[Removed user]

1 October 2019 at 10:10:55 #824044

Hi,

Me and my fiance will be visiting your beautiful country at the of June/beginning of July 2020 for our honeymoon! We are going for about 2 weeks and this is our plan so far…

Day 1 & 2 – Geneva

Day 3 & 4 – Schwarzsee, Bernese Alps (got a beautiful apartment booked there!)

Day 5,6, 7 – Interlaken

Day 8, 9 – Either Zermatt or Engelberg

Day 10, 11, 12 – Lucerne

Day 13, 14 – Basel

We will be mostly moving around by train except for Day 2 – Day 6 when we will have a rental car to move in between our accommodation and to visit Grindenwald & Lauterbrunnen when we are staying in Interlaken.

We was originally planning to visit Zermatt after Interlaken and then spend 3 days in Lucerne for her birthday. However now I look at it, the journey between Zermatt and Lucerne can be very long (>3.5h). This means that we are now exploring the possibility of visiting Engelberg instead and Mt. Titlis.

Is Zermatt really worth it or will Engelberg be nice too? We have found very nice accomodation in Engelberg. We are also travelling on a budget and plan to spend <150CHF per night on private accomodation and <100CHF each on any attractions, for example Mt.Titlis. Is Engelberg generally cheaper than Zermatt?

Or instead would you suggest that we spend an extra day each in Interlaken and Lucerne (so 4 days each) and use one of those days to travel to Engelberg.

Thank you in advance!

Alan

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[JaneEB]

1 October 2019 at 13:56:35 #922943

Hi Alan

Welcome to the forum. You will have a lovely time in Switzerland.

I notice that you are planning to hire a car for part of your holiday even though you will be mainly using trains.

‘We will be mostly moving around by train except for Day 2 – Day 6 when we will have a rental car to move in between our accommodation and to visit Grindenwald & Lauterbrunnen when we are staying in Interlaken’.

There is no point in hiring a car whilst you are in Interlaken as you can only drive as far as Grindelwald and Lauterbrunnen and will then have to pay to park the car for the day whilst you catch trains and cable cars to access villages and activities higher up the mountains.

As you are using the trains for the rest of your stay in Switzerland you would probably benefit from buying a Swiss Travel Pass or a Swiss Half Fare Card. Have you compared car rental hire with the train fares? I would suggest you look at http://www.myswissalps.com/tr ain There are frequent trains. The Excel spreadsheet http://www.myswissalps.com/tr ain/ticketspasses/prac tical/chooserailpass allows you to input your intended itinerary and work out which pass would be of the most benefit.

The Swiss timetable is also a useful tool when planning your trip http://www.myswissalps.com/ti metable and there is the SBB Mobile app which is invaluable for planning and especially useful when in Switzerland as it gives so much information on all modes of transport including trains, buses, boats, cable cars and walking routes and distances between platforms/bus stops.

I should also look at http://www.myswissalps.com/ca rversustrain

Hope this is of help.

Jane

[Removed user]

1 October 2019 at 16:11:00 #922944

Hi ,

Thank you for the quick reply. I am not 100% percent sure on the car hire as there seems to be a bit of a problem with dropping it off in Interlaken on a weekend. We was just hoping to use the car to get us from Geneva to Schwarzsee and then 2 days later from Schwarzsee to Interlaken. Once in Interlaken we was going to use it for one day to visit Grindenwald and also Lauterbrunnen in the same day. We will think about that for now. One thing I’m sure is though that we won’t be buying any railcards. We would need the 15 day pass which is 513CHF each. I have just used the excel spreadsheet and calculated that if we were to travel by train everywhere and also visit Mount Titlis, Mount Pilatus and Harder Kulm, it would be under CHF. Even if we decide to do more things, I’m sure it will be under 500.

Back to my original question though, what would you suggest between Zermatt and Engelberg? I’m very keen to visit either of them but due to the travel length of Zermatt-Luzern, I’m more keen to spend those 2 days in Engelberg.

[JaneEB]

1 October 2019 at 17:50:28 #922945

Hi Alan

Without knowing your exact itinerary I am not able to see how many train journeys you intend to make and so cannot comment on the Passes, however, I expect you realise that the SBB timetable and app shows the half price fares by default and you have to double the fare shown to get the true price.

