4 day Swiss Saver Pass, to be used on day 1 to 4. It provides maximum flexibility and will definitely be cost effective, as you plan long and expensive trips these days. On day 5, you’d buy a regular full-priced ticket from Lucerne to Zurich. An alternative would be to travel to Zurich on the evening of day 4, so that this trip too is still covered by your Swiss Pass. A ZurichCard might be a good idea for day 5.

[Removed user]

22 June 2013 at 18:21:52 #838937

Thank you Annika. I now realize that the tour I have proposed will be hectic, in such case will first class pass make it easier on our physical part? Or is second class adequate?

Also, the mountain trips of Jungfrau, Titlis, and Gornergrat will these be discounted by 50%? I did the math and does it make more sense if half fare card is bought?

[Annika]

23 June 2013 at 9:23:59 #838938

Hi midwestern. If you’re traveling in high season (especially July or August), 1st class will be more comfortable. Most mountain transportation and buses don’t have 1st class though, so you’d especially profit from 1st class seats in all regular trains and on boats.

If you won’t be making major changes to your itinerary, a 4 day Swiss Pass would be way more convenient than a Swiss Half Fare Card. The Swiss Pass offers a 50% discount on nearly all mountain trips, except for the Jungfraujoch (25% off between Wengen, Jungfraujoch and Grindelwald). Did you check the validity map at the Swiss Pass page?

If you want to save on traveling time, you could replace the trip to Titlis on day 4 by a trip to the Pilatus. That’s a great viewing point too, and a lot closer to Lucerne. You could make a wonderful round trip via Alpnachstad, Pilatus and Kriens, and get on the boat over lake Lucerne right after this visit.

You may also like these hotel overviews for Zermatt, Interlaken, Lucerne, Zurich and Zurich Airport.