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We are a group of 19 people planning a trip for may for 9 days. Our itinerary includes:
DAY 1: flying in to Geneva from Mumbai. Same day take a city Tour and boat ride.
DAY 2: trip to save with glacier 3000.
DAY 3: trip to gyernemas with Panasonic express train.
DAY 4: Geneva to Zermatt. Same day trip to Matterhorn.
DAY 5: Zermatt to Chur via Glacier Express. Chur to Lucerne. Check in to hotel at Lucerne.
DAY 6: Mount Pilatus with golden round trip.
DAY 7: trip to Mount Titlis.
DAY 8 trip to Interlaken and Jungfrau.
DAY 9: Lucerne to Zurich and trip to Rhine falls and flight back to Mumbai.
Please comment if this trip is feasible and if i need to make any changes in this. We are all travelling to Switzwerland for the first time. Please give suggestions.
MITESH BALI
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I think Luzern to Interlaken to Grimelwald to Klein Schedigg to Jungfraujoch and back in one day will be a long day. Its feasible, but I suspect you’ll be dragging by the time you get back to Luzern.
Wanted to keep lucerne as a base for Zurich titlis jungfrac and pilatus. Don’t want to pack and unpack often with such a big group and kids. Also please advice if it us possible to travel from zermatt to chur via glacier express and then from chur to lucerne. Also not getting information on chur to lucern??
Hi Mitesh, and welcome to MySwissAlps,
Thanks for sharing your itinerary. Will you keep Geneva as your base for day 2 and 3? Where are you going to on day 3? Is it Gruyère? You could consider making Montreux your base. It will save you some traveling and I believe it’s more beautiful than Geneva. Also the boat trips are prettier from there. You can still do the city tour if you like and send your luggage ahead to travel more comfortably.
You can travel from Zermatt to Lucerne via Chur with the Glacier Express, but please be aware that this is at least an 8 hour train ride. Please refer to the Swiss timetable.
Thank you for your advice chantal. Will look into it. Also can u please help me out in:
1) understanding the local train and bus travel time and time Table.
2) for the attractions of titlis, pilatus and jungfrau what tickets will have to buy, (i have a Swiss family pass for all the five families)
3) does the Glacier Express go to lucerne or do i need to change from glacier express to another train from chur to lucerne.
4) with a Swiss travel pass the Glacier Express and the golden pass line booking would be included or separate charges. Thanks for ALL the help. Awaiting your reply
1) I usually work with the advanced timetable. When you fill in where you are traveling from and to, the timetable will work out the fastest route which is not always the most scenic one. For example: if you’re traveling to Lucerne from Geneva or Montreux and you want to make sure you’re on the Golden Pass train, you have to fill in Zweisimmen in the “via” box. Once you have filled out the form and hit “search” you’ll get a list of all possible departure times and routes of your trip. On the right hand side of that screen you’ll find a “+” sign. If you click on it, you’ll find the details of your trip including where you need to change trains, cable cars etc. Another way to see whether you’re on a scenic train is to look at the details of the train. The Golden Pass train for example is listed as “MOB Panoramic”. And the Glacier Express as “GEX”.
2)With the Swiss Travel Pass you’ll get a 25% off on Jungfraujoch and 50% on Mt. Pilatus and Mt. Titlis. More information about the validity of the Swiss Travel Pass can be found here. One piece of advice, don’t purchase your tickets in advance as you don’t know what the weather is going to be. Since you’re traveling with kids (I don’t know which age group) I just wanted to check with you if you are familiar with the Swiss Family Card. If not, please read all the information here: http://www.myswissalps.com/sw issfamilycard
3) You have to change to another train. In Chur or Andermatt. The Glacier Express is not going to Lucerne.
4) For the Glacier Express you need to book your seats in advance. You do not need seat reservations, although reservations are recommended for some trains on the Montreux to Zweisimmen leg. Reservation costs are not covered by the Swiss Travel Pass.
Hi Mitesh Bali,
>> DAY 3: trip to gyernemas with Panasonic express train.
Do you mean a trip to Gruyères on the Golden Pass train?