Have you calculated how much it would cost to travel by public transport if you bought Swiss Half Fare Cards?

If you want to visit Lauterbrunnen and Grindelwald on the same day and don’t have a car there is a round trip you can take by train to visit both villages. Interlaken to Grindelwald to Kleine Scheidegg to Wengen to Lauterbrunnen and then back to Interlaken. The train journey is very scenic especially the section between Wengen and Lauterbrunnen. An alternative route would be to miss out Kleine Scheidegg and instead take the cable car from Grindelwald to Wengen via the Männlichen, another spectacular journey. However, as I said before, if you have a car you can only drive as far as Grindelwald or Lauterbrunnen and have to take public transport if you want to visit villages or take part in activities higher up in the mountains.

I have not been to Engelberg for a number of years and that was only passing through on the way to Mount Titlis and so I cannot really comment on that, however, I have stayed in Zermatt and enjoyed views of the Matterhorn from the Gornergrat. I don’t know your interests, but I personally would spend a couple of days in Zermatt. You can visit Engelberg when you are staying in Lucerne.

We stayed in Lucerne and Wengen this year. All I can say is that they are probably slightly less expensive than Zermatt.

Good luck with your planning.

Jane

[Removed user]

1 October 2019 at 18:52:39 #922946

Hi Jane

Thank you very much for your suggestions. I did not know that the fares displayed were half fares. I’ve just looked at the price of one of those passes and it’s about 100GBP so I think overall it will still be way under 500CHF 🙂

I’ll also keep in mind your tips regarding Lauterbrunnen 🙂 Zermatt definitely looks very nice but my partner isnt too keen on long travelling and that unfortunately would be the case with travelling to Lucerne from Zermatt. Engelberg is also very nice and there’s a really good apartment we are looking at.

[AlanPrice]

1 October 2019 at 22:20:49 #922947

Hi Alan

If this is your first trip, I think Zermatt is a much better destination than Engelberg, there is a lot more to see and do and you can really get a feel for the mountains there, afterall, that’s where the Matterhorn is. Engelberg makes a good starting point for a longer trip, but to my mind it is somewhere you pass through, rather than a destination by itself (sorry Engelberg). My opinion may be coloured by the fact that I’ve only been there once and it rained non-stop.

If you want to save a bit of money, I’d suggest limiting the number of places you visit. My wife and I like to go for a bit over 2 weeks. We fly into Zurich, stay overnight, then take the train to Grindelwald and stay in a holiday apartment (Ferienwohnung, or FeWo for short) for a week which is a lot cheaper than a hotel, then go to Zermatt for the second week before coming out through a different city like Bern or Basel. The cost of travel is high and the more often you move, the bigger the dent you will put in your holiday budget.

We go to Switzerland for the mountains and spend as little time in the cities as possible, although Lucerne is a very pretty town and worth a visit, but the mountains are what makes a trip to Switzerland unique.

You’re going to have a wonderful time,

Have fun,

Alan

[Slowpoke]

2 October 2019 at 1:03:16 #922948

Hi Alan-

Thanks.

I always learn from your posts.

Slowpoke

[Removed user]

2 October 2019 at 2:18:42 #922949

Hi Alan Cieslar,

You can consider both – stay 2 nights in Zermatt (Matterhorn) and do a day trip to Engelberg during your stay in Lucerne.

If there is your first trip to Switzerland, would suggest that you don’t miss out Matterhorn and Jungfraujoch (if weather permits).

Regards,

May Tan

[Removed user]

2 October 2019 at 6:54:47 #922950

Hi

Thank you everyone for your great suggestions. I think we will end up staying in Zermatt for two days. I’ve looked at prices and its not tragic, can get a beer for 6CHFs and dinner for 15-25CHF in some places 🙂 I think we will stick to our initial itinerary and still visit the other places as we won’t to see as many places as possible and are determined on spending my other half’s birthday in a town like Lucerne where there’ll be more bars etc. I think we will skip Engelberg & Mt. Titlis altogether and do something in Zermatt instead 🙂

Thank you!

Alan

[Slowpoke]

2 October 2019 at 7:06:17 #922951

Hi May Tan-

<<“stay 2 nights in Zermatt (Matterhorn) and do a day trip to Engelberg during your stay in Lucerne.”>>

Good idea. Train from Luzern to Engelberg is only 43 minutes. Of course, they’ll want to spend some time up on the mountains.

The question –

<<“Is Zermatt really worth it or will Engelberg be nice too?”>>

The answer is probably “Yes” to both. 😉

The barrier to a visit to Zermatt seems to be travel time on the train.

That is a very nice ride, no matter which route is taken, with nice scenery along the way. Riding Swiss trains is a very pleasant experience, and many people go to Switzerland specifically to ride the trains.

http://www.myswissalps.com/tr avel/inswitzerland

Slowpoke

[Removed user]

2 October 2019 at 7:46:41 #922952

Totally agree with you, Slowpoke.

In my maiden trip to Switzerland last September 2018, I very much enjoyed train rides for >3 weeks with 2 Swiss Travel Passes… some longer than 6 hours… every twists and turns of train journey was so beautiful!!!

(I stayed 2 nights each in Zermatt and Lucerne for day trips to Engelberg, Mt Rigi and Stoos… so wonderful~)

May Tan

[Slowpoke]

2 October 2019 at 7:47:17 #922953

Hi Alan-

<<“I’ve looked at prices and its not tragic, can get a beer for 6CHFs and dinner for 15-25CHF in some places :)”>>

I’ve looked at prices and its not tragic, can get a beer for 6CHFs and dinner for 15-25CHF in some places 🙂

Most Swiss restaurants offer a “menu” which means a cheap “plat do jour.”

Alcohol runs up the bill, although you’ll pay for water.

Inexpensive lunches can be sandwiches from bakeries.

The German for the list of meals is “die Karte” or “Speisekarte”. French is similar. Think “à la carte”

If I am using English, for the card. Usually, the daily special menu or menus will be listed.

Check the links on this page:

http://www.myswissalps.com/ab outswitzerland/practic al

especially:

http://www.myswissalps.com/ab outswitzerland/culture history/food.

Also-

http://www.myswissalps.com/fo rum/topic/eating-for-cheap

http://www.myswissalps.com/fo rum/topic/cheap-food-in-lucerne

Zermatt is trendy, and you’ll find plenty of bars there.

Both towns have a wide range of restaurants, including cheap, good basic, all the way to luxury. Both cater to tourist of all tastes, including some very rich ones, if you want a fancy place for a birthday dinner.

Slowpoke

[JaneEB]

2 October 2019 at 11:59:23 #922954

Hi Alan

I see you are spending 2 days in Geneva and Basel and 3 days in Lucerne. We have stayed in all these cities, and were been given a city card by the hotel so that we could use the city transport free of charge. This will save you transport fares on those days and you will just have to pay fares if you want to travel outside of the city centres.

We only visited Geneva and Basel because we have flown into the airports attached to those cities and were only there for part days as we reason we visit Switzerland is because we enjoy the train journeys through the scenic countryside and staying in villages up in the mountains.

However, we did stay in Lucerne for a couple of days in June and enjoyed a boat trip on the lake and visited the Stanserhorn (funicular and cable car) and Fronalpstock via Stoos Funicular (the steepest funicular in the world) All fares were included in the price of our Swiss Travel Passes so you would have to take into account the transport costs if you ventured out of the centre of the city. We especially enjoyed the Stanserhorn and the Fronalpstock. The only fare not included in the STP was the chairlift to the top of the Fronalpstock, but it was well worth the additional cost.

Hope this helps with your planning.

Jane

[Removed user]

2 October 2019 at 14:32:35 #922955

Hi Jane,

Thank you for the suggestion regarding Lucerne, we have a lot of ideas already but more are always welcome 🙂 We will be staying 2 nights in Geneve because we will be arriving at 20:30 and so would like the whole next day to explore it. We’ve decided that we will only be spending a day in Basel too as we’d rather use that money for our time in the mountains and also because the flights are more convienent if we fly back a day early.