If so, the following information will be relevant:
Due to construction work between 19 Mar-1 Jun 2018, there will be substitute buses between Château-d’Oex and Montbovon. During the construction period individual travellers cannot make any reservations between Zweisimmen and Montreux. Groups can only travel between Zweisimmen and Château-d’Oex.
The construction area is outside of the route from Montreux to Gruyères via Montbovon, but it’s possible it will affect your ability to make reservations. It’s not clear to me whether reservations will be possible between Montreux and Montbovon during this time, but it should be possible to test it out 90 days ahead of 19 March to see what the system will accept. If it turns out that reservations are not possible, travelling with such a large group in these circumstances might present a few problems if the train is busy and you all want to travel together.
>> DAY 4: Geneva to Zermatt. Same day trip to Matterhorn.
You can’t travel to the Matterhorn, but you can go to various viewpoints – such as the Gornergrat or Klein Matterhorn/Glacier Paradise – to view the Matterhorn from a distance.
The Gornergrat railway will be operating in May 2018, but the cableway to Klein Matterhorn/Glacier Paradise will be closed for maintenance between Trockener Steg and Klein Matterhorn from 30 April to 11 May 2018.
>> DAY 6: Mount Pilatus with golden round trip.
The Golden Round trip will only be possible if the cogwheel railway from Alpnachstad to Pilatus Kulm has reopened after the winter closure. It opens in the first half of May, but the exact date depends on weather conditions. From the beginning of May, you can check whether or not it has reopened on this page:
http://www.pilatus.ch/en/nc/l ive/
If it is still closed when you are there, you can go up and back on the cableway from Kriens.
Alpenrose
Hi Mitesh Bali –
Please mention the dates in May that you are traveling. There are some facilities in the mountains in particular that do not open until late May.
Alpenrose has noted some possible issues, but a clear set of dates would help us to give more precise advice.
Please be aware that in May, traces of Winter are hanging on at higher altitudes. As far as I can tell that will not affect your trip, except when you are looking out the train windows, or changing trains at , for example, Kleine Scheidegg on a cold day, since you do not seem to be planning on hiking in the Alps.
However, just to give you a perspective, there is a very popular and scenic easy trail near the Jungfrau, at about 2300 to 2000 meters altitude. It goes from Männlichen to Kleine Scheidegg.
It is usually not passable until approximately June 15th, due to residual snow and snow slides:
http://www.myswissalps.com/hi king/maennlichen-kleinescheidegg
Just for your amusement, I have attached a few pictures taken in the warmer months, showing that trail and the area around it. The Jungfrau and Jungfraujoch are visible in some of them.
At lower altitudes, such as the area around Luzern ( local German spelling) as well as Interlaken and Geneva, Montreux, Zürich, you will find Spring to be well advanced in all of May.
Schedule –
Other forum posters from India have said that they are used to long train rides. 😉
If that is true in your case, you will probably find no problem with your suggested itinerary.
However, as others have noted, there are some very long days in your proposal, and you should be aware of that.
Others have pointed you to the timetable, and offered good advice. Please read the introductory page here. It will help you to understand the timetable better:
http://www.myswissalps.com/ti metable
There is a tremendous amount of information buried down in the menus of the timetable. Possibly, if you have some teenagers in your group, they would have some fun exploring all it can offer. 😉
To accompany the timetable, I like to use this particular map:
Under “Points of Interest/Traffic” you can turn on icons for the land and mountain transport stations to give you a feel for the location of your transfer points, for example. Zoom in before you do it or you will be overwhelmed by information.
If you zoom in far enough, you will see train lines:
map.search.ch/?pos=636280,167208&z=32
That is an example for the area near Interlaken. Scroll down the map a bit, and you will see the Jungfrau.
map.search.ch/?pos=640712,158056&z=32
The SBB has a mobile App, which I find useful while traveling. For trip planning, i find it easier to work on a desktop or laptop, with a bigger screen.:
http://www.sbb.ch/en/timetabl e/mobile-apps/sbb-mobile.html
Slowpoke
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